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Rochester, NY is a vibrant city that offers a plethora of activities and attractions for visitors to enjoy. It is known for its art scene, which includes the Rochester Museum & Science Center and the George Eastman Museum as well as numerous galleries, performance venues and festivals. The city also boasts a lively music scene with multiple jazz clubs, and there are numerous outdoor activities like canoeing on Irondequoit Bay or taking part in the Susan B Anthony Bikeway System. For those seeking some culture, Rochester has a theater district with multiple venues as well as an opera house and symphony orchestra. Nature lovers will find plenty to appreciate in Rochester's many parks including Seneca Park Zoo, Highland Park and Genesee Valley Park. Overall, reviews of Rochester are overwhelmingly positive - visitors love it for its culture, beauty and variety of activities.
based on 79 ReviewsGet to know Rochester with the latest comments and reviews from people who live in or have visited Rochester
Rochester is pretty good... mostly - 3/19/2024
Stay out of the rougher patches, and you'll find a pretty solid city. I live within close proximity to it, and the crime from it DOES rub off on us (auto theft), but Rochester has cool stuff.
Use common sense, lock your car, probably use something that locks the wheel, keep your wits about you, yadda yadda. Just don't do anything dumb and stay in the safer parts, and you'll be
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It's not perfect, but we love it here - 12/28/2022
Rochester isn't perfect (I'll detail pros and cons), but it's certainly perfect for me and my husband. We've lived here for 4 years and are getting ready to purchase our first home here.
Pros:
-Affordable housing (you can still find beautiful/historic homes under 200k)
-Decent and affordable public transit if you live in the city (or immediately outside of the city) and a great city for bike commuting
-All four seasons
-Traffic is not a concern compared to other cities like the DMV area or NYC
-It's the perfect size - I truly believe mid-sized cities are up and coming (it's not too big and overwhelming like NYC but not too small where you're bored all the time)
-So many festivals, farmers markets, flea markets, etc
-So much history and pride in this city
-Proximity to Canadian border makes for fun and quick weekend trips
-Climate Haven - Rochester, like many other cities in the Northern US (Madison WI, Chicago IL,
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Scenic city with lots to do - 11/11/2021
Rochester is a scenic city with so much to offer in terms of things to do and having 4 seasons, except the summer is more like a long spring!! It's a relatively unknown city that is being revitalized with lots of money being pumped in from the government. Lots of snow but not as cold as it should be (southern tier and eastern part of nys is colder!!) because of proximity to great lakes and the finger lakes. Love living
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"Rottenchester" lives up to it's nickname - 10/10/2021
The crime rate is out of control at least 1 homocide a week if not daily, the CIty government is corrupt-the Mayor recently resigned so she wouldn't go to prison and her husband is facing gun and drug charges; not to mention she put all her relatives in positions within the city; the police department has been neutered by the previously mentioned mayor; welfare fraud is rampant, traffic is miserable due to the never ending road construction, the economy is a slowly sinking ship - even Wegmans, the flagship store of Rochester is floundering with prices being raised daily and quality going down; what was once a beautiful, culturally advanced city is becoming a wasteland of crime with no punishment.
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If you think planet Hoth is a nice place to live. - 1/30/2021
Just moved out of rochester after being there 9 years. If you have a decent job lined up already and can afford to live in the east side suburbs thats your best bet. The inner city is crime laden, horrible school graduation rates. Ignorant people. Lifers that have never left the area that think there isnt anything better out there. The food is crap. Its so bad, they are only known for a “garbage plate” which is just random dinner food sloshed on a plate. Pizza, forget it. There are a few Joes Brooklyn around and thats your best bet if you want Anything that tastes close to a decent slice you would get in the ny metro area. Chinese, you will hunt and hunt for a decent place...good luck. Tom wahls burger joint is the only thing i would like to hit up on a visit back. Upscale restaurants are few and far. Id give them a B- on average. The real ass of rochester are the taxes and weather. You might think its not that bad in terms of total snow fall. But what you have to figure in is the
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I hated Rotten/Roachester NY - 11/8/2020
I’ve lived in Rochester my whole life until I couldn’t take it anymore so I moved. Rochester used to be a place of great opportunity, not anymore. The lack of jobs, nothing to do (but to go to Wegmans and the Lilac Festival), increased crime, rude people, and the further deterioration of the city under Lovely Warren’s watch has made it a very crappy place to live. My friends and family that live there now are thinking of moving as many businesses have closed down with the opening up of crappy jobs because of COVID19. My cousin had to get a remote job out of town as there aren’t any jobs in Rottenchester. The only jobs available are working at a factory, grocery stores, gas station, running your own business, or freelancing. People were knifing each other down for the few and crappy race to the bottom jobs left when I was in Rochester. I was part of a young adult group there and everyone was complaining and whining how Rochester sucks. Most left that year and we were puzzled when
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History and Beautiful City with Culture - 6/8/2020
I have lived in the Rochester city area for 8 years. Moved from Texas and I love it here. The large amount of snow is really a plus for me and it hasn't lost it's novelty (I appreciate the snow more and more every year!). And the summers are really cool compared to most anywhere else in the country. With an interesting and unique city history, Rochester had a huge, famous nursery in the 1800s (hence the Flower City after initially being the Flour City before the midwest took over the mill industry). Thus, it's possible to grow really beautiful gardens here with the rich soil, temperate climate, and dependable rain from Lake Ontario.
The arts and music scene here (both classical and popular music) is fantastic, and appreciation and knowledge for the arts among Rochesterians is unique compared to the rest of the United States. The houses in the city are historic and very, very affordable. The restaurant scene in terms of variety and options are endless. And with Wegmans in
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HOW I LOVE ROCHESTER NY - 5/21/2020
I lived in Rochester NY for 4 years never no crime in Rochester just maybe 1 murder a week or half and the other place I lived was Newark NJ I got 4 cars stolen from my dad and I lived there 3 years I never got no car stolen in Rochester. so Rochester NY is a historic beautiful downtown Rochester really has cheap houses you should move if you live in Buffalo NY that
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Ok - 4/16/2020
I lived in Rochester. It is a pretty nice place. Its very safe. When we moved here, my daughter was starting seventh grade. She wears a hijab (head scarf) she was worried that she would get bullied because of it, but I told her not to worry. She did get bullied. She informed the principal, and the kids got suspended. That only made things worse. The bullying got so bad that me and my husband decided to move her to a new school. She was treated better there.
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Great place if you can enjoy all seasons - 5/1/2019
Moved here for a job at a defense contractor in 2017.
One Negative - you have to find a way to make the winter a positive - get the right gear and and outdoor winter activity.
After that the area is great. Low traffic, great waterway access, up and coming restaurant scene. People are not initially overly friendly, but generally honest and genuine when you get to know them. Culture and art, etc. Finger lakes region is
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