Rochester’s reinvention from rustbelt relic to livable innovator keeps gathering steam. (Literally: the state’s third-largest city ranks #28 in our overall Livability index, powered by its 11th-ranked green spaces and Top 25 biking.) No wonder home values now average about $231,000—up 6% year over year—while Monroe County ranked as the nation’s fifth-hottest housing market in March 2025, with listings disappearing in a matter of days. The city’s deep bench of RIT and University of Rochester grads (driving the city’s #21 University ranking) keeps advanced manufacturing employers coming. QED Technologies just broke ground on a world-class precision optics plant and customer-experience center, and the Luminate NY accelerator welcomed a record eighth cohort of 10 global photonics start-ups this spring. Big urban projects match the talent story. A fresh, $100-million federal-state grant is burying the last stub of the Inner Loop North, freeing 22 acres for mixed-income housing, parks and bike lanes, while the shuttered Riverside Hotel on Main Street is being reborn as a residential-retail hub steps from the Genesee River. Visitors will arrive through a $38-million modernization of Frederick Douglass International Airport (#71) and can bunk at the new Hampton Inn & Suites that opened in 2023 to anchor the Strong Museum’s growing Neighborhood of Play district.