Photo: Patrick Ashley · CC BY 2.0Household incomes in Rochester trail those of 91% of U.S. towns
The trip to work takes 19 minutes on average, against 33 across New York and 26 nationally. 27.8% of residents live below the poverty line, against 14.0% across New York. About two in five work in Rochester itself; outside it, Henrietta draws the most (8%, 8 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What the numbers say about work in Rochester
Commutes from Rochester are quick
The average trip to work takes 19 minutes, against 33 across New York. That’s about 107 hours a year less on the road than the typical New York worker. Time on the road ↓
Rochester is where the jobs are
Rochester has 138,565 jobs, 1.8 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
The jobs in Rochester pay better than its residents’ jobs
66% of the jobs based in Rochester pay over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year), against 49% of the jobs Rochester residents hold. 76% of the jobs here are held by people who live outside Rochester. The jobs ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey.
What drives the Jobs & income grade in Rochester
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Rochester is better than 21% of U.S. towns, #641 of 758 in New York. Job access by car holds Rochester’s grade up; the poverty rate pulls it down.
A firm grade. At either end of the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Rochester stays C−.
Time on the road from Rochester: about 19 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Rochester workers work from home, vs 15% across New York. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 82,654 commuters (the 13% who work from home are left out). Across New York: 57% drive alone, 25% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
Who works in Rochester, and who works elsewhere
On a workday 45,607 residents head out to work, 32,750 work right here, and 105,815 people come in from elsewhere.
About 266,000 people are in Rochester on a workday afternoon, 29% more than live here.
1.8 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than out.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
66% of the jobs in Rochester pay over $3,333 a month
138,565 jobs are based in Rochester.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Rochester, 2013 → 2023: 132,558 → 138,565. Big swings can come from how a large employer reports its locations, not only from real openings or closings.
Primary jobs covered by unemployment insurance (not the self-employed). Pay is monthly earnings. LEHD 2023.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Rochester’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Commuting in to Rochester: where workers come from
Where Rochester clocks in
8% of workers
5% of workers
4% of workersLines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
Where in the region Rochester works
About 15% show a job over 50 miles away. Some of that is real, and some is employers that report every worker at a head office, so a few long commutes are on paper only.
Straight-line distance from each worker’s home block to their main job’s block. LEHD 2023.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Rochester is more walkable than 98% of U.S. towns
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 94,493 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 99% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 86% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 11.9 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 95% of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 23.4% of Rochester households have no vehicle (New York 29.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 6% of Rochester’s commuters take a bus or train.
These are town averages; neighborhoods differ.
U.S. towns of 144,000 to 278,000, and where Rochester sits
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | North Hempstead NY | 238,982 | $158K | 4.5% | 4.1% | 20% | A |
| 2 | Frisco TX | 236,955 | $150K | 3.6% | 4.6% | 14% | A |
| 3 | Olathe KS | 150,025 | $114K | 5.6% | 2.7% | 26% | A |
| 4 | Huntington NY | 205,891 | $168K | 5.0% | 4.3% | 23% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 16 | Babylon NY | 219,766 | $128K | 6.1% | 4.8% | 21% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 123 | Akron OH | 189,691 | $48K | 23.3% | 7.8% | 31% | C− |
| 124 | Springfield MA | 154,702 | $53K | 25.8% | 8.7% | 37% | C− |
| 125 | Rochester NY | 206,108 | $47K | 27.8% | 7.9% | 42% | C− |
| 126 | Brownsville TX | 192,957 | $52K | 23.7% | 6.2% | 54% | C− |
| 127 | Augusta GA | 206,559 | $56K | 20.0% | 8.5% | 48% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 133 | Macon-Bibb County GA | 157,556 | $51K | 24.7% | 8.1% | 53% | D |
Census ACS 2020–24 (income, poverty, unemployment), Census LEHD (work in town), TownRatings Jobs & income grades. Each town links to its Work & commute page.
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Rochester, the top three, the last and three more from New York.
16% of Rochester works in a bordering town
The biggest share goes to Greece (5%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Rochester workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rochester | – | C− | A+ | 19 min | $47,213 |
| Irondequoit | 3% | B+ | A− | 20 min | $79,162 |
| Greece | 5% | B | B | 21 min | $79,783 |
| Brighton | 4% | B+ | A | 17 min | $85,467 |
| Chili | under 3% | A− | B | 21 min | $89,793 |
| Gates | 4% | B+ | B | 18 min | $77,080 |
| North Gates | under 3% | — | — | 18 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. North Gates: a Census-designated place inside a larger town, graded as part of it. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Rochester’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Two sources, two years. Trips, distances and jobs based here: Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs, where the employer reports them. Income, poverty, unemployment, commute time and how people travel: Census ACS 2020–24 averages.
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Rochester: questions
What is the median household income in Rochester?
$47,213 (±$1,632) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $85,974 across New York and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Rochester?
27.8%, against 14.0% across New York and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Rochester?
19 minutes each way on average, against 33 across New York and 26 nationally. 12% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Rochester work?
42% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Henrietta (8%, 8 mi), Greece (5%, 7 mi), Brighton (4%, 4 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Rochester walkable?
Rochester is more walkable than 98% of U.S. towns (Walkability A+): an EPA walkability index of 13.9 out of 20, and 12% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Rochester without a car?
6% of commuters take transit and 23% of households have no car. 86% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Rochester, from the people who make the trip.
More of Rochester
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2023, primary jobs. Commute time, working from home and working out of state: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates. Distances are straight lines between home and work; real drives run longer. Walkability index, job access and transit service: U.S. EPA Smart Location Database. The two grades are our own summaries of these figures, not official ratings.