Buffalo, NY or Philadelphia,PA (living, cost, state, better)
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
which is more suitable for a young female teen studying IT,Love Tall BUILDINGS without a car?
More vibrant culture, lively, after-hours, fast paced, walkable, good transportation, economy, whats the different between those two in specific details?
I do not know what is the difference between a mid western or a east cost feel as I'm not from the US. I'm from Asia
First of all, while I'm sure you know Philadelphia is an East Coast city, Buffalo's not a Midwestern one either.
Traditionally, the Midwest begins at the Ohio state line; culturally, some of it seeps into Western Pennsylvania.
Correct answer to this poll is definitely Philadelphia.
Not to derail this thread but what exactly is "Midwestern culture?" I'd argue Western PA has elements of a Northern Appalachian culture but the Midwest is so huge I have no idea how anyone could say it has a homogeneous culture.
I live in Philly now but have been to Buffalo many times. Buffalo's location in New York State might meant that it is not technically a Midwestern City but culturally it has a lot more in common with people in Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin than people in NYC, Boston, Philly, and DC. This includes the accents which are pretty typical great lakes area accents. Buffalo is a small City but it punches above its weight. Has a good beer scene, decent restaurant scene and there is a good amount of civic pride.
Buffalo has some cool walkable neighborhoods like Allentown. However, I think it would be unpleasant to live in Buffalo without a car as it has poor public transportation. It only has one sparsely used "subway" line that is mostly used by UB students. Philly, by contrast, has multiple subway liens, regional riles, trolley lines and the rest of the City is covered by a pretty extensive bus system. Most neighborhoods are walkable and you can easily live without a car. I did it for 6 years and had no complaint.
The people are extremely friendly but there are not a lot of transplants which might make it difficult to meet people.
Philly wins all the of the categories that you list. It has a better and more diverse economy, significantly more culture (any way you measure it), is more fast paced, more walkable, significantly better public transportation. Buffalo may win the "after hours" category as many of the bars stay open until 4am. Buffalo also has better Junk food (love the beef on weck!). The ethnic neighborhoods in Buffalo will mostly be white ethnic; primarily Polish, Irish, and Italian. Philly has those but also has a prominent Chinatown which has Chinese, Vietnamese, Thai, Buremese, Japense, and Korean populations. There are significant Cambodian and Vietnamese areas in South Philly and North Philly, Korean populations in North Philly. NE Philly has significant Russian, Polish, Mongolian, Brazilian areas as well. Neither City, however, is as cosmopolitan as places like NYC or DC.
Sorry for the steam of consciousness. I am happy to answer specific questions.
Any vote cast for Buffalo is meant simply to slight Philadelphia.
There are certainly things that I don't love about Philadelphia. Personally, if we're talking cities in the general NE/E region, I'd prefer NYC/Bos/DC before Philadelphia. But, my gut feeling tells me that ~95% of the unbiased population would prefer to live in/around Philadelphia than in/around Buffalo in a head to head discussion. Philadelphia is a major North American city with a certainy vibrancy, walkability, food scene, etc. And it hosts some very nice suburbs- Far nicer, in my limited experience, than Buffalo will provide.
Any vote cast for Buffalo is meant simply to slight Philadelphia.
There are certainly things that I don't love about Philadelphia. Personally, if we're talking cities in the general NE/E region, I'd prefer NYC/Bos/DC before Philadelphia. But, my gut feeling tells me that ~95% of the unbiased population would prefer to live in/around Philadelphia than in/around Buffalo in a head to head discussion. Philadelphia is a major North American city with a certainy vibrancy, walkability, food scene, etc. And it hosts some very nice suburbs- Far nicer, in my limited experience, than Buffalo will provide.
Buffalo suburban areas such as Williamsville/East Amherst(Williamsville SD), Eastern Eggertsville/Snyder in the town of Amherst(Amherst Central SD), Clarence, Lewiston/Lewiston-Porter SD north of Niagara Falls, Orchard Park, Hamburg and the East Aurora area, among maybe a few others(parts of the Lancaster SD, parts of the Iroquois SD, parts of the Kenmore-Tonawanda SD, etc.), would fit in fine with most Philadelphia suburbs. Essentially the Buffalo area version of their “Main Line” suburbs would be many of the neighborhoods in the town of Amherst into Clarence going down Main Street/Route 5 up to about the 990..
Last edited by ckhthankgod; 06-28-2018 at 07:34 PM..
Any vote cast for Buffalo is meant simply to slight Philadelphia.
There are certainly things that I don't love about Philadelphia. Personally, if we're talking cities in the general NE/E region, I'd prefer NYC/Bos/DC before Philadelphia. But, my gut feeling tells me that ~95% of the unbiased population would prefer to live in/around Philadelphia than in/around Buffalo in a head to head discussion. Philadelphia is a major North American city with a certainy vibrancy, walkability, food scene, etc. And it hosts some very nice suburbs- Far nicer, in my limited experience, than Buffalo will provide.
I'm undoubtedly biased toward Buffalo, but I'd say the 95% figure is giving Philadelphia a bit too much credit. There is surely a large segment of the population that prefers what Buffalo provides ie. lower cost of living, easier traffic, better sense of community etc. Philadelphia still provides more to do and bigger city amenities considering its vastly larger size, but I wouldn't just pass Buffalo off completely because of that. We have improved quite a bit from our gloomy days of the 20th century.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
