What is it like to live in
You can check the answer of the people under the question at Quora “bad ass coffee rochester mn“
What is it like to live in
You can check the answer of the people under the question at Quora “bad ass coffee rochester mn“
It’s a clean and generally safe place that’s great for raising kids. However, I’ve heard young/single people complain that there’s very little night life. Outsiders are also sometimes perplexed that folks are outwardly friendly (“Minnesota Nice”), but seem more reserved when you try to get to know them.
Many people you meet work at either Mayo Clinic or IBM. Mayo’s presence is particularly strong, as it dominates Downtown Rochester and is a major part of the city’s culture.
Truthfully, it’s not the most exciting place to live. However, it does have some big city features without a lot of the hassles (you can get anywhere in town in about 10 minutes). There are plenty of parks and bike trails if that’s your thing. And if you’re looking for more excitement, the Twin Cities are just a short drive away.
I grew up in Rochester. It’s a rather strange place to grow up actually. I didn’t know how strange, until I went to college and realized what other towns were like.
Rochester is know for the Mayo Clinic. Pretty much everyone I knew growing up had some connection to it. It’s like this big mother ship. It dominates the entire downtown area. It is part of the community, and it is both good and bad. Both my parents worked there (and still do), so it is like this little community within a large city. And Rochester is LARGE, it’s the third largest city in Minnesota, which people seem to frequently forget. When I moved to the Twin Cities, I had to keep reminding people that we were that large. However, at the same time, it is like a small town. You run into people you know EVERYWHERE. People mostly stay on their end of town, so the odds of running into your neighbors are high.
And what about all the famous people that come to Rochester? Well, they don’t bother us too much, although one of them built this large building right downtown that rents out suites and long term hotel rooms to the rich and famous. He saved the penthouse for himself, naturally. Occasionally they will close down the main road into town from the international airport for some bigwig to get to Mayo, and the becomes annoying, but its extremely rare.
Rochester is great for families and kids. There are tons of bike trails, you can basically ride all over town. Parks are also abundant, and there is zero chance of flooding, as there was a massive effort after a flood in the late 70s to control the rivers in Rochester.
However, it does suck a but for the young/single. Due to Mayo in the downtown area and the large number of hotels, there is very little nightlife. What there is is mostly geared towards families. Rochester does make an effort to liven up the downtown area, but it has been a slow progress.
I guess living in Rochester depends on what you want. It’s a relatively small town, and feels like an even smaller one. It has some small multi-cultural aspects, mostly in the form of some halfway decent Chinese/Vietnamese/Indian grocery stores. There is some immigrant presence in Rochester, unfortunately it isn’t very well integrated and has had little to no impact on the cultural landscape of the city. It’s a shame, really.
If you want to eat something other than mid-western/american chain restaurant food that is authentic and delicious you’ll have to make it yourself. Thanks to the few foreign groceries, this is actually kind of possible. There is one okay sushi restaurant. There is one good Mediterranean restaurant. There is a Vietnamese restaurant, it’s not good (and is run by Chinese people). There is one Indian buffet. There are a few passable tex-mex places. The rest is Applebee’s, Chili’s, Baker’s Square and other generic chains. Getting the picture?
There isn’t much to do, either. Very little shopping, no bands touring, a few public events in the summer and that’s about it. Honestly, day to day, it’s a very boring, plain, mid-western, farm town. If you want anything remotely like culture, entertainment or good shopping you’ll need to go to the Twin Cities 70 miles north of Rochester, and even then you’ll find them to be quite a bit less cosmopolitan than you might want if you crave a real big-city experience. They do at least have some pretty good food. For someone who grew up in Rochester, the Twin Cities seemed amazingly cosmopolitan until I moved away and visited some other cities and other countries. Honestly, the nearest city with anything to offer on a real cultural scale is Chicago, six to seven hours away by car.
All this said, Rochester is a safe place to live and raise a family. It’s not overly expensive, but neither is it cheap. The schools are good (or were, when I was in them). The winters are long and unbearably cold, so you’ll want to learn to enjoy winter sports and buy a very good coat and thermals. Seriously, if you’re from somewhere warmer, you can’t imagine how cold it gets.
Rochester has no real mass transit to speak of. It is a very average, unremarkable small city in the middle of the US. There’s very little to recommend in terms of quality of living if you crave any sort of excitement or cultural value. I was bored and ready to leave as a teenager, and recently returning for a few months to visit family as an adult who had traveled the US and the world was even worse. If you have other choices in bigger cities, consider them. Those who live in the mid-west doesn’t like to hear it, but it really is a bit of a cultural black hole.
Some points
Medium sized city, like Spokane Wa or Worcester Ma
Nearest large city is Minneapolis/St Paul which is 90 min or 2 hrs with rest stop up highway 52 (or longer if there is construction) which as NFL football Vikings, NBA basketball Timberwolves, MLB baseball Twins, Hockey, and a soccer team nobody has heard of. Nearest giant city is Chicago which has world class museums and shopping similar to what you would find in New York city, they just got Alexander Hamilton, about a half-day drive away, train or expensive airplane ride.
IBM is still here but declining with the i-series/AS-400/system 3X line, they still do Watson, and disk drive was spun off to Western Digital Hitachi, Charter cable is taking up a lot of the space and Mayo hires a lot of ex-IBM ers
Almost no traffic to speak of except in front of high schools at start / stop time.
Many major stores like Walmart and Target have stores at north and south end
It has its own airport RST but not that popular because unless company is paying it is usually a better deal to take a ground shuttle to MSP. If flight is within $75, it might be worth paying more to go out of the local airport.
No violin shops, Acura, Mitsubishi, Lexus
Little or no fresh seafood in most supermarkets like Target or Walmart, they have some at HyVee and Coop market and the few tiny Asian stores.
Winters have a few days of -10 to -20, but rarely get blizzards with over 12″ snow. Lately Seattle had more snow and more days over 95 deg than Minneapolis…
My family lives there but I only go to visit every now and then. From my visits I can tell you that it is extremely boring. For millennial that are trying to live life and find exciting things to do it’s a horrible place to go. Many teenage kids I’ve also talked to hate it there and can’t wait to go to college and leave
But if you want to settle down and live a quiet life in a suburb then it’s fine.
Rochester is a beautiful and peaceful place to live. It’s repeatedly been named one of the most ideal places to live in the U.S. Check out what you should know before making the move to this safe, beautiful, peaceful town:
Jobs
The Mayo Clinic, one of the United States’ best hospitals, is located in the heart of the city. Not only does this clinic have a strong healthcare presence, but it’s also a solid economic driver in the city. Home to a combined total of home to a total of 34,000 staff and students, The Mayo clinic is one of the city’s biggest employers. It’s also planning to build a Destination Medical Center , which could open as many as 40,000 new jobs for people in the city and its surrounding areas. Aside from the Mayo Clinic, Rochester’s top employers include IBM and the Rochester School District. The current unemployment rate for Rochester is a meager 3.8% and the growth in jobs is expected to rise to an impressive 36.10%. This is because Rochester is undoubtedly a thriving and booming city attracting more and more young, job seeking professionals each day. The median household income is estimated to be around $63,490.
Neighborhoods
The overall crime rate in Rochester is pretty low. This makes it is a good place to live in order to raise a family. The Elton Hills neighborhood is especially beautiful. Its quiet, clean and friendly homes sit just on the other side of a beautiful park, Indian Heights. Going for a walk in this area is serene and beautiful. If you are willing to pay slightly more, the Bryon Neighborhood is also a good place to look into as it has many elegant houses and apartments.
Weather
Rochester’s continental climate allows you to experience all four seasons. The summers are warm and the winters are a nice (snowy) break from the heat. Moving to Rochester could be just what you need if you are looking for a quite, upcoming, serene place to live. So, what are you waiting for?
I’ve been living off-and-on in Rochester and working there continuously for nearly ten years and I agree with the previous posters that Rochester is a safe, clean place to live and raise a family, but for me, my same-sex spouse, and our two small children, Rochester is too much on the boring side. Rochester is very “Midwestern” and trends too much to the conservative side. We’ve never experienced any direct hostility or homophobia — since 1 in 6 Rochester residents work for Mayo Clinic, those clinic-approved values really filter out into the general population — but the lack of two important subcultures (same-sex parents and parents of children with autism) has started us thinking about going somewhere else.
Victor Allen’s
It’s a great place to live. I still regret now that after i moved away from it to Teaxs.
Best parts
Very safe, quite and calm city. Very rare you will hear about any crime
The city’s biggest employer Mayo Clinic, has about 30K employees and they are all very well behaved. So chances are 6 in 10 you will find such a neighbor.
Hospitals and clinics are great. Not only Mayo, others are also very good.
Great schools, colleges and university
Great environment for kids
Few missing points
Not at a lot of restaurants, shopping malls, pubs, night life
Depends on who you are and what you are looking for, but for this mom of two active boys, I wouldn’t want to be any place else. It is a busy community with plenty to do outside.