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The capital region is indeed very nice, and has a "nicer" standard of living mainly due to the plethora of state government jobs. In terms of industry and non-government jobs it is really not much better off than the rest of Upstate (ballyhooed chip factories notwithstanding). On the other hand, it's damn hard to get around over there. Albany is kind of a traffic nightmare. You either have the interstates to deal with (90 and the very congested Northway) or you can take two-lane roads everywhere. When I had extended stays in the area, I was surprised at what a pain it was to get around.
One other thing about the capital region is that they seem much less prepared (logistically and psychologically) for winter snow events. Of course, they seem to get hit harder by stuff like ice storms and proper blizzards (Nor'easters) which result in disastrous road conditions. Yet I remember being there for lighter snow events and my God, you would think the end of the world was coming by the way they carried on! Being a Syracusan, I kind of felt like smacking some of them in the face and saying "Calm down, get a hold of yourselves..."
There is a huge difference in almost everything. One, it is not as diverse as D.C. mainly white people. Crime is a lot lower. Population is a lot lower, but still a metro of 650,000 people. Syracuse is going through a huge change right now, it used to be huge in manufacturing, well we all know those jobs have gone off to China. Now, jobs in Syracuse's is huge in Medical jobs, educational jobs, green jobs and soon to be biotechnology jobs. Good high paying jobs especially in a very low cost of living area. Everything is relaxed in this area. You have to be somewhere at 5, no worries leave at 4:40 and you can make it. Also, you like winters, well Syracuse usually gets over 100 inches of snow every year but most of the time it wont snow until December and usually ends in March. Last year, the last time we had snow was the second week of February. People definitely exaggerate how bad the winters really are up. Yes, it is cold from November to April. But overall, it is a great city to raise a family, work and still have a lot of fun.
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