Upstate relocation? Your opinions please? (New York, Buffalo: crime rate, home, job market)

[col]

I would like people to tell me about where they live up state, I am looking for places with a lower cost of living than NYC, lower hosuing purchase cost and some culture and senic. My family and I are water people ( not sports - senic)
Priority is safety and cost of living with jobs for people in the field of developemental disabilites. Thank you.

[I'minformed2]

The Rochester or Buffalo areas would be best for you. They are the two largest metros upstate (each with over 1million people) So you have the city, the suburbs, and the country all within 20-30 minutes of eachother really. Rochester has Lake Ontario, Irondequoit Bay, and the Genesee river for water views, and Buffalo has Lake Erie. Rochester is in the more scenic location IMO. It's more hilly while Buffalo tends to be pancake flat. Both Rochester and Buffalo are within close proximity to the Fingerlakes. A breathtaking region with lakes that are warmer, cleaner, and deeper than Ontario and Erie, and some of the most beautiful vineyards in the east. The job market upstate isn't great right now. It's starting to turn around, but it would still DEFINITELY be wise for you to find a job BEFORE you move. Once you have a job though. both of those areas are some of the best to live. Taxes are pretty high in both metros, but they housing is dirt cheap compaired to NYC. The median home price in the Rochester area (which is the more affluent of the two) was $137,000 as of July 2006. And I believe it's even lower in Buffalo. The best schools would be in the Rochester suburbs of Pittsford, Brighton, Penfield, and even Gates. And in Buffalo the best would probably be in Amherst and Lancaster.

[bellafinzi]

Don't rule out the Syracuse area. The suburbs of Syracuse have many lakes, two Finger Lakes to the west (Skaneateles and Otisco) Onondaga Lake is in the middle of the suburbs, and Oneida Lake to the northeast. Cazenovia Lake is nearby too in Madison County and Cross Lake in Cayuga County. Lake Ontario is less than an hour away. The Erie Canal or Sencea River goes through the northwest suburbs of Syracuse.

Here are pictures of some of the lakes:

Skaneateles Lake







Onondaga Lake







Oneida Lake

[col]

Thank you both for your time, input and pic's. Do you know anything abou the job markets in these regions? We need jobs in the developmental disabilites field ( working with retarded adult) there is a master degree involved and lots of experience.

Again thank you.

[Mark S.]

Isn't crime rather high in Syracuse?

[bellafinzi]

Mark S., if you think crime is bad in Syracuse than its much worse in Rochester. The high murder rates in Rochester are a well known fact in Upstate New York.

Thanks col, I'd give you links to websites, but its not allowed, so here are a couple places in Syracuse you might want google for more info, they both have job openings:

Arc of Onondaga
Liberty Resources, Inc.

[Mark S.]

Originally Posted by bellafinzi

Mark S., if you think crime is bad in Syracuse than its much worse in Rochester.

Is Syracuse that bad though? It was honestly a question and not a comment. I know nothing of the area, but the crime stats I find online look pretty grim.

Here are city data's: http://www.city-data.com/city/Syracuse-New-York.html

Are those pretty accurate?

If so, what's the cause? Gangs? Poverty? All of the above?

[Southside Shrek]

Bellafinzi
more great and inviting looking pics. They make me want to jump in my car and drive up there. Might even scoot up to Watertown and check out my old stomping grounds, including Sacketts Harbour, the Thousand Islands, etc. What a great area!!!!

[Lax]

You have to keep in mind that just like every city in the country, the crime in syracuse is located in certian neighborhoods. You won't find the crime in the nicer neighborhoods.

[I'minformed2]

Originally Posted by col

Thank you both for your time, input and pic's. Do you know anything abou the job markets in these regions? We need jobs in the developmental disabilites field ( working with retarded adult) there is a master degree involved and lots of experience.

Again thank you.

Medical Science jobs have really been taking off in Rochester over the past several years as manufacturing is on it's way out (largely from Kodak). I don't know if that is quite what field you would fall in to though. The crime rate is uncomfortably high for families in the both Rochester and Syracuse (and for that matter, Buffalo) but that is only if you are talking about the city limits. The suburbs of all three cities are extremely safe; in fact, every single upstate metro has at least one suburban town in the 50 safest towns in the nation list.