Best City to live between Rochester, NY & Buffalo, NY? (Amherst: Home Depot, to live in)

[dmathews]

Rochester is only 45 minutes from Buffalo.
Both cities are equally nice.

[daschultzy]

Update: Wilson Very Lovely Town Not Far From The Water Has Very Quite And Not A Whole Lot Of Entertainment Is About A 45 Min Drive To Downtown Buffalo, To Rochester About 55 Minutes, As For Other Areas That I Think Are Nice There Is Tonawanda Smaller Homes In Most Cases, That Is About 1.15 Hours To Rochester I Drove That For A While To Rochester Didnt Bother Me To Much But I Will Tell Ya If You Have Kids Might Not Be Something Ya Want To Do If You Get Our Of Work Five Or Later....one Of My Favorite Areas I Have To Say Is Clarence That Is A Cute Little Town With Alot Of Artsy And Cultutural Stores That Are Not Found To Often In The Suburbs....

[heathersmom]

We live in PERRY NY--it is smack dab in the middle of Buffalo and Rochester. You either go 50 miles WEST towards East Aurora and get on the 400 to get to Buffalo/Niagara Falls or you go 50 miles NORTH and get on the 390, 490 or 590 and end up in downtown Rochester. We usually go to the "city" three-four times a month...it is approx. 50 minutes-60 minutes either way...to be right down town either city. Our town is in Wyoming County. You can google it...zipcode 14530.

Our population is just over 5000 people and three times that many cows. We have a little lake (Silver Lake), Letchworth State Park and Mt. Morris Dam amoung other beautiful areas...you can email me if you want more info...my sister is a real estate broker and we have a house for sale. Good luck in your search!

[nnbdnn]

This is a copy of my post on another thread.

Don't do it!!! I HAD to move from NYC to Rochester, and it's horrible up here.

First, the weather. It's almost as hot in the summer as NYC. But worse, it's far, far colder in the winter (and I'm originally from Minnesota, so I know from where I speak). And the WORST (weather-wise) is it's always frickn' cloudy, grey, overcast. I'm not one to take pills, drugs or medication (I only do a once a day vitamin), but after my first 9 months here, I went to a doctor to see about anti-depressants.

Second, this is a cultural wasteland. They talk about the theater scene, the music, etc. It’s a joke. Stuff they show at the big “theater” (GEVA) is so outdated, and/or lowbrow, and/or embarrassingly middle class (in the worse possible sense of the phrase). Musically, one of the recent offerings was a Pops concert featuring—get this—theme songs from movies! One could go on and on, but it would just be too depressing.

Third, the food sucks (sorry for the language). The people here will try and tell you of “all” the good restaurants; DO NOT BELIVE ANYONE!!!!! Ask these people where they’ve spent their lives eating (and what), ask them to what are they comparing all these “good” Rochester restaurants? See what their base-line comparison is before trusting their evaluation.

The upstate economy is in the tank. Property taxes are through the roof (although housing prices are low—but no one is moving here, so what’s going to be the appreciation rate?) There are no real, good parks to get out and walk or bike around (including Highland Park—despite what people might say). The downtown is dead. The only shopping to be had is in suburban strip malls with a smaller-than-average assortment of boring chain stores (and even there, the inventory is often smaller than what is to be found at the same store in other cities). It is so bland, so boring, so mind-numbingly provincial; the best thing going is the airport; it’s easy to get to to get out (although I will admit that Strong Hospital does have a good reputation—but that sort of sums things up doesn’t it. That is, you have to be sick or dying to get anything out of this place). Moreover, all this hold for the general upstate New York area; indeed, some of the things I mentioned are much worse in other cities up here. About the only place up here that I would even consider moving to would be Ithaca.

Good luck, you’ll need it if you move here.

[xamsx]

And here is a copy of what I posted in another thread:

My husband moved to Buffalo from Manhattan 18 months ago. We took a serious look at purchasing a home in Westchester or Northern New Jersey, but when he decided to leave his industry, the need to live in the metro NYC area was gone. Neither of us could see spending the type of money necessary to maintain our lifestyle in an expensive area when we could stay close to my family in an inexpensive area. Since he was born and raised in Chicago, lived in LA the first part of his career and Manhattan during the core portion of the last 15 years, I occasionally ask him if he's had trouble adjusting to Buffalo. I also ask if he'd ever return to Chicago, LA or Manhattan to live. His response is never LA or Manhattan. The cost of living is just too high (and he isn't necessarily referring to monetary costs). Chicago still appeals to him. I can see why he likes Buffalo though after growing up in Chicago - Buffalo is just a small Chicago but Buffalo has better weather.

While Western New York is not for everyone, I do hope you find the area as beautiful as many of the folks on this forum, EugeneBKLYN. We travel extensively and can honestly say there is no better weather from May - October then the Buffalo region. While Rochester is a bit hotter in the summer and snowier in the winter, it too is beautiful.

[minusach]

Hello,
There are no cities between buffalo and rochester. I would not recommend living in Buffalo. The economy is declining day by day, the weather is awful and there is not much to do. Its more of a town than a city. The property taxes are too high and the gas prices are ridiculous. I have not been to Rochester, but I have heard its much of the same. If possible do not move to western NY.
Best of Luck.
MS

[stc123]

move to geneseo NY it is a great town

[kitty71]

Originally Posted by nnbdnn

This is a copy of my post on another thread.

Don't do it!!! I HAD to move from NYC to Rochester, and it's horrible up here.

First, the weather. It's almost as hot in the summer as NYC. But worse, it's far, far colder in the winter (and I'm originally from Minnesota, so I know from where I speak). And the WORST (weather-wise) is it's always frickn' cloudy, grey, overcast. I'm not one to take pills, drugs or medication (I only do a once a day vitamin), but after my first 9 months here, I went to a doctor to see about anti-depressants.

Second, this is a cultural wasteland. They talk about the theater scene, the music, etc. It’s a joke. Stuff they show at the big “theater” (GEVA) is so outdated, and/or lowbrow, and/or embarrassingly middle class (in the worse possible sense of the phrase). Musically, one of the recent offerings was a Pops concert featuring—get this—theme songs from movies! One could go on and on, but it would just be too depressing.

Third, the food sucks (sorry for the language). The people here will try and tell you of “all” the good restaurants; DO NOT BELIVE ANYONE!!!!! Ask these people where they’ve spent their lives eating (and what), ask them to what are they comparing all these “good” Rochester restaurants? See what their base-line comparison is before trusting their evaluation.

The upstate economy is in the tank. Property taxes are through the roof (although housing prices are low—but no one is moving here, so what’s going to be the appreciation rate?) There are no real, good parks to get out and walk or bike around (including Highland Park—despite what people might say). The downtown is dead. The only shopping to be had is in suburban strip malls with a smaller-than-average assortment of boring chain stores (and even there, the inventory is often smaller than what is to be found at the same store in other cities). It is so bland, so boring, so mind-numbingly provincial; the best thing going is the airport; it’s easy to get to to get out (although I will admit that Strong Hospital does have a good reputation—but that sort of sums things up doesn’t it. That is, you have to be sick or dying to get anything out of this place). Moreover, all this hold for the general upstate New York area; indeed, some of the things I mentioned are much worse in other cities up here. About the only place up here that I would even consider moving to would be Ithaca.

Good luck, you’ll need it if you move here.

I really can't help but wonder what the point is of some very long negative post that seems to be comparing Rochester to NYC - that's never going to be a relevant comparison. Population, location etc. etc. how can anyone expect a city a twentieth of the size to compete with the most sophisticated (arguably, in my opinion, but anyway) city in the NE?

How is this helpful? Thanks for the abysmally negative outlook. Some of us others also have to move to Rochester for work reasons - gotta thank you for making a tough move so much easier - now I have so much to look forward to!! (actually I do feel positive about the move - I will base my opinion on my own experience)

How about some positives? I can't believe that every single thing about Rochester is B-A-D. glass half-full, or half-empty??

[warm heatherette]

Previous posts have said there are no cities between Rochester and Buffalo. What about Lockport - it's a city, albeit a small one, but a nice one. Many lovely (affordable) homes, a downtown slowly being revitalized, low crime, rural setting, lots of pros. Don't know about the schools, and yes the economy is poor, but it is all through that corridor.

[I'minformed2]

I'd call Lockport more of a suburb of Buffalo than a "city" between the two.