Rochester lies alongside the South Fork of the Zumbro River which is 57.6 miles long and is ringed by gentle hills and largely surrounded by farmland within a deciduous forest biome. The Zumbro Watershed flows through 1,422 square miles of agricultural and urban lands. Located in southeast Minnesota, the City of Rochester falls within the Driftless Area: the only region in North America that was never glaciated and contains deeply-carved river valleys. The rugged terrain is due both to the lack of glacial deposits, or drift, and to the incision of the upper Mississippi River and its tributaries into bedrock. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which of it is land and is water. The city is located southeast of Minneapolis-St. Paul.