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What city would you pick for me based on these things
Cheaper cost of living
Variety of food
More things to do on weekends for early 20 year olds
Big sport fans
Skiing
Easy colleges to get into
Cheapest to get home (NYC)
That's not much of a rivalry. lol - since Buffalo is clear on the other side of the state and not even near a mountainous region, Albany would be the obvious choice.
Both have nightlife that goes until 4am. Both have skiing close by, but the Albany is close to the Adirondacks and not too far from the Catskills either. It's closer to NYC too. Buffalo is close to Toronto and you can take affordable flights to NYC by taking JetBlue. Buffalo is more affordable in terms of cost of living in a general sense. Sports are bigger in Buffalo, by far. Both have their share of colleges and with a range of educational opportunities.
What city would you pick for me based on these things
Cheaper cost of living
Variety of food
More things to do on weekends for early 20 year olds
Big sport fans
Skiing
Easy colleges to get into
Cheapest to get home (NYC)
COL- Buffalo but both are cheap
Food- Buffalo by far
Things to do- Buffalo. It's a much bigger city so it will have more to offer
Sports- Buffalo by far
Skiing- Albany. Buffalo has mountains near by but Albany is close to the adirondacks and vermont
Colleges- both
NYC- Albany, it's much closer.
Cheaper cost of living - Buffalo
Variety of food - depends on the type of food, Buffalo has great bad for you food (wings, hot dogs, etc)
More things to do on weekends for early 20 year olds- Buffalo
Big sport fans - Buffalo
Skiing - Albany definitely. Buffalo has essentially 2 places to ski .One is kind of a joke, the other gets very boring after a couple of visits
Easy colleges to get into- I would say Buffalo just because there's so many. Buffalo State College is pretty easy and cheap but certain programs can be competitive. UB is the same but more competitive for certain programs
Cheapest to get home (NYC) depends on the mode of travel. Air travel frm Buffalo tends to be cheaper but you can take a train from Albany which is cheaper and doesn't really take all that much longer (when you factor in security times at airports, delays, etc)
I guess it would depend on how important each of those factors are to you but I would probably recommend Buffalo over Albany for someone young looking for fun. Just bring a car with you so you can do the long drive to the Adirondacks for skiing.
What city would you pick for me based on these things
Cheaper cost of living
Variety of food
More things to do on weekends for early 20 year olds
Big sport fans
Skiing
Easy colleges to get into
Cheapest to get home (NYC)
You might also want to consider that Buffalo gets about 3x more snow than Albany so how often do you really want to be shoveling yourself out?
Another thing, the Albany area has a lot of colleges, unlike previous posters have stated.
I don't know Albany very well, but Buffalo scores very well for everything you listed. Most NYers unknowingly know very little about their own state.
South of Buffalo is ski country, into the hills where some areas get as much as 250-300" of snow. One of the resorts is the biggest resort in NY and consistently rated as one of the best in the east... the village itself (Ellicottville) is especially highly rated as a fun ski town.
Pro football and hockey are huge in Buffalo, despite consistently poor teams. Minor league baseball is also pretty popular.
Downtown has a growing area in Chippewa that is a big club & pub area. Toronto is like Canada's NYC and is an easy drive from Buffalo.
Buffalo may be far from NYC, but Buffalo has a great airport... cheapest flights around and easy and quick to navigate... not too big and not too small.
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