Rochester, NY still faring well despite economy
December 21, 2009
In two recently released studies, Rochester came out among the top cities nationwide. A Brooking’s Institute report ranks Rochester’s economy among the top 20 (14th overall) in the last 3 quarters. Rochester is the only city in the entire Northeastern United States to enjoy that distinction. We’re also the only city that ranked among the top 20 in every single quarter of the year. The report mentions our strong real estate economy with rising home values, a stabilizing job market compared to other regions, and an overall increase in goods and service output. Even Buffalo and Syracuse NY made the list for the last quarter (though their overall growth has not been consistent like our’s has).
In addition a Farmer’s Insurance report lists Rochester NY 5th in overall secure places to live. This list is compiled each year using factors such as housing values, risk of natural disaster, crime, job market, life expectancy and air quality. I suspect our strong local health system, stable housing prices, and relatively lower unemployment due to a strong small business economy contribute to these factors greatly.
According to www.bestplaces.com Rochester’s cost of living is a full 20% lower than the average US City. That means that we have inexpensive real estate - a dollar’s salary is worth 15-20% more in Rochester than anywhere else, our crime rates are low, our real estate values are lower but stable, and we enjoy a lower unemployment rank than most of the country. That all sounds positive to me.
So why then is NYS overall rated as one of the least happy places to live? Can the “upstate divisionists” be right and (as they claim) downstate is so unhappy they’re dragging the rest of us down with them? Is it just the weather and the “long gray” we get each winter? Is it our highly conservative approach to promoting small businesses and entrepreneurialism (most of the small businesses and entrepreneurs I know live in Rochester despite the low level of angel and venture capital - not because of it)?
I’m curious - what are your views? How can we continue to outshine the competition as the folks at Eyes on the Future point out each year and yet we’re still down on Rochester and NYS all the time. There must be something strong about us that makes us what we are - why isn’t that making us happy?
