If you’re looking to expand to this market or grow your business in area code 779, a local business phone number makes you appear local. Your calls are more likely to be answered. Your calls will be instantly recognizable to customers who see your caller ID. Plus, customers are more likely to see you as part of their community.
Area code 779 covers a lot of space, including its major city, Rockford, IL, and its 148,655 residents. It touches 20 counties, including Will, Winnebago, McHenry, LaSalle, Kankakee, DeKalb, Boone, Ogle, Grundy, and Whiteside.
That includes: much of northern Illinois outside Chicago & its immediate surrounding suburbs. Because of the growing demand for phone numbers, newly activated cell phones, and new residents, 779 has an overlay area code of 815. Both cover the same territory.
There are nearby area codes in the region, like 217 (Springfield, IL), 219 (Hammond, IN), 224/847 (Elgin, IL), 262 (Kenosha, WI), 309 (Peoria, IL), 312 (Chicago, IL), 331/630 (Aurora, IL), 563 (Davenport, IA), 608 (Madison, WI), 708 (Cicero, IL), 765 (Muncie, IN), 773 (Chicago, IL), and 872 (Chicago, IL).
With a local 779 phone number, you can effectively get in front of the right people and establish a foothold in the Rockford, IL area.
What is the business environment like for startups and small businesses in area code 779? After all, newcomers trying to establish a presence in a particular area do well knowing the lay of the land. With so much of the business climate centered on Rockford, we gathered a few vital stats to help you understand what work-life is like in area code 779.
Rockford residents are likely to work within one of the area’s top industries. According to census.gov, these are the most prominent sectors operating in the metropolis:
A career in these sectors means you’re in good company. You might even see some of them represented here in the largest employer’s in Rockford: FCA Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, RPS 205, Rockford Public Schools, Swedishamerican, A Division of UW Health, Woodward, Inc., OSF Healthcare, Collins Aerospace, Rockford Health System, Mcdonald’s, Hamilton Sundstrand.
There are plenty of opportunities in these large industries, with existing employers and infrastructure in area code 779. But you can also strike off on your own, fulfilling your customers’ needs in less common sectors. That gives customers local options for many more goods and services.
Starting a new business? You won’t be alone. From 2019 to 2020, new business applications in Rockford grew 58%. With all those new applications, many new businesses are striving to connect with residents in area code 779. And guess what? They are. The state’s startup survival rate is 78.80%, so many new businesses do well and prosper here.
Even so, the area code’s major city, Rockford, experienced a slight dip (-0.18%) in population between 2019 and 2020. Perhaps that’s because of the area’s 11.4% unemployment rate. Still, it could also represent residents looking outside the urban area for their next home, possibly moving elsewhere in Winnebago County or another county nearby. Rockford residents who make their homes in the city have a household mean income of $61,960.
Reach all the residents of Illinois in area code 779 with OpenPhone. Start a free, seven-day trial. You can start calling and texting today and establish a business presence near your biggest customers.
Try out calling and texting with an area code tied to this flourishing region and confirm OpenPhone is a great fit for your business by starting a free seven-day trial of OpenPhone.
See which specific 779 phone numbers are available and claim your own Rockford, IL number by signing up for a free trial. Here’s how it works: using our service, you can easily set up your local phone number without the need to install any additional hardware. Easily download and install our app, and find the right numbers for your business.
Use the OpenPhone browser, desktop, or mobile app.
Obtain a local 779 phone number easily in Rockford, Illinois. Or port your existing phone number over with no service interruptions. It takes just minutes and is done for you. Once your number is activated, OpenPhone works on any device. Get a phone number and start calling and texting quickly, managing your conversations from an easy-to-use inbox. OpenPhone has apps you can access from a tablet, computer, or smartphone.
OpenPhone works from almost anywhere across the globe, so you can travel or live overseas — and still appear local. Chat with clients across state borders or from a coworking space across continents. All it takes is an internet connection.
Don’t live in the area code that you want a number for? No problem. You can still use your number anywhere without incurring typical long-distance charges. Calling and texting to any US or Canadian number is free with OpenPhone.
Even if you’re working on the road, you can keep conversations organized and professional with OpenPhone. When you’re off, you can automatically mute business notifications after hours.
Easily add a phone menu, caller ID, and business voicemail greetings. That way, you can make a great impression on callers. While your business ID helps customers recognize your calls, your private number is always safe. Just because you’re using a personal device doesn’t mean your cell phone number is visible to customers. Incoming calls to your device show as an OpenPhone number so you can easily see what’s for work and what isn’t.
Sign up for multiple OpenPhone numbers, and always know which calls to your cell phone are for which specific OpenPhone numbers, or are personal.
Get as many phone numbers as your business needs. Spin up new numbers in an instant to expand to new markets or assign any number to a specific teammate. Any numbers are ready to use without visiting a store or sitting on hold with customer service.
Your team can split the responsibility of answering incoming calls and messages by working from a shared number. When you share access, your team can stay aligned and work together to address messages. Assign out tasks and collaborate using threads. And stay responsive in record time by saving go-to message templates as snippets for common queries.
With a local business telephone number in area code 779, it’s easy to appear local and expand your company’s presence in the region. Support your growth by using OpenPhone, the #1 business phone solution on G2.
Michael Seibel CEO at Y Combinator
Jason Ovryn Co-founder & COO at Carry