2025 Compare Cities Cost of Living:
Rochester, NY vs Fairfax, VA

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Highlights
Is it cheaper to live in Fairfax or is it cheaper to live in Rochester?
- Fairfax is 60.7% more expensive than Rochester.

Which city has more affordable housing, Fairfax or Rochester?
- Fairfax housing costs are 399.6% more expensive than Rochester housing costs.

Is Health Care more affordable in Rochester or is Health Care more affordable in Fairfax.
- Health related expenses are 4.3% less in Fairfax.
 Rochester, NYFairfax, VAUnited States
 Overall  Unlock142.4100
 Food & Groceries97.8  Unlock100
 Health  Unlock102.7100
 Housing44.8  Unlock100
 Median Home Cost  Unlock$654,200$338,100
 Utilities103  Unlock100
 Transportation  Unlock127.6100
 Miscellaneous148.6  Unlock100
100 = National Average (Below 100 means cheaper than the US average. Above 100 means more expensive.)
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Reviews for Rochester    79 Reviews

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  More

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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  More

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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  More

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Reviews for Fairfax    28 Reviews

I lived in the area for 17 years through high school until I eventually became a truck driver. Having now seen most states extensively, I wanted to fairly review what  More

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Living in Fairfax, or any of the Northern Virginia suburbs of DC, means dealing with highways that are a Gordian knot of converging lanes and overpasses, making long  More

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Over 10 years ago

The Cost of living here is high. Though the standard of living is also high, unless you're making over 50,000/year, it's difficult to both live and build any sort of  More

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