Brighton vs Rochester

A side-by-side comparison of Brighton and Rochester: population, income, housing, and more.

Brighton and Rochester are places in New York. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Rochester has the higher population (209,720 vs 36,633 in Brighton). Brighton has the higher median household income ($83,723 vs $46,628 in Rochester). Brighton has the higher median home value ($259,300 vs $120,600 in Rochester).

Population, income & housing

	Brighton	Rochester
Population	36,633	209,720
Median age	39.1 yrs	33.5 yrs
Median household income	$83,723	$46,628
Median home value	$259,300	$120,600
Median gross rent	$1,272	$1,039
Housing units	16,966	103,251
Homeownership rate	56.3%	37.2%
Bachelor's degree or higher	69.6%	29.9%
Unemployment rate	4.3%	7.9%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Brighton	Rochester
Population	36,272 → 36,633 (+1.0%)	206,848 → 209,720 (+1.4%)
Median household income	$75,807 → $83,723 (+10.4%)	$35,590 → $46,628 (+31.0%)
Median home value	$184,600 → $259,300 (+40.5%)	$83,100 → $120,600 (+45.1%)
Median gross rent	$1,049 → $1,272 (+21.3%)	$848 → $1,039 (+22.5%)

Brighton

Population

36,27236,633

Median household income

$75,807$83,723

Median home value

$184,600$259,300

Median gross rent

$1,049$1,272

Rochester

Population

206,848209,720

Median household income

$35,590$46,628

Median home value

$83,100$120,600

Median gross rent

$848$1,039

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Brighton	Rochester
Under 5	4.3%	6.0%
5 to 17	15.2%	15.6%
18 to 24	10.3%	11.9%
25 to 34	14.1%	18.9%
35 to 44	13.2%	12.5%
45 to 54	11.4%	10.3%
55 to 64	12.0%	11.9%
65 to 74	9.5%	8.0%
75 and over	10.0%	4.8%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Brighton	Rochester
White (non-Hispanic)	75.5%	36.0%
Black or African American	5.6%	35.7%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.2%
Asian	9.6%	3.2%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.5%	0.5%
Two or more races	3.8%	4.5%
Hispanic or Latino	4.9%	19.9%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Brighton	Rochester
No high school diploma	3.6%	15.6%
High school graduate	8.4%	27.8%
Some college or associate's	18.4%	26.7%
Bachelor's degree	29.4%	17.3%
Graduate or professional degree	40.3%	12.6%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Brighton	Rochester
Drove alone	69.6%	65.8%
Carpooled	6.7%	10.6%
Public transit	0.9%	5.4%
Walked	2.0%	4.1%
Bicycle	0.2%	1.1%
Worked from home	19.5%	10.8%
Other means	1.1%	2.2%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Brighton	Rochester
1-unit, detached	55.2%	43.8%
1-unit, attached	6.0%	6.5%
2 to 4 units	4.9%	25.9%
5 to 19 units	23.9%	9.0%
20 or more units	10.0%	14.4%
Mobile home & other	0.1%	0.3%

Poverty & households

	Brighton	Rochester
Poverty rate	8.4%	26.6%
Average household size	2.16	2.17
Mean commute (minutes)	17	19
Median year structure built	1959	1938