I know this is a bit old, but I came across it while searching for information. Maybe another perspective will help someone else in the future.
I've lived in Rochester all my life, and grew up in Irondequoit. Rochester is a great city, but not all parts of the metro are the same.
For instance, the Irondequoit school district / area has changed in a bad way over the years - the high school is way, way too massive. It needs to be split up. Kids get ignored if they aren't in the top 10%. If your kid has any disability whatsoever, make sure you pick a place that will have a smaller high school... or at least staff that isn't overworked and actually cares. Bullying is an extremely big problem in that school district. I still have nightmares from that place, thank god we moved before high school. I met some previous classmates years later.... and you could tell that it wasn't a good environment.
Webster on the other hand is a 20 min commute to Rochester. I can't say enough good things about Webster. Some of my best friends went to high school in that area, and they were well prepared for college. They managed to get tuition costs completely taken care of while going to a state school. (It also helped that they were intelligent and were into science.) You cannot underestimate the effects of a good forward-thinking guidance counselor. I believe they went to Wayne HS. It's a big school, but somehow the volume was handled much more gracefully.
Someone mentioned Brighton earlier, just wanted to say that it is a great place too. It's home to Monroe Community College - one of the best community colleges in the nation, hands down. (Disclaimer: I went to MCC, so I'm quite fond of it,
but it was rated in the top 50 all the same) The college draws in people from all over the world, it is affordable, and the surrounding area is generally a very safe. I did a 2+2 (2 years in community college, 2 years in a state university) - and I want to shout from the mountaintops that everyone should do that. It's more affordable, and made it so that I was able to transition to college in a much smoother fashion.
Rochester is very open to diversity, but this is speaking strictly of the city not the surrounding metro. Once you travel east of the Irondequoit bay there is less diversity (sadly this includes Webster), which sometimes leads to mild racism / or just insensitivity. So the city is quite culturally diverse, but the same cannot always be said of the surrounding suburban towns.
Rochester is mostly "asleep" during the winter. Aside from a few mini brewery tours and sledding/tubing, people are mostly indoors. However, from May to August, there's something going on almost every weekend. Festivals, art shows, you name it. The transit system is pretty great too - route 390, 590, 490 and 104 take you pretty much wherever you need to go with reasonable accessibility. This is in stark contrast with other cities in the upstate ny region (I'm looking at you, Buffalo. :P )
Someone asked for a photo tour, so here are some places I can think of in Rochester:
imgur: the simple image sharer
South Wedge, Tango Cafe on the left, Tap and Mallet on the right
That's my favorite place to dance, and there's a great bar right across the street.
imgur: the simple image sharer
Alexander St, close to the heart of Rochester.
This is what a typical Rochester winter looks like (to me). There may be a bit more salt/snow on the road... However the highway department is right on top of it's game, and the roads are taken care of very efficiently. The sky is normally some type of grey - but very fickle. One minute it's snowing, the next it's clear. The architecture of the buildings across the street is pretty representative too, lots of early-1900's houses.
imgur: the simple image sharer
Brighton suburb, between the University of Rochester and MCC.
This is a stereotypical Rochester suburb (again, in my opinion). This place is right near Mount Hope Ave & Westfall Rd (two main roads with a bunch of businesses) and conveniently right near route 390.
imgur: the simple image sharer
Public Market, in the northeast quadrant of Rochester
Rochester also has one of the best farmers markets in the country, it was voted America's favorite public market in 2010. I'll go there to buy things, but it's fun for windowshopping too - you never know what you'll find there. They're open on certain weekdays almost year round, save for some holidays.
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