Rochester Metro Area

Rochester Metro Area
With a population of more than one million people, Rochester is the third-largest metropolitan area in New York State. Rochester’s economy was historically centered around large manufacturing companies such as Eastman Kodak, Bausch & Lomb, and Xerox, but the number of manufacturing jobs in the region has shrunk considerably since the 1980s. As a result, the Rochester area has seen little growth in both population and employment in recent decades.
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Rochester Metro Area Economic Indicators
Rochester Metro Area
Economic and Demographic Trends
Population 2024Pop growth 2024, 10-year change (%)GDP 2023,
billions
($)		Job growth 2024, 5-year change
(%)		Median household income 2023
($)		Median home price 2023
($)		Pop share age 25+ with BA+ 2023
(%)
Rochester1,057,218-0.777-2.071,200200,00036.9
Buffalo1,160,1720.791-1.868,880245,00036.0
Syracuse655,189-1.751-1.370,000200,00035.0
New York State19,867,248-0.72,1830.880,150400,00040.7
United States340,110,9886.527,8124.776,170325,00036.2
Sources: U.S. Census Bureau; U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics; NYSDOL; U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis; IPUMS USA-University of Minnesota; New York Fed calculations. Data retrieved through data.census.gov, Moody's Economy.com, or directly from source.
*These are neighboring metro areas.

The New York Fed publishes indicators, trends, research and analysis on our Second District. Explore the content below to learn more.

graph simulating business activity
Business Leaders Survey: Service Sector Activity Declines
November 18, 2025
Business activity continued to decline substantially in the New York-Northern New Jersey region’s service sector in November. The survey’s headline business activity index was little changed at -21.7. Learn more in our monthly regional service sector survey on current and future business trends.
graph image of empire state indicator
Empire State Manufacturing Survey: Business Activity Expands
November 17, 2025
Business activity increased at a solid pace in New York State’s manufacturing sector in November, with the headline general business conditions index rising eight points to 18.7. Learn more in our monthly survey of New York manufacturers as they assess current conditions and the future outlook.
Quarterly Household Debt & Credit
Household Debt Balances Grow Steadily; Mortgage Originations Tick Up in Third Quarter
November 5, 2025
The report provides unique data and insight into the credit conditions of U.S. consumers and provides a quarterly snapshot of household trends in borrowing and indebtedness, including data about mortgages, student loans, credit cards, auto loans and delinquencies.
Beige Book
Economic Activity in the Second District Continued to Decline Slightly
October 15, 2025
On balance, employment held steady during the reporting period, and wage growth remained modest. The pace of price increases remained elevated but was little changed, with selling prices rising moderately and input prices rising strongly. Manufacturing activity was little changed after a summer uptick. Consumer spending increased modestly, in part due to the resilience of mid- to upper-income households. Housing markets remained solid.
collage of portrait images of people of different demographics
Regional Economic Heterogeneity Indicators
October 7, 2025
The Economic Heterogeneity Indicators are broad-based economic indicators that measure macroeconomic outcomes experienced by different demographic, economic, and geographic groups across the New York-New Jersey metro area, as well as all other counties in New York state.
Full Regional Report | Regional Data
Mapping Home Price Changes
Mapping Home Price Changes
September 2025
Explore year-over-year changes in home prices both regionally and nationally, using this dynamic map — updated monthly with new home price index data on 1,200 U.S. counties since 2003.







Blue three dimensional globe in center of a purple compass with international currency symbols
Tracking the Economy in Real‑Time Through Regional Business Surveys
Richard Deitz and Kartik Athreya | September 23, 2025
Federal Reserve policymakers need current information about economic conditions to make well-informed monetary policy decisions. The New York Fed's regional surveys provide timely soft data, available well before hard data is released.
Early Benchmarked Employment Data
Early Benchmarked Employment Data
September 22, 2025
Our economists provide early benchmarks of initial monthly employment releases throughout the year and make the benchmarked data about the New York Fed region available to the public on a monthly basis.
Regional Employment Trends
Regional Employment Trends
September 22, 2025
These interactive charts illustrate payroll employment trends for more than 20 geographies in the Second District, from the state level down to metropolitan areas.
Quarterly Household Debt & Credit
Are Businesses Scaling Back Hiring Due to AI?
By Jaison R. Abel, Richard Deitz, Natalia Emanuel, Ben Hyman, and Nick Montalbano | September 4, 2025
To explore the effects of artificial intelligence on employment, the authors’ regional business surveys asked firms about their adoption of AI and if they had made any adjustments to their workforces. The surveys found that, despite a notable increase in AI use over the past year, very few firms reported AI-induced layoffs. However, AI is influencing recruiting, and future layoffs and hiring reductions due to AI use are expected to increase, especially for workers with a college degree.
image collage of four scenes with people affected by fire, flooding, wind damage
New Dataset Maps Losses from Natural Disasters to the County Level
BY Matteo Crosignani and Martin Hiti | July 1, 2025
The Losses from Natural Disasters Indicator represents the first publicly available comprehensive dataset on county-level damages, injuries, and fatalities from natural disasters in the United States. Since the dataset can be easily matched with county-level data on economic activity and employment, it enables precise analysis of the impact of extreme weather events on local economies and banking networks.
a worker standing in front of a large metal power turbine in a factory. Or a worker stands in front of a massive metal power turbine in factory OR the back of a worker standing in front of large metal power turbine.
Are Businesses Absorbing the Tariffs or Passing Them on to Their Customers?
BY Jaison R. Abel, Richard Deitz, Sebastian Heise, Ben Hyman, and Nick Montalbano | June 4, 2025
Recent import tariffs have left businesses with difficult and complex decisions about whether to absorb the tariffs, raise their prices to recover the higher costs, or some combination of both. The authors discuss the New York Fed’s May survey of businesses in the New York–Northern New Jersey region, which indicates most businesses passed on at least some of the higher tariffs to their customers.
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Jaison Abel's Briefing on Economic Conditions in the Region
March 25, 2025
In a presentation for the 2025 New York Fed Regional and Community Banking Conference, Jaison Abel, Head of Microeconomics, discussed economic conditions in the region, including employment, inflation, housing, and business conditions.
report cover
Credit Insecurity in the United States: 2018-2023
BY Jake Scott, Ambika Nair, and Claire Kramer Mills | March 6, 2025
The report introduces a geographic measure of credit access across the United States called the Credit Insecurity Index. The index combines data about the share of adults without a credit score or file and the share who have limited access to affordable credit. The report uses the index to measure access to affordable credit at the national, state, city, town, and county level.
illustration of new york city skyline in blue against gold background
Firms’ Inflation Expectations Have Picked Up
By Jaison R. Abel, Richard Deitz, and Ben Hyman | March 5, 2025
After a period of high inflation following the pandemic recession, inflationary pressures have been moderating the past few years, dropping from a peak of 9.1 percent in 2022 to 3 percent at the beginning of 2025. However, firms expect both cost and price increases to move higher in 2025, with year-ahead inflation expectations rising from 3 percent last year at this time to 3.5 to 4 percent, though longer-term inflation expectations remain anchored at around 3 percent.
Technician using a tablet in a car factory
AI and the Labor Market: Will Firms Hire, Fire, or Retrain?
BY Jaison R. Abel, Richard Deitz, Natalia Emanuel, and Benjamin Hyman | September 4, 2024
Artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to dramatically change the labor market and possibly the nature of work itself. The results of the authors’ August regional business surveys find most firms that expected to use AI in the next six months plan to retrain their workforces, with far fewer reporting adjustments to planned headcounts.
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Supply Chain Disruptions Have Eased, But Remain a Concern
BY Jaison R. Abel and Richard Deitz | May 20, 2024
Supply chain disruptions became a major headache for businesses in the aftermath of the pandemic and were a key contributor to the surge in inflation. The authors present new measures in supply availability from the New York Fed’s Business Leaders Survey, Empire State Manufacturing Survey, and Global Supply Chain Pressure Index. They find that supply availability had generally been improving since early 2023, but improvement has stalled over the past couple of months.
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Supplemental Survey Report: Regional Supply Chain Insights
May 20, 2024
In response to special questions focused on supply chain disruptions, about a third of service firms and 48 percent of manufacturing firms reported at least some difficulty obtaining supplies they needed this month. Learn more in our supplemental survey report.




Slow Road to Recovery: U.S.V.I. Sees Signs of Resilience
Many Places Still Have Not Recovered from the Pandemic Recession
May 7, 2024
The onset of the pandemic resulted in one of the sharpest and deepest economic downturns in U.S. history. The authors examine the uneven geographic recovery from the pandemic recession, noting that much of the New York-Northern New Jersey region is still way behind.
Cover of presentation
Andy Haughwout’s Briefing on U.S. and Regional Economic Conditions
April 18, 2024
In a presentation at the 2024 New York Fed Regional and Community Banking Conference, Andy discussed economic conditions, including employment, inflation, business activity, housing, and commercial real estate.


small business workers creating fabric products in shop
Businesses See Inflationary Pressures Moderating
February 21, 2024
Shortly after the recovery from the pandemic recession began, the U.S. economy entered a period of high inflation as surging demand, severe supply disruptions, and worker shortages combined to create large imbalances and inflationary pressures in the economy. Have these pressures moderated for local businesses in the New York–Northern New Jersey region? The New York Fed’s February business surveys asked firms about increases in their costs and prices.
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