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Haven't seen this comparison done in awhile. These cities are similar to me in that they have managed to avoid the rust belt downtown like many other areas in the Great Lakes region, and both are generally considered white collar metro areas in very scenic parts of the country.
The criteria:
Food
COL
Transit
Location
Scenery
Economy
Airports
Downtowns
Shopping
Education
Suburbs
Diversity
Don't know a whole lot about Grand Rapids but here we go
Food: Pizza is lackluster in Rochester but you must try a Garbage Plate
COL: Rochester I would assume is cheaper
Transit: Within the City of ROC its fine, but even the inner suburbs, forget it.
Location: Grand Rapids is between Detriot and Chicago, but Rochester is not far from places like Letchworth St. Park and Chimney Bluffs, so it depends if you want to travel to explore or escape cities.
Scenery: Rochester, between High Falls, Lower Falls, and Lake Ontario I would say it trumps GR
Economy: Probably Grand Rapids
Airports; IDK
Downtowns: Rochester's is okay, your usual stadium, theatre, restaurants some shops, etc, the Strong Museum is pretty unique though.
Shopping: IDK
Education: K-12 Rochester City schools are pretty bad, suburbs are much better, but I would bet its a wash, College: UofR and RIT are better than anything GR have
Suburbs: Rochester has some nice canal towns
Diversity: Rochester
Also Rochester has probably the best public market for a city its size.
Don't know a whole lot about Grand Rapids but here we go
Food: Pizza is lackluster in Rochester but you must try a Garbage Plate
COL: Rochester I would assume is cheaper
Transit: Within the City of ROC its fine, but even the inner suburbs, forget it.
Location: Grand Rapids is between Detriot and Chicago, but Rochester is not far from places like Letchworth St. Park and Chimney Bluffs, so it depends if you want to travel to explore or escape cities.
Scenery: Rochester, between High Falls, Lower Falls, and Lake Ontario I would say it trumps GR
Economy: Probably Grand Rapids
Airports; IDK
Downtowns: Rochester's is okay, your usual stadium, theatre, restaurants some shops, etc, the Strong Museum is pretty unique though.
Shopping: IDK
Education: K-12 Rochester City schools are pretty bad, suburbs are much better, but I would bet its a wash, College: UofR and RIT are better than anything GR have
Suburbs: Rochester has some nice canal towns
Diversity: Rochester
Also Rochester has probably the best public market for a city its size.
Pizza might be one of the better things in Rochester, but it is likely a matter of where you go to get it.
Rochester's suburbs has multiple suburban schools that are highly regarded on a national level(Pittsford and Brighton, among others).
Location is interesting due to Rochester having 2 other metros nearby(Buffalo and Syracuse) and is about the same distance to Toronto as GR is to Chicago or Detroit. I'd give it to GR in terms of access to major areas and perhaps to Rochester for outdoor/natural amenities.
I believe that GR has a lower COL, but both aren't high in that regard. I'd give GR the economy category as well.
Last edited by ckhthankgod; 04-28-2017 at 01:47 PM..
Food: Don't know enough about Rochester, I would imagine them to be fairly equal. Grand Rapids growth has attracted an emerging foodie scene that's still maturing. Similar to what is being seen throughout the country.
COL: Unsure
Transit: Rochester (based on ridership statistics)
Location: Tie?
Scenery: Tie? Lk Ontario shores and hills, vs Lk Michigan shore and hills
Economy: Grand Rapids
Airports: Grand Rapids based on passenger numbers, about equal in terms of destinations.
Downtowns: I would guess Rochester based on it being much larger at one time. Depends on how strong the core has stayed since the city started losing population. Downtown Grand Rapids stayed relatively in tact during the 70's and 80's so is fairly dense. Currently there are a couple thousand apartment units being built in downtown GR, among other things. I don't know the situation in Rochester.
Shopping: Rochester, or possibly a tie. They are similar market sizes, but some of the more trendy brands are just starting enter the GR area. They avoided Michigan during the 2000's because of it's recession, GR is catching up pretty quick though.
Education: Grand Rapids has a higher educational attainment. Rochester has more renown institutions.
Suburbs:Tie?
Diversity: Rochester is more diverse in the city limits, however the metro areas are about even. Metro Rochester is more AA, GR is more Hispanic.
Food: Don't know enough about Rochester, I would imagine them to be fairly equal. Grand Rapids growth has attracted an emerging foodie scene. Similar to what is being seen throughout the country.
COL: Unsure
Transit: Rochester (based on ridership statistics)
Location: Tie?
Scenery: Tie? Lk Ontario shores and hills, vs Lk Michigan shore and hills
Economy: Grand Rapids
Airports: Grand Rapids based on passenger numbers, about equal in terms of destinations.
Downtowns: I would guess Rochester based on it being much larger at one time. Depends on how strong the core has stayed since the city started losing population. Downtown Grand Rapids stayed relatively in tact during the 70's and 80's so is fairly dense. Currently there are a couple thousand apartment units being built in downtown GR, among other things. I don't know the situation in Rochester.
Shopping: Rochester, or possibly a tie. They are similar market sizes, but some of the more trendy brands are just starting enter the GR area. They avoided Michigan during the 2000's because of it's recession, GR is catching up pretty quick though.
Education: Grand Rapids has a higher educational attainment. Rochester has more renown institutions.
Suburbs:Tie?
Diversity: Rochester is more diverse in the city limits, however the metro areas are about even. Metro Rochester is more AA, GR is more Hispanic.
ckhthankgod you know these two areas from a comparison standpoint better than others on here what do you think?
This sounds about right. I'd say in terms of educational attainment, GR is ahead in terms of the cities, but Rochester is higher at the metro level.
Suburbs are interesting, as Rochester has an east/west split, with the eastern suburbs being more affluent(think East GR, Ada, Rockford, etc.) and the western suburbs being more blue collar/working-middle class and diverse(think Kentwood, Comstock Park and Wyoming).
In terms of diversity, Rochester's Hispanic population is mainly Puerto Rican, whereas it is mainly Mexican in GR. This kind of ties in with the food scene in Rochester, as you can find multiple Spanish Caribbean restaurants and in the SE Quadrant around South Clinton has diverse food options as well.
Last edited by ckhthankgod; 04-28-2017 at 02:35 PM..
I know Rochester well, but I've never been to Grand Rapids. My question is about size.
In terms of the city proper, Roc's population of 211k is more-or-less the same as GR's 195k. Likewise, the MSA's are also almost identical too (1,082,000 for Roc vs. 1,039,000 for GR).
However, in terms of urban population, whatever that means, Roc represents at 721k, a significantly higher number than GR's 570k. Yet in terms of CSA, its the opposite; GR (1,421,000) beats Roc (1,172,000).
I'm not sure what to make of these figures. Does Rochester really feel significantly more "urban" than GR? Does GR really feel like a city of 1.5 million? Which city do you think feels bigger overall?
Last edited by Dawn.Davenport; 04-28-2017 at 02:51 PM..
I know Rochester well, but I've never been to Grand Rapids. My question is about size.
In terms of the city proper, Roc's population of 211k is more-or-less the same as GR's 195k. Likewise, the MSA's are also almost identical too (1,082,000 for Roc vs. 1,039,000 for GR).
However, in terms of urban population, whatever that means, Roc represents at 721k, a significantly higher number than GR's 570k. Yet stranger still, GR posts a CSA figure of 1,421,000. I don't think Roc is part of a CSA.
I'm not sure what to make of these figures. Does Rochester really feel significantly more "urban" than GR? Does GR really feel like a city of 1.5 million? Which city do you think feels bigger overall?
I think it is a matter of earlier development for Rochester in terms of urban population. Monroe County also has about 120k more people than Kent County as well.
I believe GR'a CSA may include the Muskegon and Holland areas as well. Rochester CSA just includes Seneca and Genesee counties, which are smaller.
Haven't seen this comparison done in awhile. These cities are similar to me in that they have managed to avoid the rust belt downtown like many other areas in the Great Lakes region, and both are generally considered white collar metro areas in very scenic parts of the country.
The criteria:
Food
COL
Transit
Location
Scenery
Economy
Airports
Downtowns
Shopping
Education
Suburbs
Diversity
Forgot to give my own response so here we go
Food: Tie. ROC has a better renowned specialty (garbage plate) but I feel like GR with its brewpubs is enough to make it even.
COL: My guess is tied.
Transit: ROC
Location: Tie, maybe slight edge to GR.
Scenery: Immediate area, ROC, within a 2 hour radius, tie.
Economy: GR by the slightest of margins, both are doing well.
Airports: GR.
Downtowns: ROC
Shopping: ROC. Though GR is catching up.
Education: ROC has more well known institutions but GR has a more educated population so tie.
Suburbs: ROC. There is a reason the best ROC suburbs can go toe to toe with the best NYC suburbs.
Diversity: Not sure.
Another category. Sports: ROC. They have both AAA baseball and the AHL
Forgot to give my own response so here we go
Food: Tie. ROC has a better renowned specialty (garbage plate) but I feel like GR with its brewpubs is enough to make it even.
COL: My guess is tied.
Transit: ROC
Location: Tie, maybe slight edge to GR.
Scenery: Immediate area, ROC, within a 2 hour radius, tie.
Economy: GR by the slightest of margins, both are doing well.
Airports: GR.
Downtowns: ROC
Shopping: ROC. Though GR is catching up.
Education: ROC has more well known institutions but GR has a more educated population so tie.
Suburbs: ROC. There is a reason the best ROC suburbs can go toe to toe with the best NYC suburbs.
Diversity: Not sure.
Another category. Sports: ROC. They have both AAA baseball and the AHL
Two hour radius, is there anything comparable to Letchworth in all of Michigan?
Two hour radius, is there anything comparable to Letchworth in all of Michigan?
I can't say but I'm not very familiar with GR.
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