Rochester, NY
Rochester, NY Metro Area
Figures are medians for the whole Rochester, NY Metro Area, not the city proper.
Among the 300 U.S. metros CityLedger tracks, Rochester ranks 170th for affordability — how far a typical paycheck stretches after local prices — and 142nd for income. A household earns $76,453 a year while median rent runs $1,172/mo, making it moderately affordable for what residents earn. Affordability and price level are different lenses: the raw cost of living here runs 3% below the U.S. average.
Its strongest card is hazard safety (17th of 300), while cost of living is the soft spot (181st). Housing usually decides a move: rent ranks 125th and home prices 71st among the 300 metros CityLedger tracks.
For your salary & household
Enter your pay and household size to see what it's really worth here — the numbers update live and the link stays shareable.
On $75,000 for just you in Rochester, your take-home is worth about $59,559 once local prices are factored in — local prices stretch it further than the U.S. average.
Take-home estimates a single filer taking the standard deduction (2025 federal brackets, FICA, and state income tax) and isn't tax advice. “Real value” rebases take-home to average U.S. prices using the BEA cost-of-living index; the per-person figure uses the OECD square-root equivalence scale.
The numbers
Income & cost
- Median income
- 142nd of 300↑23.1%$76,453
- Cost of living?The local price level vs. the U.S. average of 100 (BEA). Lower means cheaper. This is raw prices, not adjusted for income.
- 181st of 30097 (US=100)
- Cost-adj. income?Median household income divided by the local price level — what the typical paycheck is really worth here.
- $78,789
- Per-capita income
- $42,950
- Full-time pay
- $47,149
Housing
- Median rent
- 125th of 300↑30.4%$1,172/mo
- Home value
- 71st of 300↑55.3%$234,100
- Property tax
- $5,313/yr · 2.3%
- Sales tax
- 8.53%
Jobs & education
- Unemployment
- 29th of 3003%
- Bachelor's+
- 87th of 30038.9%
- Avg commute
- 35th of 30020.8 min
People
- Population
- 1,057,218
- Population change
- -1.2%
- Median age
- 41.1 yrs
- Foreign-born
- 7.3%
- Broadband
- 92%
Environment & risk
- Air quality (AQI)
- 52nd of 30039
- Natural-hazard loss
- 17th of 300$7/$10k
Health
- Fair/poor health
- 34th of 30015.8%
- Uninsured (18–64)
- 6.3%
Sources: U.S. Census Bureau (ACS), U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, U.S. EPA, FEMA, CDC, NOAA — every figure's source is listed on our methodology page. Data built 2026-06-14. ↑↓ mark the change since 2019.
How CityLedger scores it
Transparent weights — see our methodology.
Strengths
- + Home prices
- + Job market
- + Education
- + Commute
- + Air quality
- + Hazard safety
- + Health
Watch-outs
- —
Climate
30-year normals (1991–2020) from the nearest station — rochester gtr intl.
What jobs pay in Rochester
Median annual wage by occupation (BLS OEWS 2025) — half of workers in each role earn more, half less.
- Family medicine physicians
- $215,340
- IT managers
- $170,000
- Financial managers
- $167,800
- Lawyers
- $148,150
- Pharmacists
- $136,310
- Software developers
- $122,770
- General & operations managers
- $103,690
- Civil engineers
- $99,460
- Police officers
- $92,920
- Registered nurses
- $86,570
- Accountants & auditors
- $80,890
- Web developers
- $79,930
- Electricians
- $77,310
- Secondary school teachers
- $76,190
- Plumbers
- $73,580
- Elementary school teachers
- $62,840
- Carpenters
- $59,490
- Truck drivers (heavy)
- $58,920
- Maintenance & repair workers
- $49,990
- Construction laborers
- $49,290
- Waiters & waitresses
- $45,310
- Customer service reps
- $44,740
- Janitors
- $37,160
- Retail salespersons
- $34,650
- Cashiers
- $33,850
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS 2025 — annual median wage. Cross-industry, all experience levels.
Where new residents move from
The states sending the most people to the Rochester metro, by estimated movers (U.S. Census 2022 migration flows, 5-year). Moves from elsewhere in New York are excluded to show where out-of-state arrivals originate.
- Pennsylvania2,465
- Massachusetts1,490
- Florida1,445
- New Jersey1,292
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2022 Migration Flows (5-year).
Cities like Rochester
Closest matches across cost, income, size, education, and age — tap to compare.
Rochester metro — frequently asked
- What is the median rent in the Rochester metro?
- Median gross rent across the Rochester, NY Metro Area is $1,172 a month (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024). That figure covers the whole metro area, not just the city of Rochester.
- What is the median household income in the Rochester metro?
- A typical household in the Rochester, NY Metro Area earns $76,453 a year (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- Is Rochester expensive to live in?
- The overall cost of living in the Rochester, NY Metro Area runs about 3% below the U.S. average (BEA Regional Price Parities, 2024) — prices are lower than average, before accounting for local pay.
- Does a paycheck go far in the Rochester metro?
- After adjusting for local prices, the median household income is worth about $78,789 (versus its face value of $76,453). CityLedger rates the Rochester, NY Metro Area moderately affordable for what residents earn.
- What is the typical home value in the Rochester metro?
- The median home value across the Rochester, NY Metro Area is $234,100 (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- What is the unemployment rate in the Rochester metro?
- The unemployment rate in the Rochester, NY Metro Area is 3% (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).