landable/cost of living comparison
vs

01 · the cities

San Francisco

San Francisco is hills, fog, Mission burritos the size of forearms, and pastel Victorians stacked like dominoes. Karl the Fog has his own Instagram, the cable cars are still mechanically pulled by cables running under the street, and the Pacific shows up at the end of every west-bound avenue. The food is wildly good, the views are theatrical, and yes, you'll get cardio just walking to the corner store.

full dispatch

Rochester

Rochester is the city that Kodak and Xerox built, with a quiet college-town soul (UofR, RIT, Eastman School of Music). The Garbage Plate (cheeseburger, mac salad, home fries, hot sauce, on one plate) is the closest thing to a citywide handshake. Frederick Douglass made his home here, and the Susan B. Anthony House is downtown. The Finger Lakes wine country is right next door.

full dispatch

02 · the money

Median rent

$3,146/mo

$1,534/mo

$1,612/mo less than San Francisco (105%)

Median home price

$1.2M

$273k

$965k less than San Francisco

State income tax

9.3%

5.9%

Gross left after rent

$4,412/mo

$6,312/mo

Rochester has $1,900/mo more gross after rent at $100k

Gross left after rent reflects state income tax but not federal, based on $100k salary. Enter your salary to find your ideal city.

03 · the weather

Pleasant days/yr

312 days

147 days

165 fewer than San Francisco

Extreme heat days

0 days

1 days

days above 95°F per year

Extreme cold days

0 days

48 days

days below 20°F per year

Rochester drops below 20°F on 48 more days per year than San Francisco.

04 · the life

OutdoorScore

83 / 100

58 / 100

25.0 pts behind San Francisco

Walk Score®

99 / 100

69 / 100

30 pts behind San Francisco

Nonstop flights

111 routes

18 routes

93 fewer direct routes than San Francisco

Metro size

4.6M metro

1.1M metro

San Francisco has 8.6x more events per month than Rochester.

the verdict

4

San Francisco

categories won

of 9

4

Rochester

categories won

San Francisco wins on weather and lifestyle, Rochester wins on money. Dead even.

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We use a proprietary blend of data from the US Census, Zillow, Ticketmaster, and more.

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