Best PlacesRochester, MI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Rochester, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Rochester ranks 79th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on health care access by a wide margin, and car insurance costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Rochester
BestNeighborhood is the only ranking that scores 40 measures of daily life neighborhood by neighborhood and lets you re-weight every one of them yourself.
Rochester's strengths and weaknesses
Where Rochester ranks high
- Healthcare accessBetter than 98% of cities
- Educational attainmentBetter than 97% of cities
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 96% of cities
- Voter turnoutBetter than 96% of cities
- Heat safetyBetter than 96% of cities
Where Rochester ranks low
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 5% of cities
- Cell coverageBetter than only 11% of cities
- Local economyBetter than only 20% of cities
- State infrastructureBetter than only 33% of cities
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 35% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Rochester
A household needs to earn about $147,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Rochester home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $158,958, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.
Where the monthly payment goes
Assumes a 20% down payment, a 6.6% 30-year fixed rate, and a 28% share of income going to the payment. The rate is the 2026-07-23 30-year fixed average, series MORTGAGE30US from the St. Louis Fed, which publishes Freddie Mac's weekly survey. Against the median home value, property tax uses Rochester's effective rate of 1.06%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Rochester
Rochester runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Rochester.
Who works in Rochester, and how
Work in Rochester centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 69%
- Work from home 29%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Rochester
Rochester has more restaurants and bars per resident than 79% of cities and more parkland per resident than 86% of cities. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Rochester and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Rochester, month by month
Rochester sees roughly 95 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 34, with lows near 23. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 34° | 28° | 23° |
| April | 59° | 48° | 40° |
| July | 85° | 75° | 66° |
| October | 65° | 55° | 47° |
Flying in and out of Rochester
The nearest airport, Bishop International, is about 35 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Detroit Metro Wayne County, about 36 miles away.
The best schools in and around Rochester
Schools across Rochester average an A−, better than 78% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Brewster Elementary SchoolA · 65% proficient
- Long Meadow Elementary SchoolA · 63% proficient
- Delta Kelly Elementary SchoolA− · 61% proficient
Top middle schools
- Scripps Middle SchoolB · 47% proficient
Top high schools
- Rochester Adams High SchoolA− · 62% proficient
- Van Hoosen Middle SchoolB+ · 58% proficient
- Stoney Creek High SchoolB+ · 56% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Rochester school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Rochester measure by measure
Cards are ordered by how much each measure matters to you, so the ones you weighted highest come first. Expand to see every measure. Percentages compare Rochester against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Rochester suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 96% of cities and 29% already work from home.
Retirees
The weather beats 57% of cities, health care access beats 98%, and it is quieter than 94%.
Common questions about living in Rochester
Is Rochester a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Rochester ranks 79th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on health care access, an educated workforce, and what local pay buys, and lowest on car insurance costs and cell coverage. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Rochester expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $541,826. The overall cost of living runs about 4% above the national average. Set against a $158,958 median income, cost of living beats 96% of cities.
Is Rochester safe?
Yes, Rochester is safer than 87% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $226 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Rochester?
July highs average about 85 degrees, and January highs near 34 with lows near 23. That works out to about 95 pleasant days a year, more than 57% of cities.
Is Rochester good for families?
Schools beat 78% of cities, crime safety beats 87%, and childcare runs $916 a month.
Compare Rochester with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Rochester. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Rochester represents the same real quantity as a 60 anywhere else, and the ranking is a weighted average of those absolutes. The map colors come from a national scale calibrated against a population weighted random sample of 5,000 neighborhoods. That absolute scoring is what no other places-to-live ranking does: it puts a single neighborhood, a town, a metro, and a state on one scale, so the same 40 measures answer both which metro to move to and which street inside it to buy on. Read the full methodology.
Rochester detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Rochester: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Rochester: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Rochester: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Rochester: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Rochester detail on related sites:
- CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
- ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
- CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.
Federal and public data:
- U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey: income, home value, rent, vacancy, commute time and mode, educational attainment, home age, age structure, household type, industry, and race.
- NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
- FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
- Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
- FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
- U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
- FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
- CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
- National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
- FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
- Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.
Your priorities
Move a slider to say how much a measure matters. Zero turns it off.