Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A city of 124,292, settled in 1854. Home to Rochester Community and Technical College.
Trash & recyclingRochester is a city of 124,292, and it grades B overall, 188th of 271 graded towns in Minnesota. It is healthier than 84% of U.S. towns and it is more walkable than 83% of U.S. towns. The trade-off: FEMA rates its natural-hazard risk higher than 76% of U.S. communities, with inland flooding at the top. 76% of working residents work locally in Rochester, above both the Minnesota town median (9.7%) and the median of U.S. towns (8%). Rochester has 13 places on the National Register of Historic Places, among them Mayo Clinic Buildings and Dr. William J. Mayo House.
Where Rochester beats most towns.
| College | Students |
|---|---|
| Rochester Community and Technical College | 3,164 |
| Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science | 1,480 |
| University of Minnesota-Rochester | 571 |
Mayo Clinic Buildings is a National Historic Landmark, the National Register’s top tier.
Census counts: 1,424 in 1860, 121,395 in 2020. The archive holds 6 old photos and papers going back to 1883 and 3 maps from 1939 on.
13 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Minnesota), ordered by how far Rochester is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Who provides power, water and the rest in Rochester, and how to reach them.
EPA SDWIS (Oct 9, 2026) · HIFLD + EIA-861 2025 · Census 2020 ZCTAs · NCES 2024–25 · registration: vote.gov, updated Nov 18, 2024.
Ordered by what stands out in Rochester.
Rochester draws workers from Byron and beyond, but it carries more natural-hazard risk than most of Minnesota (mostly inland flooding).
96,136 jobs are based in Rochester, 1.6 for every working resident, so most of the people who work here commute in.
The average trip to work in Rochester is 17 minutes. Jobs based in Rochester grew to 96,136 in 2023, 17,141 more than in 2013. The top destinations are Minneapolis (2%), Stewartville (1%) and Eden Prairie (1%).
| Rochester | Minnesota towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average trip to work | 17 minutes | 23 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Work from home | 15% | 14% | 11% |
| Below the poverty line | 8.5% | 7% | 9.6% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Its public schools are run by the Rochester Public School District. Three of its 62 schools are below, each with why it’s listed.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dakota Middle SchoolLargest public middle schoolGrades 6–8 | Grades 6–8 | 921 | – |
| Mayo High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 1,787 | B+ |
| Folwell Elementary SchoolTop results in townGrades PK–5 | Grades PK–5 | 352 | A |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within MN on state tests and graduation
34 miles of trail in 115 parks and preserves. The biggest place to walk is Gamehaven Reservoir Park, 299 acres with 1.1 miles of trail.
| Rochester | Minnesota towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.6 miles per square mile | 0.5 | 0.4 |
| Conserved land | 4.1% | 4.7% | 4.3% |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Quarry Hill Park | 7.4 mi | 248 |
| 2. Willow Creek Reservoir Park | 3 mi | 196 |
| 3. Essex Park | 3 mi | 167 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
72% of Rochester adults had a checkup this year. Rochester beats the Minnesota average on 4 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 0. 28% of Rochester adults feel lonely.
| Rochester | Minnesota towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yearly checkup (CDC PLACES) | 72% | 75% | 79% |
| Feel lonely (CDC PLACES) | 28% | 30% | 33% |
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 10% | 12% | 14% |
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 14% | 16% | 17% |
| What stands out | Rochester | MN |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer smokers | 11.4% | 13.1% |
| Fewer adults with COPD | 4.7% | 5.4% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
FEMA rates its natural-hazard risk higher than 91% of Minnesota towns, with expected losses of about $465 per resident a year; that rating is what its C− for hazard risk is built on.
Since 1978, 526 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Rochester.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Rochester has cold, snowy winters and pleasant summers. Rochester’s July high is 82°F.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
The typical Rochester home is worth about $341,000, up 3.5% in a year, close to the Minnesota typical home. 65% of households own their home in Rochester.
| Rochester | Minnesota towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 65% | 75% | 73% |
| Median rent | $1,399 a month | $1,192 a month | $1,185 a month |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
3 within 15 miles of the center of Rochester
About 6 of every 100 Rochester residents are enrolled in college, about the same as Minnesota.
3 colleges in town.
13 places in Rochester on the National Register of Historic Places.
46 notable people were born in Rochester.
City in Minnesota, United States
Rochester is a city in and the county seat of Olmsted County, Minnesota, United States. It is located along rolling bluffs on the Zumbro River's south fork in Southeast Minnesota. The population was 121,395 at the 2020 census, and was estimated at 124,292 in 2025, making it the third-most populous city in Minnesota. The Rochester metropolitan area has an estimated 230,000 residents. The city is the home and birthplace of Mayo Clinic. Rochester first developed as a stagecoach stop between Dubuque, Iowa, and Saint Paul, Minnesota. With the creation of the Mayo Clinic in 1864, Rochester became a national center for healthcare, as well as a hub for regional agriculture. For higher education nee…
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
6 towns share a border with Rochester.
| Town | MN rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rochester | #188 | B | C+ | C+ | B− | A− |
| Cascade Township | #183 | B | C | — | B− | A |
| Rochester Township | — | — | C− | — | B− | A |
| Haverhill Township | — | — | C− | — | B− | A |
| Marion Township | #157 | B+ | B | — | B− | B+ |
| High Forest Township | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Kalmar Township | — | — | B | — | A+ | A |
Rochester Township, Haverhill Township and Kalmar Township have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. Cascade Township, Rochester Township, Haverhill Township, Marion Township and Kalmar Township report no FBI crime data of their own. High Forest Township isn’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare Rochester with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
By most measures, yes. Rochester grades B overall, better than 61% of U.S. towns and #188 of 271 in Minnesota. It grades A− for health, C+ for safety and B− for schools. Hazard risk is its weak spot, with a C−.
Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades C+.
46 notable people were born here, including Lea Thompson and Bethanie Mattek-Sands.
