Follow
Please add profiles of those who were born, lived or died in Rochester, New York.
Rochester is the county seat of Monroe County in western New York.
Overview
Rochester was one of America's first boomtowns, initially due to the fertile Genesee River Valley, which gave rise to numerous flour mills, and then as a manufacturing hub. Several of the region's universities (notably the University of Rochester and Rochester Institute of Technology) have renowned research programs. Rochester is the site of many important inventions and innovations in consumer products. The Rochester area has been the birthplace and home to Kodak, Western Union, French's, Bausch & Lomb, Wegman's, Gannett, Paychex, Ragú, Gleason and Xerox, which conduct extensive research and manufacturing of industrial and consumer products. Until 2010, the Rochester metropolitan area was the second-largest regional economy in New York State, after the New York City metropolitan area. Rochester's GMP has since ranked just below Buffalo, New York, while exceeding it in per-capita income.
Rochester is also known for its culture, in particular its music culture; institutions such as the Eastman School of Music (considered to be one of the most prestigious conservatories in the world) and the Rochester International Jazz Festival anchor a vibrant music industry, ranked as one of the top-10 music scenes in the US in terms of the concentration of musicians and music-related business. It is the site of multiple major festivals every year (such as the Lilac Festival, the aforementioned Jazz Festival, the Rochester Fringe Festival, and others that draw hundreds of thousands of attendees each) and is home to several world-famous museums such as The Strong National Museum of Play and the George Eastman Museum, the oldest photography collection in the world and one of the largest.
The 25th edition of the Places Rated Almanac rated Rochester as the "most livable city" in 2007, among 379 U.S. metropolitan areas. In 2010, Forbes rated Rochester as the third-best place to raise a family in the United States. In 2012, Kiplinger rated Rochester as the fifth-best city in the United States for families, citing low cost of living, top public schools, and a low jobless rate.
Rochester is a Global city with Sufficiency status.
Links