Cost of living comparison
compared to
Rockford vs. Fort Wayne Cost of Living Summary
Rockford is 2.8% cheaper than Fort Wayne.
Rockford vs. Fort Wayne Cost Breakdown
If you lived in Rockford instead of Fort Wayne, you would:
pay 2.4% more for restaurants
|
Fort Wayne
|
Rockford
|
||
|---|---|---|---|
| Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant |
$15.00
|
$15.50
|
|
|
Fast food combo meal
McDonalds, or similar
|
$10.00
|
$9.79
|
|
| Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz) |
$2.26
|
$2.81
|
|
| Bottle of water (11 fl. oz) |
$2.12
|
$2.01
|
|
Fort Wayne vs. Rockford - Cost of restaurants
pay 4.3% more for groceries
|
Fort Wayne
|
Rockford
|
||
|---|---|---|---|
|
Bread
1 loaf
|
$3.12
|
$3.50
|
|
| Local cheese (8 oz) |
$5.58
|
$5.05
|
|
| Milk (1 gallon) |
$2.82
|
$3.07
|
|
|
Eggs
1 dozen
|
$3.74
|
$2.96
|
|
| Boneless chicken breast (1 lb) |
$4.33
|
$6.24
|
|
| Apples (1 lb) |
$2.67
|
$2.22
|
|
| Bananas (1 lb) |
$0.50
|
$0.68
|
|
| Oranges (1 lb) |
$1.70
|
$1.74
|
|
| Tomatoes (1 lb) |
$2.02
|
$2.34
|
|
| Potatoes (1 lb) |
$1.07
|
$1.15
|
|
| Onions (1 lb) |
$1.32
|
$1.16
|
|
Fort Wayne vs. Rockford - Cost of groceries
pay 9.9% more for transportation
|
Fort Wayne
|
Rockford
|
||
|---|---|---|---|
| Gasoline (1 gallon) |
$3.60
|
$3.83
|
|
| Monthly public transit pass |
$40.00
|
$55.00
|
|
| New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition) |
$36,915.00
|
$35,957.00
|
|
| Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles) |
$15.43
|
$15.60
|
|
Fort Wayne vs. Rockford - Cost of transportation
pay 4.2% more for housing
|
Fort Wayne
|
Rockford
|
||
|---|---|---|---|
|
Internet connection
50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl
|
$59.00
|
$71.38
|
|
| 1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area |
$1,210.00
|
$1,274.00
|
|
| 1-Bedroom apartment outside city center |
$892.33
|
$933.33
|
|
|
Utilities for two
(700 sq ft apartment)
including electric, gas, water, heating
|
$151.91
|
$145.11
|
|
Fort Wayne vs. Rockford - Cost of housing
pay 72.4% less for childcare
|
Fort Wayne
|
Rockford
|
||
|---|---|---|---|
| Private preschool for 1 child, monthly |
$1,372.22
|
$521.11
|
|
| Middle school for 1 child, two semesters |
$20,000.00
|
$4,000.00
|
|
Fort Wayne vs. Rockford - Cost of childcare
pay 1.9% more for entertainment and sports
|
Fort Wayne
|
Rockford
|
||
|---|---|---|---|
| Domestic/local beer (1 pint) |
$4.50
|
$4.50
|
|
| Cappuccino in mid-range area |
$4.55
|
$5.06
|
|
|
Pack of cigarettes
Marlboro or similar
|
$8.69
|
$10.73
|
|
| Monthly membership at local gym |
$50.00
|
$41.66
|
|
| Movie ticket to theater/cinema |
$13.00
|
$14.22
|
|
Fort Wayne vs. Rockford - Cost of entertainment and sports
pay 6.6% less for clothing
|
Fort Wayne
|
Rockford
|
||
|---|---|---|---|
|
Regular jeans
Levi's brand
|
$53.33
|
$45.67
|
|
|
Regular dress
from H&M or similar store
|
$40.00
|
$35.33
|
|
|
Running shoes
Nike or Adidas
|
$108.33
|
$93.20
|
|
| Men's business shoes (leather) |
$95.00
|
$111.33
|
|
Fort Wayne vs. Rockford - Cost of clothing
We average the price of thousands of data points entered by users across the world. Sources: MyLifeElsewhere's cost-of-living dataset (prices updated November 2026). How we calculate this
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