Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 3,358, settled in 1799.
Rochester gives you more for your money than most places: homes are within reach, about $117K for a typical one, or 1.5 years of the Pittsburgh metro’s $76K median household income. It grades C− overall, 980th of 1032 graded towns in Pennsylvania. The low prices come with trade-offs. CDC estimates put its residents' health behind 96% of the country, and its crime rate is higher than 86% of U.S. towns, with 7 violent crimes reported to the FBI in 2025. On the plus side, it is more walkable than 96% of U.S. towns. 24% of residents live below the poverty line in Rochester, above both the Pennsylvania town median (7.6%) and the median of U.S. towns (9.6%). On civic life, just 169 of Pennsylvania’s 1,717 towns do worse. Rochester's schools rank behind 68% of the state's.
Where Rochester beats most towns, and one thing worth knowing.
Where Rochester’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Pennsylvania), ordered by how far Rochester is from typical.
Its grades run from A+ for walkability (better than 96% of comparable towns) to D− for health (better than 4%), so the C− overall blends very different results.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 993 in 1850, a peak of 7,726 in 1930, 3,472 in 2020. The archive holds 6 old photos and papers going back to 1890 and 4 maps from 1901 on.
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 has homes that are cheap against local pay, but it has poverty well above the Pennsylvania rate and reports property crime at about twice the Pennsylvania rate.
25% of Rochester adults smoke cigarettes. Rochester beats the Pennsylvania average on 1 of 26 CDC measures and trails it on 19. 34% of Rochester adults get no exercise outside work.
| Rochester | Pennsylvania towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 25% | 16% | 14% |
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 18% | 14% | 14% |
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 21% | 16% | 17% |
| Fair or poor health (CDC PLACES) | 28% | 19% | 19% |
| What stands out | Rochester | PA |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults who have had cancer | 7.9% | 8.8% |
| More older adults who have lost all their teeth | 25% | 14.5% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 92% of U.S. communities. One flood insurance claim has been paid in Rochester since 1996.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Property crime runs at 28.2 per 1,000 residents, about twice the Pennsylvania rate, most of it theft.
The property crime rate in Rochester is 28.2 per 1,000 residents. Rochester reports more crime per resident than most U.S. towns we grade: about 86% report less.
| Rochester | Pennsylvania towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 28.2 per 1,000 residents | 5.7 | 9.9 |
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 1.8 per 1,000 residents | 0.7 | 1.6 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
Jobs based here fell from 1,412 in 2013 to 1,057. The average commute for its 1,504 working residents takes 18.1 minutes, against 26.3 across Pennsylvania.
Most working residents leave Rochester for work: only 3% work in town. Rochester’s average trip to work is 18 minutes. Jobs based in Rochester fell to 1,057 in 2023, 355 fewer than in 2013.
| Rochester | Pennsylvania towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average trip to work | 18 minutes | 26 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Median household income | $43,000 | $81,000 | $80,000 |
| Working residents who work in town | 3% | 6.3% | 8% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Rochester has chilly winters and warm summers. July afternoons reach 84°, January nights drop to 21° and about 20 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Rochester Riverfront Park | — | 3 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
At 1.5 years of the Pittsburgh metro’s $76K median household income, the typical home costs less against local pay than in 96% of Pennsylvania towns; that ratio is one input to its B+ for cost of living.
43% of households own their home in Rochester.
| Rochester | Pennsylvania towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 43% | 78% | 73% |
| Median rent | $801 a month | $1,116 a month | $1,185 a month |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Rochester. Close and well known come first.
Big draw23 mi Stadium & arenaAcrisure Stadium
23 mi LandmarkFort Duquesne
23 mi Stadium & arenaPNC Park
31 mi Theme parkKennywood
24 mi Stadium & arenaPPG Paints Arena
23 mi LandmarkFort PittAcrisure Stadium: Fo2grfr, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Fort Duquesne: Sébastien Paquin, CC BY-SA 3.0 · PNC Park: alpineinc, CC BY 2.0 · Kennywood: Ski2007 of English Wikipedia, Public domain · PPG Paints Arena: Jleedev, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Fort Pitt: Downtown_Pittsburgh_May_2008.jpg: Allie Caufield derivative work: GrapedApe (tal, CC BY 2.0
5 within 15 miles of the center of Rochester
About 5 of every 100 Rochester residents are enrolled in college, about the same as Pennsylvania.
17 notable people were born in Rochester.
Borough in Pennsylvania, US
Rochester is a borough in Beaver County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is located at the confluence of the Beaver and Ohio rivers 25 miles (40 km) northwest of Pittsburgh. The population was 3,472 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Pittsburgh metropolitan area. Like many towns around Pittsburgh, Rochester was a former industrial hub, home to the H. C. Fry Glass Company, and was a major junction on the Pennsylvania Railroad. Rochester has been a background for films, including the 1986 movie Gung Ho, the 1996 movie Kingpin, and the 2000 movie Wonder Boys.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
4 towns share a border with Rochester.
| Town | PA rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rochester | #980 | C− | B+ | D | C | D− |
| Rochester Township | #754 | C+ | A | — | C | C− |
| East Rochester | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Bridgewater | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Monaca | #318 | A− | A | B | B | B− |
Rochester Township reports no FBI crime data of its own. East Rochester and Bridgewater aren’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.
Rochester grades C− overall, better than 15% of U.S. towns and #980 of 1032 in Pennsylvania. It grades D− for health, D for safety and C for schools. Health is its weak spot, with a D−.
Not for the area. The typical home is worth about $117,000, 59% below the Pennsylvania typical home. Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades B+.
17 notable people were born here, including Tony Dorsett and Oliver B. Shallenberger.
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