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Wife and I are looking to move to Rochester from Manhattan to raise our family (baby on the way and we do NOT want to raise children in the city). We considered NYC suburbs, but frankly we're done with the NYC metro area- it is too busy and we would like a slower pace of life. Rochester seems to be a decent upstate city and from our initial real estate searches, housing prices seem to be very cheap compared to Manhattan/Westchester/Greenwich.
Just a few questions about Rochester's affluent areas:
Which is better- Brighton or Pittsford? Our housing budget is around 3 mil- which area will offer the best housing/lifestyle for our money? Schools are not an issue, as we will likely have our children attend an area private school (recommendations?). Also, which area has a higher concentration of Columbia and Princeton alums?
We are also concerned about being perceived as flashy, as it is upstate and it seems more "low-key" and "conservative" in regards to clothing, cars, etc. How would people react to us driving a Bentley? In NYC these cars are everywhere and no one blinks twice when they see one.
What are your favorite things to do in Rochester? (In town visiting for the weekend (we love it so far!) and would like to see what locals do for fun)
If you had to decide to live in Rochester again, would you do so and why?
I appreciate everyone's comments/advice; it definitely helps provide a different look at the city from those who know it best.
We've visited the Finger Lakes/wine region and Toronto before, but never spent a significant time in Rochester until this weekend.
We tried out a few restaurants in the city (Tournedos and another place called Max Eastman) as well as Simply Crepes in the Pittsford canaltown area (great brunch place!). We visited a park near the city near a large reservoir, but cannot remember the name. We also walked on a trail in a place called Fairport. We spent a lot of time driving through Brighton and Pittsford to get a feel for each area.
Our initial impressions: Weather seems decent, though about 5-10 degrees colder than New York. It is also more overcast. The city center is nice, but the areas that you see on the parkways leaving the city are a bit rundown and remind me of Queens/Brooklyn.
We drove down "East Avenue" and saw a few magnificent homes. Our concern about these homes is the close proximity to the rundown parts of the city- safety/home invasions could be a problem.
The suburbs seem like a great place to raise a family. We found a few areas that we absolutely loved. One was in Brighton on "Sandringham Road" (off a major road called Elmwood) near a large country club. The houses are classic stone "tudor style" and the neighborhood is leafy. We also drove through an area in Brighton between two country clubs on a street called "Knollwood Drive." These homes had a decent amount of land, especially compared to New York.
Pittsford seems nice; the village has a classic feel. The other areas of pittsford are hard to characterize: farm fields mixed with dense areas with modest homes mixed with private drives mixed with long culdesacs with massive McMansion style homes. Apart from the village proper, there seemed to be very few classic/classic looking new construction homes.
The "Monroe Avenue" plaza area was nice and we stopped a store called Wegmans, which some locals told us to visit. WOW! Never before have I seen a supermarket this incredible. Our friends in New York smugly believe that Whole Foods/Trader Joe's are the finest- they have NO idea how much better Wegmans is than NY supermarkets.
At this early stage, it is hard to determine what area we are leaning toward, though we've settled it: we want to come to Rochester.
We do have more questions about the area though.
Why would Pittsford be considered superior? Is there some "x" factor that makes it better than Brighton?
Also, what does the average person in Brighton or Pittsford do for a living?
As for cars, we saw a Lamborghini and an Aston Martin while we were visiting, but beyond that, only Range Rovers and BMW/Mercedes. Not a lot of exotics in Rochester.
Our big question, perhaps the most important, is that of status/competition in Brighton and Pittsford. In Manhattan, most of our friends are early 30s Ivy League graduates who work in Law, Medicine, and Financial Services. There is incredible pressure to send your children to $50,000 kindergartens, to spend lavishly on vacations, to wear expensive clothes, and to live in the "right" apartment (or move to a large house in Westchester, as many of our friends are beginning to do). While we enjoy nice things and will continue to do so in another city, the pressure from everyone to do so is frustrating.
My question: Is there a lot of gossip/competition about material things and status in Brighton/Pittsford? Is there a lot of namedropping/discussion about where your kids are going to school?
We are moving upstate to find a nice place to raise a family and we would prefer it if we could avoid this type of pettiness.
Again, we appreciate everyone's comments- you have all been immensely helpful.
Think you should stay where you are or move to westchester.
whats up with all the trolls on this page? Citydata isnt a matchmaker where you just randomly recommend towns that you think the person should live in. If someone asks for info you don’t need to recommend places that are 6 hours away.
Last edited by Corrion14621; 03-29-2012 at 04:00 PM..
There are many ultra wealthy families in Rochester, who would think nothing of spending 3+ million on a home...
The owners(family) of the Tampa Bay Bucks and Manchester United live in Rochester. Obviously Tom Gallisano. Add to that many multi millionaire business owners.
Rochester has no where near the amount of billionaires as NYC. But there are many people who can afford Bentley's, Ferraris and such. They however tend to choose a nice Mercedes or BMW. I heard once that per capita, Rochester had one of the highest millionaire ratios of any city.
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