City comparison
Bismarck, ND is about 450 miles (700 km) from Rochester, MN in a straight line. By road, the drive is roughly 550 miles, or about 9 h 15 min behind the wheel at highway speeds.
Driving distance is a rough estimate (great-circle × 1.25); driving time assumes a 60 mph blended average. Real trips run 10–20% longer with stops.
A direct flight from Bismarck, ND to Rochester, MN takes about 54 min, covering roughly 450 miles in a straight line. Connecting itineraries with a layover typically add 1–3 hours.
Block-to-block estimate at ~500 mph cruise, including taxi, climb, and descent — what an airline would publish, not pure airborne time.
Bismarck, ND is on Mountain Time and Rochester, MN is on Central Time — a 1-hour difference. When it's noon in Bismarck, it's 1 p.m. in Rochester, which puts Bismarck 1 hours behind.
Standard-time offsets. Daylight saving applies in both cities for most of the year (exceptions: Hawaii and most of Arizona), and the gap between the two stays the same.
Rochester has a population of 120,848, vs 73,694 in Bismarck — about 1.6× larger by population. By land area, Rochester covers about 57 sq mi vs 35 sq mi for Bismarck.
Population from US Census ACS. Land area from the Census Gazetteer (city proper, excluding inland water).
Cost indices by category, with the US city average (100) marked.
Index: 100 = US city average. Lower is more affordable.
Side-by-side costs, salaries, and sub-category indices.
| Metric | Bismarck | Rochester | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $969/mo | $1,218/mo | 25.7% higher in Rochester |
| Median home value | $283,800 | $268,800 | 5.6% higher in Bismarck |
| Median household income | $76,014 | $83,973 | 10.5% higher in Rochester |
| Groceries index | 95.8 | 95.5 | ≈ equal (Bismarck slightly higher) |
| Utilities index | 76.5 | 87.8 | 14.7% higher in Rochester |
| Transportation index | 91.7 | 92.6 | 1.0% higher in Rochester |
| Healthcare index | 91.9 | 92.8 | 1.0% higher in Rochester |
How much you'd need to earn in the other city to keep the same standard of living.
If you earn $100,000 in Bismarck, you'd need $99,943 in Rochester to maintain your standard of living.
Climate, safety, and demographics side by side.
Bismarck and Rochester have nearly identical overall cost-of-living indices. Housing costs are roughly 4% higher in Bismarck than in Rochester. If you earn $80,000 in Bismarck, you'd need about $79,954 in Rochester to keep the same standard of living.