2025 Compare Cities Rankings:
Ithaca, NY vs Rochester, MN

#1 Emerging Metropolitan Areas

#1 Most Secure Places to Live 2011 (Small Towns)

#2 Best Green Cities

#3 Most Secure Places to Live in the U.S. (Small Towns)

#22 Most Competitive Private Colleges

#9 Most Comfortable Summer Cities

#10 Most Secure Places to Live 2011 (Mid-Size Cities)

#18 America's Best and Worst Cities for Crime (Smallest Metro Areas)

#101 Best Green Cities

#113 America's Most (and Least) Stressful Cities (117 Smallest Metro Areas)

#144 2005 Best Places to Live

For a small city, its downtown has grown significantly and serves as the hub of the community. The Ithaca Commons remains the central gathering space for locals,  More

Great place to live. Lots to do, vibrant culture, and beautiful scenery. Don't fear the winter--it's even beautiful then. Only complaint is the housing market. Way  More

I was born, raised, educated there (Ithaca High and Cornell). In my opinion, before leaving to pursue my career, it seemed like the most beautiful, clean, low crime,  More

Roch (and Minnesota) is a great place IF you live off the govt dole; subsidize undesirable things (through generous welfare benefits, lax law enforcement and sentences,  More

Rochester is very vanilla. As a progressive, this place is not good. The area leans conservative and you'll see Trump signs everywhere... so that tells you the type of  More

I moved here over 20 years ago from California and I was in shock for the first couple of years that people actually lived in such a cold climate! Winter starts around  More