Central NY county comparison/suggestions (Buffalo, Rochester: home, top schools, college)

[homeward bound]

Starting from & including Genesee County and heading eastward along, roughly, the Rt. 20 corridor, all the way to & including Otsego County--

Which county do you think best in terms of:

-Stable (not declining, not gloomy) small towns of the classic Upstate NY variety (everything from 200-person hamlets to towns of 20,000 considered)

-Good old housing stock (pre-1940 housing only)--rehabbing a wounded classic home would be fine

-Decent public school system

-Job opportunities for public school teachers; commuting 30-40 minutes to job would be okay

-Fishing, swimming, hiking opportunities and historical sites relatively close (30, 40 minute drives okay)

Which counties/towns should we NOT consider, and for what reasons?

Also, are the more southerly counties of Steuben, Tompkins, and Tioga well worth considering? How do they compare?

THANKS!

[vicarian]

That's quite a chunk of land, so you have a lot to work with.

Many of the stable communities have a larger employer who won't be moving anytime soon. This can include college towns (Geneseo in Livingston County, Oneonta in Otsego County, or you could live close to Ithaca in Tompkins County [the city is a little too large for your parameter, but the neighboring towns, with a few thousand people each, might be a good fit])

Geneva in Ontario County and Corning in Steuben County are doing comparatively well in contrast to other parts of upstate, but are still declining. The towns near them are growing or holding steady, which suggests a steady economy in those areas at least.

Chemung (Elmira) and Broome (Binghamton) are still losing population, though not as bad as in the 1990s. The economy is those areas is still in poor shape. And very gloomy, from what I've observed. I dread spending a day in Binghamton with its pall of gloom.

Looking at the county level, Tioga (Owego area) and Cortland are seeing slight declines, so their economy may not be doing well in those areas.

Livingston (Geneseo) and Chenango (Norwich) are holding steady.

Otsego and Yates have seen slight gains in population; it suggests to me that the economy is more favorable in those places. Ontario County has seen large gains, but I suspect this is from the sprawling suburbs of Rochester expanding into the county. Tompkins County is also growing at a (relatively) fast rate.

*****

I can't imagine a town in upstate without some good old housing stock looking for a loving owner. It might be slightly cheaper in the areas where the economy isn't doing as well, but (taxes aside), housing is a good bargain in upstate.

*****

Good schools-well, the school systems up here are very good. Newsweek cited Victor (the suburban Rochester area that's expanding in Ontario County), Ithaca, and Skaneateles (SW Onondaga County [what I think of as the non-suburban part]) in its top schools lists [top 500]. Binghamton and Vestal (Broome County; suburban Binghamton), Trumansburg (rural Tompkins County) are on the second half of the list.

Of course, several suburban high schools in Rochester and Syracuse are on the list, but they don't fit your parameters.

*****

Well, fishing, hiking, and all the trimmings, eh? Take your pick. Letchworth State Park (Grand Canyon of the East) and Silver Springs State Park, which are in Livingston County; Taughannock Falls and Buttermilk Falls State Parks in Tompkins (I personally recommend these for the hiking). You're right in the Finger Lakes Region, so there's plenty of fishing to go around (Keuka, Cayuga, Seneca, Honeoye are just a few of the lakes). There are many more parks and lakes and rivers, but I'll let you go to wikipedia or the state parks website to find ones closer to your desired locale.

*****

My personally recommendation job-wise for education would be to live within 30-40 minutes of a small city or bigger; providing you have experience, you should be able to get a job in a larger community. If you don't mind working in suburban Rochester or Syracuse, or Binghamton, Ithaca etc. jobs should be easier (I use that relatively) to find. There are jobs in the smaller towns, but they are few and far between when it comes to open position. Check the local papers (Rochester Chroncile, Syracuse Post-Standard, Elmira Star-Gazette, Binghamton Press, Ithaca Journal, Lake and Valley Clarion [serves Geneseo area])

*****

In my own personal experience, I'd advise against Elmira and Binghamton for living, because these places are rather gloomy, and pessimistic about life in the area. It's bad that the economy has suffered, but it seems to have broekn a lot of the local spirit in those places too. Very depressing.

[homeward bound]

Thanks very much, Vicarian!

I knew or sensed a lot of this, didn't know some of it--because my traveling and researching has been pretty piecemeal. So your post really quilts it altogether very helpfully.

I'm thinking that, with so many possibilities (though we're still favoring Cooperstown, Skaneateles, Cazenovia, and a few others, most of all), the best thing for us would be to apply for all the jobs in desirable areas that we're suitable for, and go from there. Even if we end up living in our fifth or tenth choice, I'm sure we'd be happy. And venturing around to visit our other choices, and discovering yet more great places along the way, would be gravy.

That's one of the things that baffles me about people who complain so bitterly about Upstate: Where else in the country can you find such a rich variety of cities, towns, villages, lakes, rivers, mountains, farmland, history, etc? I understand all the frustrations of living up there--I lived in Buffalo a long time, after all, before I came to Virginia. But in the 26 other states I've been in and explored pretty well, only a handful come close to the incredible variety of great places to live, see, and enjoy that Upstate NY offers. If we "had to settle for" living in Cazenovia, say, traveling to Cooperstown for the day or the Adirondacks for a week would be a trip we'd always be grateful for being able to take in just a few hours. Sprawling suburbs and new malls you can have anywhere--and they sap rather than touch the soul. People are LUCKY to be living in Upstate NY, even with its problems.

Anyway, thanks again!