> Buffalo..Sorry!!
Oh, forget it then.
Actually Buffalo, Rochester, and Syracuse weather isn't all that different. It's cloudy and dark and it snows in the winter (each city unofficially competes for the Golden Snowball Award for the city with the most snow each year - Syracuse has been winning the last several years) and it is moderate in the summer.
We do not have the temperature extremes because of our proximity to Lakes Ontario and Erie. Those same lakes which bring us so much snow due to lake effect also keep our climate moderate. In fact, we're in the same agricultural zone as parts of North Carolina and the rest of the mid-Atlantic states.
While people in the midwest get 100+ in the summer and -15 (or lower) in the winter, our normal temperature range is around 10 in the coldest part of winter (with bouts of around zero from time to time and many more winter days in the high teens and low 20s) and around 90 in the hottest part of the summer (with occasional higher temps).
Our weather may not be as pleasant as many other parts of the country, but unlike those places, you will not be killed by hurricanes, flash floods, fires, mudslides, earthquakes, tornados, killer bees, or whatever else they throw at you. Your biggest risk is having a heart attack shoveling.
Buffalo gets a raw deal because of the propaganda about endless lousy winters, but to be honest most of the winter in all of our cities in uneventful, interrupted by occasional snowstorms that dump 25 inches in a day. But we're all used to it and have the kind of snow removal apparatus that makes a snowstorm around here a shoulder-shrug event unlike an inch of snow falling in Virginia which can paralyze the place. Right now here in Rochester it's 38 and there is no snow on the ground here at all.
Economy-wise, the cost of living in this part of NY is lower than the rest of the state, but NY is not by any means a low tax state. You will pay significant state taxes, energy costs are higher than in virtually all other states, and the Erie County area has been in economic crisis during 2005. Rochester and Syracuse are faring better. Housing costs are far more reasonable though. You don't need $400,000 to buy a ranch house with no yard. One great thing about Buffalo is that you can easily daytrip into Ontario Canada. Here in Rochester, we have a fast ferry to do that, but it will set you back a pretty penny.
Western NY living is probably closer culturally to the midwest than it is to downstate near NYC. Crime rates vary depending on where you end up. Your biggest risk in most cases would be someone breaking into your car or something. Generally, most places are safe across the region.
