Sabey Intergate.Manhattan

Rockford's economy combines aerospace manufacturing (Collins Aerospace, Woodward, Hamilton Sundstrand legacy), agricultural equipment, and machine tools. The metro has reinvented itself away from auto and machine tools toward higher-precision aerospace work. Data centers serve enterprise tenants — one tracked facility and roughly 100 NAICS 518 jobs (estimated). The metro is a very small data center market.

The trades pool is small but the wages are striking. Electricians at $93,280 across just 370 workers — one of the highest median wages among small metros, anchored by Illinois prevailing wage rules and the precision-manufacturing wage premium. HVAC technicians earn $75,070. The 1,980 maintenance workforce earns $53,610. The aerospace manufacturing maintenance base is the dominant non-data-center channel.

For a trades worker, Rockford is a niche play for IBEW electricians and for skilled maintenance workers in aerospace manufacturing. The data center component is minimal, but the wage premium and low cost of living make this an unusually attractive small market for established trades.