What are the Biggest Differences between Buffalo and NYC?
I am writing this as someone who has grown up in buffalo (Born and Raised), but also visited NYC plenty of times with lifelong family Members and very close friends who are living their.
Lets Go over the major things, as others will be dependent on you and your family preferences:
Cost of Living
Job Opportunities
Housing/ Real estate
People
Lifestyle and Feel
Cost of Living:
Knowing from absolute experience, NYC cost of Living is far Beyond Buffalos it is not even comparable. Food, Housing, Going out at night, transportation, etc. everything you can think of is more expensive in NYC. Average rent in Buffalo NY right now in 2022-2023 is about $1,200 for just under 800 square feet. The Average Rent in Manhattan is $5,000, which is Insane lol. As someone who is in the Real Estate industry myself, i'm not sure how this is feasible for most families. Plus the other cost of living like car insurance, Paying for parking inside the city and taking the train to work every day.
Housing:
As mentioned earlier, The rental rates are already high and there is really no difference in housing. The Buffalo average right now is sitting around 235,000 across the entire Buffalo and Niagara region. Are there places in the suburbs where you can find way more expensive homes, yes, for sure but for the most part 250-300k will get you something very nice.
For NYC, you're looking at 700-800k for a home easily, that's a very big difference. I do have friends who have purchased homes on the outskirts of the city, like New Rochelle, west and East chester areas. Even then their homes were well in the 400-500 range.
Lifestyle and People:
I Can say this about NYC, it has that hustlers vibe everywhere you go. Everyone is always on the move, even if they are going to the store and coming back lol. It's such a fast paced living on a daily basis, but I can understand because of the time it takes to travel in between burroughs and not knowing if you're going to catch traffic or just see something crazy on your way to your destination. It's also a lot more diverse, in the city, you have so many different cultures and ethnicities that you get to enjoy and be a part of. The city also has 3.5 million more people as well, so it feels super jammed packed everywhere, I never liked that at all.
Buffalo NY is a much SLOWER style of living, it's almost like a southern feel up north. People here don't move with the same urgency, nore do we have a 20 min train ride anywhere. I always describe buffalo as a 15 min city, you get to any destination, or anything you need in 15 mins or less. We really are spoiled up here for sure.
Job Opportunities:
NYC is the Mecca for opportunity, That goes without saying. So many big name industries and people have stood ground there for sure. Buffalo cannot compete with that. Though buffalo is on the rise, the job market is night and Day. We specialize in a few main industries, Health Care, Higher Education, Tech is heavily moving this way, Manufacturing and Utility Power.
I do think everything is changing now, especially since covid, there's people moving out of the city in Droves. To me here's the number 1 reason: Why would I stay in a place where it costs so much when I can work anywhere in the USA and still collect the same amount of money?
If you want a deeper dive into buffalo make sure you Check it out at Buffaloliving2.0 on YouTube!