Monroe County, New York

Monroe County is a county in New York, United States, on the southern shore of Lake Ontario about
65 miles east of Buffalo. It had a population of 759,443 at the 2020 census, an estimated 750,506 by
2025, and covers 1,367 square miles (3,540 km2) centred near 43°18′N 77°41′W.

Rochester is the county seat and its only city; its postal code is 14604. The county holds 1 city,
20 towns and 9 additional incorporated villages inside those towns, and it runs on Eastern Time. Its
FIPS code is 36055.

Towns & Villages in Monroe County

Monroe County has 30 named jurisdictions on record: 1 city, 20 towns and 9 incorporated villages
that sit inside those towns. Village population is already counted in its surrounding town’s
total — only East Rochester breaks that pattern, since its village and town share one
boundary and are listed here once.

Two towns share a name with a village inside a different one: the town of Pittsford (30,617
residents) contains its own village of Pittsford (1,419), and the town of Webster (45,327) contains
its own village of Webster (5,651) — four rows, two pairs, and each town’s figure already
includes its village. East Rochester is the exception: its village incorporated in 1906 and became a
coterminous town and village in 1981, so it has never had a separate “town outside
village” population the way Pittsford and Webster do.

ZIP Codes

• 14604 — Rochester (downtown; the city itself uses two dozen-plus ZIP codes across the
  146xx range)
• 14624 — Chili
• 14420 — Brockport (also serves the town of Sweden)
• 14428 — Churchville (also serves the town of Riga)
• 14430 — Clarkson
• 14445 — East Rochester
• 14450 — Fairport (also serves the town of Perinton)
• 14464 — Hamlin
• 14468 — Hilton (also serves the town of Parma)
• 14472 — Honeoye Falls (also serves the town of Mendon)
• 14526 — Penfield
• 14534 — Pittsford (village and town share this code)
• 14543 — Rush
• 14546 — Scottsville (also serves the town of Wheatland)
• 14559 — Spencerport (also serves the town of Ogden)
• 14580 — Webster (village and town share this code)

Brighton, Gates, Greece, Henrietta and Irondequoit have no single ZIP of their own; the U.S.
Postal Service splits each across several Rochester-area codes rather than assigning one town-wide
ZIP.

Geography

Monroe County sits on the Lake Ontario Plain in western New York, a flat to gently rolling shelf
of glacial lake-bed clay and drumlins south of the lakeshore. Of its 1,367 square miles, 657 are land
and 710 are water — about 52 percent, since the county boundary runs roughly 20 miles along
Lake Ontario and extends well out into the lake itself. The Genesee River crosses the county
north to south, dropping over the High Falls in downtown Rochester before reaching Lake Ontario at
the Charlotte neighborhood. Irondequoit Bay, a drowned river mouth on the county’s northeast
edge, is its largest enclosed body of water.

Lake Ontario forms the entire northern edge. Orleans County lies to the west, Genesee County to
the southwest, Livingston County to the south, Ontario County to the southeast and Wayne County to
the east. Orleans County, Genesee County, Livingston County, Ontario County and Wayne County all border Monroe
directly.

Demographics

Monroe County had a population of 759,443 at the 2020 census, and the latest estimate puts the
county near 750,506 residents, a slight decline. Rochester and Greece are the two largest
communities, together holding more than 40 percent of the county’s population. Median
household income was $62,103 in the 2020 census five-year estimate, well below New York’s 2023
ACS statewide figure of $82,095. Population density works out to roughly 1,156 people per square
mile of land, among the highest of any New York county outside New York City’s suburbs.

Economy & Local Life

Health care and higher education anchor the county’s economy. The University of Rochester,
based in the town of Brighton, employs more than 27,000 people, making it the county’s largest
single employer. Rochester Regional Health employs over 15,000 across its hospital network, and
Wegmans Food Markets, headquartered in the county, employs about 13,000 locally. Eastman Kodak,
Paychex and Pictometry International are all headquartered in Monroe County, a legacy of the
imaging and optics industry George Eastman built here starting in the 1880s. Rochester’s
Lilac Festival, held in Highland Park every May, is the county’s biggest annual event, drawing
several hundred thousand visitors over ten days.

History

New York’s legislature formed Monroe County on 23 February 1821 out of parts of Genesee and
Ontario counties, naming it for James Monroe, then serving as the country’s fifth president.
The Erie Canal reached Rochester in 1823, and the Genesee River’s waterfalls already powered
flour mills; the combination made Rochester the country’s largest flour-milling center by the
1830s, earning it the nickname “Flour City.” Frederick Douglass published his abolitionist
newspaper the North Star from Rochester starting in 1847. Susan B. Anthony was arrested in Rochester
in November 1872 for casting a vote in the presidential election, a case that became a landmark test
of women’s suffrage. George Eastman founded what became Eastman Kodak in Rochester in 1888,
building an imaging industry that shaped the county’s economy for most of the 20th century.

Getting There

Interstate 490 runs east-west through Rochester and links to I-90, the New York State Thruway,
south of the county. I-390 enters from the south and I-590 serves the eastern suburbs; NY 104 runs
along the lakeshore corridor.

• Buffalo — about 65 miles west
• Syracuse — about 85 miles east
• Ithaca — about 75 miles south
• Niagara Falls — about 80 miles northwest

Frederick Douglass Greater Rochester International Airport, in the town of Gates just west of
downtown Rochester, is the county’s commercial airport. Amtrak’s Louise M. Slaughter
station in downtown Rochester serves the Empire Service, Lake Shore Limited and Maple Leaf trains on
the Empire Corridor.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where is Monroe County located?
It sits on the southern shore of Lake Ontario in western New York, about 65 miles east of Buffalo,
bordered by Orleans, Genesee, Livingston, Ontario and Wayne counties.

What is the population of Monroe County?
759,443 at the 2020 census, with a 2025 estimate near 750,506.

How big is Monroe County?
1,367 square miles (3,540 km2) in total, of which 657 square miles are land and 710 square miles
are Lake Ontario water.

What is the county seat of Monroe County?
Rochester, the county’s only city, founded on the Genesee River’s waterfalls.

How many towns and villages are in Monroe County?
Twenty towns and ten incorporated villages, one of which — East Rochester — is
coterminous with its town.

What ZIP codes does Monroe County use?
14604 for downtown Rochester, plus separate codes for each of its named towns and villages,
including 14420 Brockport, 14450 Fairport, 14534 Pittsford and 14580 Webster.

What is Monroe County known for?
Rochester’s history as a photographic-imaging center under Eastman Kodak, the Erie
Canal-era flour-milling boom, and the civil-rights legacies of Frederick Douglass and Susan B.
Anthony.

More counties in this state: Towns
and villages in New York.