Rochester is a city in Monroe County, New York State, south of Lake Ontario in the United States. The Rochester metropolitan area is the second largest economy in New York State, behind the New York City metropolitan area. Known as The World's Image Centre, it was also once known as The Flour City, and more recently as The Flower City. It is the county seat for Monroe County.
Rochester's population is approximately 207,000, making it New York's third largest city. It is at the center of a larger Metropolitan Area which encompasses and extends past Monroe County and includes Genesee County, Livingston County, Ontario County, Orleans County and Wayne County. This area, which is part of the Western New York region, had a population of 1,037,831 people in the 2000 Census. As of July 1, 2005, this population rose slightly to 1,039,028.
Rochester was ranked #6 among 379 U.S. Metro areas in the 25th edition of the Places Rated Almanac for Most Livable Cities. In 2007, Rochester was ranked as the top city in the country by Expansion Management Magazine for quality of life. Expansion Management rated the region's public schools sixth best nationwide among metropolitan areas of a million people or more.
The current mayor of Rochester is Robert Duffy, who was previously the city's police chief. |
