Living Here

Picture a city with miles of lakeshore, a riverfront sprinkled with waterfalls, and a historic canal that flows through the heart of the small-town Americana. Now, imagine that same city surrounded by glacier-carved lakes, one of the largest collections of cobblestone homes in the country, and world-class wine country. Rochester, NY is a history-rich Erie Canal boomtown complimented by sources like Kiplinger, Fortune, and CNN Money on everything from being insanely brainy to having an incomparable commute. Our community provides residents with a world-class quality of life, arts, sports, and culture of a big city with the comfort of a small town.

Rochester is the birthplace of Fortune 500 firms Eastman Kodak, Xerox Corp., and Bausch & Lomb. It is home to wine giant, Constellation Brands, whose CEO was named Man of the Year by Wine Enthusiast; as well as an upscale grocer, Wegmans Food Markets, consistently ranked among Fortune's "Top 100 Companies to Work For." Some of the country's finest educational institutions, including eleven public high schools, ranked among the Best High Schools in America, also take residence in our great city.

We invite you to visit Rochester and see for yourself why people who move here don't want to leave. Still not convinced? Read on to see why residents believe Rochester is so exceptional.

Why people are moving back to
Rochester, NY

1. Whip Smart.

Student in graduation cap and gown looking up at an academic building.

Lumosity named Rochester, NY the 7th “brainiest” large metro in the nation. Colleges and universities in the Greater Rochester area enroll nearly 80,000 students, grant more than 19,000 degrees annually, and are ranked third in the country for degrees per capita.

2. Rule Breakers and Problem Solvers

"Let’s Have Tea" - Sculpture by Pepsy Kettavong. Seated statues of Frederick Douglass and Susan B. Anthony in a park near Mount Hope Cemetery where both are buried.

As a top 15 patents-per-capita metro region, Rochester, NY is one of 35 U.S. innovation hubs for all things high-tech. With cancer-preventing vaccines, fuel-cell prototypes, and technology that's supporting missions to Mars, Rochester's talent and mind-boggling intelligence ranks #18 among the leading scientific cities in the world.

3. Rochester is a Great Place to Work

Man offers a boy a slice of apple.

New York State has 8 companies listed on both the Great Places to Work Institute and Fortune magazine's Great Place to Work lists, and four of those companies are located right in Rochester, NY: Dixon Schwabl, ESL, Sage Rutty, and Wegmans have all been ranked among the top 15 Best Places to Work for in America.

4. Seasoned in Seasons

Photo of a bridge with fall colored leaves.

People in Rochester, NY experience the beauty of all four seasons without having to deal with the difficulties that the changing weather brings to other areas such as wildfires, hurricanes, and tornadoes. Additionally, Rochester’s favorable location keeps its residents out of the wake of destructive earthquakes.

5. Swingin'!

Sunny photo of a golf course.

Golfers in Rochester, NY play like pros. Named one of the Top 10 Best Golf Cities in America by Golf.com, Rochester offers a year-round quality of life that's second to none. And how's this for a hole-in-one? Courses in Rochester have hosted countless big-name tournaments since the early 1900s, including the PGA, LPGA and the Ryder Cup.

6. Wine Not?

A hand holds a half full glass of white wine next to some grapes on the vine.

Beauty isn't the only thing the ever-changing seasons in Rochester, NY is good for. The area's cool climate yields wines with lower alcohol, higher acidity, and better all-around balance. These factors are why Rochester's Finger Lakes Region is able to produce so many world-class Rieslings.

7. Fast and Easy

Car drives under a bridge at sunset.

Rochester, NY was not only named Kiplinger's Best City in the U.S. for Commuters, it was also named CNN Money's 2nd least stressed out city, which is in part because of the short commutes. Not to mention, Rochester is located within 500 miles of major Northeast markets like New York City, Boston, and Toronto.