Buffalo-Syracuse-Rochester area question (Amherst, Albany, Clay: ski resorts, crime rate, house)

[BAHOWELL]

They're all affordable, great housing costs, and in an ideal location with Canada & the water. We LOVE the snowfall and weather. Crime stinks in Buffalo and Syracuse is sounding more and more like a dead town. Can I get some real insight into these three towns, which is best, and why you think so?

If you're curious about us: We are 21 & 23, married, no children, husband graduates in December with Accounting degree and currently works as bookkeeper for CPA firm. We're moving in July after he's put in a year with his current employer *who encouraged him to just use them as experience*. We just want a town that we can potentially own a home in & have children in a few years. School systems and such DO NOT matter as we will home school. Just somewhere safe, attractive, and with places to go. Snow is important as is cold weather.

Let me add we're from Texas! Houston to be exact so we're living in a very run down town. (of course it depends on where you are but for the most part...) So appearance and feel is somewhat important.

[jblake78728]

My wife & I moved from Austin to a remote area of Northern NY back in '06 because we love snow & winter sports (among other things). After we were in NY a short while my wife was offered a better position in Buffalo, we visited the area & absolutely fell in love with it. Housing is cheap but property taxes are high (but similar to what you would find in the better areas of Houston, DFW & Austin). While crime is high in Buffalo its not like the whole city is over run with it & the suburbs are among the safest in the country. If you are looking to live in the city the Elmwood Villiage section of Buffalo sounds like a place that you may like a lot (I know Rochester & Syracuse both have similar areas but I'm not familiar enough with them to give you much info).

Elmwood Village - Buffalo Niagara Convention and Visitors Bureau

Parts of South Buffalo (Cazenovia Park, South Abbott & Abbott-McKinley) are also very nice with affordable housing (as well as some decent property tax rates).

If you don't mind living in the suburbs Amherst, Williamsville, East Aurora, Orchard Park & Hamburg are all very nice & safe towns.

We love the Buffalo area because ....... overall affordability as well as affordable housing, snow, proximity to Lakes Erie & Ontario as well as Niagara Falls, some decent ski resorts within an hour of the city, proximity to Toronto, plenty of State Parks in the area for hiking, camping or just to spend some time out of the metro area, friendly neighbors & plenty of nightlife for a city its size. Personally, I wouldn't have a problem living in any of the cities you are looking at & think it may be a matter of finding a job that is right & heading to whichever city that job is in.

[bellafinzi]

Syracuse is as much a dead town as Buffalo and Rochester. The Rochester area just looks a whole lot better than Syracuse for two reasons. The Rochester area grew 100,000 people in the last 40 years. While the Buffalo and Syracuse areas lost population during that time. The Syracuse area remained mostly stagnant in population, but the Buffalo area lost over 200,000 people. In the past 10 years the Rochester area has joined the other two metros and is now losing population. The other reason is that leadership and residents in the Rochester area focus on selling Rochester to the outside world, Syracuse is more insular and hasn't focused on that enough.

The following is my opinion.

Syracuse is like the beautiful girl who wears out of style clothing and no make-up. She might make a great wife, but most guys never approach her because of the way she looks. All she needs is a little direction from a more worldly minded person to show her how to dress and put on make-up. Then she's start turning heads and start attracting more guys.

Meaning if the Syracuse leadership and residents focused more on how the area looks then more people be drawn to live there.

Rochester is like a beautiful girl that wears mostly stylish clothing and puts on make-up everyday. She might make a great wife but since she is focused on more superficial things, she is slightly shallower and ends up attracting more worldly-minded guys.

Though the Syracuse girl is more down to earth than the Rochester girl, most guys are drawn to the Rochester girl based on first impressions.

Others can figure out how Buffalo is....

I'm not sure what you are looking for exactly in a town, but I'll make a few assumptions based on what you said.

The following is based on generalizations for the whole areas.

Most attractive: Rochester
Least crime: Syracuse
Best economy over the past 40 years: Rochester
Best economy now: Syracuse:
Most young people: Rochester
Most hilly: Syracuse
Closest to Canada: Buffalo
Most snow: Syracuse
Least number of cloudy days: Rochester
Most down to earth people: Syracuse

About the people. All of Upstate NY have very nice down to earth people in general. But I've found that people in Rochester and Buffalo have a slight "Midwestern niceness" unlike of what you find in the Syracuse area. They are just a tad more superficial in my opinion. I haven't heard this anywhere else but based on my limited observations I believe young men in Buffalo and Rochester are more...hmmmm...how should I say this...aggressive than in the Syracuse area. People in the Syracuse area are more laid back. And maybe that's why Syracuse doesn't look as good as Rochester.

[ckhthankgod]

Moderator cut: personal debate

Anyway, crime in any of the major Upstate cities are relegated to certain parts of town and to certain negative lifestyles(drugs, gangs, etc.).

What the other posts have mentioned is pretty true. If you want to expand your search a bit, the Capital District(Albany area) might work too. Orange , Jefferson, Tompkins and Saratoga Counties have been growing as well.

[KingTony723]

rochester did not grow in the past 40 years, its been declining since 1950....but yea

definatly buffalo, its the biggest small town, its got the feel of a small city with amenities that big cities have, it has niagara falls, the best food, cheap housing, and the crime rate is dropping.

[bellafinzi]

Originally Posted by KingTony723

rochester did not grow in the past 40 years, its been declining since 1950....but yea

Rochester, NY Metropolitan Statistical Area (CBSA) Population and Components of Change

Rochester MSA

1970 ~ 961,516
2008 ~ 1,034,090

That is growth in my book.

[ckhthankgod]

Originally Posted by bellafinzi

Rochester, NY Metropolitan Statistical Area (CBSA) Population and Components of Change

Rochester MSA

1970 ~ 961,516
2008 ~ 1,034,090

That is growth in my book.

Is that due to adding a county or two or just straight growth. I ask that because Cayuga County has been mentioned in Syracuse's CSA and MSA at times, for example.

[bellafinzi]

Originally Posted by ckhthankgod

Is that due to adding a county or two or just straight growth. I ask that because Cayuga County has been mentioned in Syracuse's CSA and MSA at times, for example.

Straight growth.

Just Monroe County went from 711,917 in 1970 to 732,762 in 2008.

Monroe County, NY Population and Components of Change

[grdnrman]

Syracuse is the smallest of the three cities. I do like the Syracuse area. Home prices are affordable for both single people & families. I think the suburbs are the best place to live and each suburb area has its individual 'feel'/atmosphere. I like the Cicero/Clay/Brewerton suburbs with quick access to Interstate 81 and fast easy travel to any other part of Syracuse & suburbs. Other people like some of the other suburbs; YOU should actually SEE each suburb to determine which is the best 'fit' for you. A family who moved to Syracuse from Long Island NY commented and was pleasantly surprised/pleased about how quick & easy it is to drive to any part of Metro Syracuse. Their everyday driving experience on Long Island was HEAVY traffic and time consuming traffic-jams. I think Syracuse highways are great for easy travel; Interstate Routes=81, 90, 481, 690, 695 & US 11 & State Routes=31, 5, 370, 173, 92, 175, 290, 298 plus other county highways like 57. Because Rochester & Buffalo are larger cities it takes longer to drive around BUT I do like both cities suburbs; nothing bad to say about either of them--all cities have their good & bad aspects. You should also search within THIS SITE under each city (SYR/ROCH/BUFF) for additional city info. Best of luck.

[jrice]

Syracuse is not a dead town by any means. In fact, it is going through what might be considered a re-birth. The city itself started out as a manufacturing town, with such companies as GM, Miller, Carrier, and more building plants here. Unfortunately those companies decided that it was more cost effective to move those jobs down south. For awhile the city was pretty bleak as far as future goes. In the past decade though we have been experiencing a re-birth of sorts as new industries have decided to move here--such as bio-medical, defence contractors, green technologies, and more. In fact we are in the running for a new electric automobile plant to be built here (Reva motors). Is the city completely out of the economic downturn it was in?? Sort of, not completely but its getting there. At the present time our unemployment rate is 7.9% while the state is 8.8%.

The housing market here is fantastic, with suburban home prices ranging from $90k to the high $200k area. I recently bought a house in Cicero (northen suburb), the house itself is 2100sqft, on a 1/3 acre lot, built in 1997. We paid $162k. If the city is more your type of place to live, there are nice desirable neighborhoods with modestly priced homes

As far as crime, don't let the stats scare you. Crime, in the city is generally confined to certain areas-parts of the northside, and south-west sides.

Commuting is a breeze, you can be anywhere in the city in about 15 minutes at most times.

Culturely speaking, we are diverse, especially in the city. The suburbs are a pretty good mix, some sections are more concentrated than others, like Cicero being mostly Italian-Irish, etc.

What I would suggest is to pick a weekend and come and syat for a couple of days, enjoy the sites, and what our city has to offer. During the weekends there is usually always something going on, for example on Saturday is the regional farmers market and on Sunday is the regional Flea market. This time of year is especially nice, especially if you have a family, there is apple picking (with hay rides), etc

As far as population growth/decline, Syracuse has been pretty steady

1970 : 714,035
2008: 723,617