Another reason for living in the city:
Even if you don’t live in the city, SUNY tuition is inexpensive, and state colleges and universities are considered to offer good bang for the buck.
I’ll second what delphica said about the houses and neighborhoods. If I moved back to Buffalo, I’d lean towards 175 Sterling and 27 Ketchum. Both are in “hot” neighborhoods, with real estate prices rising much faster than WNY and Upstate as a whole.
Higher education was something I intended to mention. If you’re thinking of continuing your education, Buffalo is not a bad place to be. The University at Buffalo is the largest public college in New York by enrollment, even if it’s not considered the flagship campus. Buffalo State is a smaller public college, and there are several private schools.
I only visited it once but I enjoyed the roast beef on weck sandwiches, and the buffalo wings at the Anchor Bar.
Otherwise it was pretty meh.
Grew up there. Well, not Buffalo itself but the southtowns. (Colden)
Colden gets one metric fuckton of snow every year. More snow than anywhere else in WNY. With a father that is super OCD about keeping the driveway clear, I’d rank “Shovelling Snow” as one of my greatest skills. I am superb at it. Anyway, even though it snows a ton in WNY, they do a fantastic job of clearing the roads. Something I took for granted until I moved to Madison, WI. Holy crap do they suck at snow here.
People in WNY will generally tell it to you straight. Unlike the South where you get “Well, bless your heart.” or the Midwest where you get nice to your face and cattiness behind your back. In general, people are pretty nice. I took that for granted, too. People in Madison are pretentious pricks.
My parents still live in WNY. Every time I go home everything looks a little more run-down. Don’t know if I simply didn’t notice it as much growing up, or that it’s now that I’m well-travelled and have seen cleaner cities. It’s kind of depressing. Areas of the city itself can get pretty crappy, but (fewer) other places are pretty nice.
Football and Hockey! Great art museum! Nice zoo!
Be sure to visit Scott Norwood’s strip club!
They’re screwed at the QB position this year, I wouldn’t hold out much hope for them even in their weak division.
I think you mean Scott Wood. 
“Is this a shifter car?.. You think that’s funny? Would you like to know, smartass? Would you like to know why I can’t drive this kinda car? I’ll tell you why, I’m used to luxury cars… Have you ever heard of a luxury car? You know what luxury means? Ever heard of Cadillac, Cadillac Eldorado? That’s what I drive. I drive cars that shift themselves.”
Hah, love that movie. I’m from Buffalo but now in Rochester. Same city, different buildings, mostly. Dying big industry versus dying big tech. It’s not all bad. Small tech has replaced big tech in Rochester, in many ways. There is no replacing big industry. I’m assuming you’re in banking, which probably isn’t leaving Buffalo anytime soon unless it gets like, Detroit bad.
I would live on Ketchum without kids (which is me) or Sterling with kids. I would prefer neither and none of your other choices, though the Humboldt address is near a desirable neighborhood if you stay north of Humboldt and west of Main St.
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I’d suggest any of the areas east of Richmond, west of Main, and south of Delaware Park. This includes Allentown, Elmwood Village, and the Delaware District.
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These were my ZIP codes when I lived in B-Lo and where I would move into if I had to move back tomorrow.
We have no kids.
I live about 20 miles from downtown. I agree with and will compliment Elmwood and the others on their comments so far. I lived in Center City Philadelphia years ago and almost a year in Washington DC, and a summer in San Francisco so I have idea about the feel of places. I came back here and will probably stay for the rest of my life.
Quality of life.
There is a long standing area meme that instead of six degrees of separation, in Buffalo it’s 2. You know somebody who knows somebody. I’ve been to a football game amidst 70,000 people and am standing in the mens’ room next to a guy I went to high school with 20 years ago, in the parking lot run into 2 or 3 other people I knew over the years. Just weird, but cozy and cool too, a typical day.
I’ll stay on sports for a minute. The Buffalo Bills haven’t been to the playoffs since 3 popes ago, but still the fans fill the place. UB Bulls (University of Buffalo) just moved up to division 1A (I think that’s what it called.) The Sabres are a favorite of mine. The waiting list for season tickets is over 10,000 names. Terry Pegula the new owner is building a new 2 rink complex across the street from the arena. Spending $140 million of his own money to do it. It will be the only complex of it’s kind attached to an NHL franchise. Expecting tournaments and youth leagues to flourish. And by the way, the local Jesuit College, Canisus, gets to use it free as a new home rink. Last Friday night I sat 4 rows above the dugout at the AAA Bisons game. An affiliate to the Toronto Blue Jays. I’ve been to at least a dozen Major League cities to see games. This was 9/10ths the experience for a $12 ticket. A very pretty little downtown stadium.
Sports not your thing? The Buffalo Philharmonic just played at Carnage Hall again and sold it out. The zoo has a pair of polar bear cubs getting their cute little snouts on TV every other night. Next weekend is Curtain Up! A black tie gala followed by over 20 different plays going on in every venue the city has to squeeze into. Shakespeare in the park all summer. Free, bring a blanket and a bottle of wine, hang out. The Albright-Knox art museum just poached a new director from Finland (or somewhere Nordic) who is lending and borrowing some extraordinary exhibits.
Driving. You can get just about anywhere in 20 minutes. Rush hour? Add 5 minutes. Are there stupid people? Sure. But after driving a cab part time in Philadelphia, commuting in Washington, motorcycling in Boston (shudder) and a truck and oversized trailer through Atlanta I’m not a timid driver. Around here, I’ve seen people come to a stop to wave others into traffic with a smile and a wave. I can not recall one story of any road rage involving a fight or let alone a shooting. Might have happened but I really can’t think of any examples. Polite damn people. Age too. Demographics are leaning heavy toward grey hair, so that is a factor.
I can’t speak for the city schools but my suburban district education was pretty damn good. (Blame any syntax or spelling errors here to the beer…) I did 4 years in the Navy and met a lot of people from a lot of places, that’s my metric for my education quality. Why Obama came here 2 weeks ago to give a speech at UB was because its tuition is below average as is student debt. Above average is the graduation rate and percentage of grads employment.
Food, oh my Og the food. Every weekend all summer long there are festivals and church lawn fetes you can gorge yourself on. Ethnic specialties of all persuasions. What I can’t stress enough are the local restaurants. I think with some planning you could eat out every night for a year and never go to chain. There are about 3 or 4 starbucks in the region I can think of, can’t get a foothold. Domino’s pizza tried once or twice, even Pizza Hut has closed a bunch of their locations. The one Quisno’s I knew of just folded. The local corner Mom and Pop places are just so many times better. The Anchor bar for wings (just wings mind you, never ever call the Buffalo wings. Buffalos’ don’t have wings) is only open because of the tourists. The little gin mill (local term for corner bar) around the corner from my house has wings that would have people lined up for around the block anywhere else in the country. Here they are average.
Taxes are high, yes, BUT. Talking to a friend from Phoenix we compared a lot of things. His property tax is lower, but what they pay in car registration made my jaw hit the floor. Other fees and taxes come out all sorts of ways, the governments just do it different, and I’m convinced it’s all a wash. Just perspective on whether it’s the right hand or left hand taking it in. You already are looking at how much more house you can get for your money here. I’m in my early 40’s and have friends moving back here for all over the country all gushing about the cost of living being so much lower here.
I realize this has turned into a love letter but it’s home and I gotta stick up for it. There are cranes on the horizon in the city. A lot of old buildings being rehabbed, developers taking a tax credit if it’s there, but spending millions of their own to do a bulk of the work. It’s getting exciting.
What’s your current neighborhood like? Where do you prefer to live? I’m single and have no love of suburbs. I hold no grudge against those who do. The Elmwood/Delaware area is where I grew up and what I love about the flawed city that is Buffalo. To give you an idea, my brother delivered newspapers to Bob Rich and I delivered newspapers to other lesser known wealthy people when we were kids, two blocks away from my middle class street. There are prosperous neighborhoods throughout the city. Check out street views of Lincoln, Chapin and Bidwell Parkways. Check out Nottingham Terrace and Middlesex Road. Check out Tudor Place and Crescent Ave. Look at Depew and Woodbridge Avenues. Look at Lexington and Highland Avenues. Look at Cleveland Ave and Lafayette Ave.
There’s a lot of variety in Buffalo and if you want to move there, you should either rent a place for a year to start with, or really know what kind of neighborhood you want to live in.
And don’t forget Wegmans. Best supermarket chain in the country. You could eat there everyday and never miss restaurant dining.
From someone who grew up in South Buffalo, had relatives on the West Side, friends on the East Side, currently live in a border suburb.
Understand this, native Buffalonians are strongly loyal to their birth place weather they live here or not.
Previous post indicate a strong Irish S. Buffalo, or Italian West Side, etc…Was true, no longer true. Heavy Latino and other nationalities have changed the landscape. Not good, not bad. Just is. Many neighborhoods that were considered bad have improved and vice-versa.
Understand, each neighborhood is unique and cannot be generalized like many other cities “hoods” can.
Buffalo in general can be summarized as “big city conveniences, with small town flavor”. We have everything in terms of entertainment that any other city has, BUT…you must seek it out. It won’t hit you in the face. We tend to be about ten years behind the times, and we like it that way.
We do not have a racial problem but sometimes we do have incidents that don’t amount to anything. Blacks and whites get along very well here.
Weather wise? Best location in the country bar none. Let me say that again.
Best location in the country bar none.
We have a nice change of season that in fact reflect the actual season. Great Summers, beautiful Autumn, terrific and pretty Winters (more on this later), and late blooming Spring. Our Winters are not a problem. Unless through shear stupidness, nobody gets killed or injured because of our weather. We have no catastrophic weather conditions (no hurricane season, no tornado season, no fire season, no flood season, no major deadly heat spells, no earthquakes, no water shortage problems, or any other weather related problems). Our winters are not nearly as bad as advertised (but don’t let our secret out). Oh, by the way, our bug problem in the summer is a lot less by many degrees than anything south of the state line. Including deer ticks and Lime disease carrying pest. Pet owner will understand this.
We are an up and coming city in the small to mid-range size. Our water front redevelopment will be world class. Our recreational areas in Western New York are second to none.
I could go on but as a last word, you make Buffalo what you want, not the other way around.
This thread is making me miss Buffalo. 
lived there for 25 years, echoing almost all the comments. Once you live there for a few years, once you’ve acclimated and discovered all Your favorite delis, restaurants, clubs, parks, sports, etc., you will appreciate it a hell of lot more than the first time you drive around.
My wife was a professor for quite a while at Buff State, specializing in math education. Every graduate of her classes found work, most of them in the Buffalo area. Those who didn’t, who went elsewhere, kept trying to come back. One divorced her husband after they were transferred to another city in order to return to Buffalo.
People growing up in the Buffalo area are generally unhappy to leave. They will adjust their expectations for wealth and fame, if you will, in order to stay in the area. Not everyone, of course. Most.
While the SUNY system doesn’t have an official “flagship” campus, I think UB wins by default. It’s the biggest SUNY school by far and it really is a good school.
SUNY Buffalo and Stony Brook, I think vie for the honors. SUNYAB is really a top notch school.
Wow - with all the Buffalonians here, we need to get together for some drinks.
When I moved here about 7 years ago, I signed up for the Sabres season ticket waiting list. I was #1,300 at the time, last year I had moved up to #1,200. This year, after a terrible season, I’m up to #776. Someday…
I’ll be at the Bills game September 15th. I’ll be the drunk one… 
This month - today actually - marks my 7th anniversary of moving to Buffalo from Chicago. Had I waited 6 more weeks, I’d have missed the October Storm. As it were, my 1st experience of the vaunted WNY lake effect storms -in the middle of October, starting on a day where we woke up to temps in the upper 40s - lower 50s - was not pleasant (no power for a few days, etc).
I did not move here at my choice - it was either stay in Chicago and separate from my West Seneca-native then wife, or move with her to Buffalo as she’d given up on Chicago (as a Chicago native, this idea is unfathomable to me). So here I am. One kid later I am now divorced, living in a $650/month 2-br apartment in Kenmore with joint custody of my daughter.
A lot of natives seem to think Buffalo is a manageable Chicago. I laugh. One condition of moving here was that we move to Elmwood Village. We did, and I did not hate it there. It was a short walk to some good bars, the late Home of the Hits, the Bidwell Parkway farmers market. Eventually I bought a house in Snyder for $112k, which would have been at least triple that in any desirable place in the Chicago area to raise a kid. So there’s that. Great schools there, my daughter is starting kindergarten Wednesday at the highest-ranked public elementary school in the area (and very high in the state too). So there’s that.
Wages are commensurate with the economy. You will not get paid on a dollar-for-dollar basis for the same job in NYC/Chicago/Seattle/etc. But housing is affordable and money is beginning to flow back into the area.
The food? Outside of wings, meh. I will never understand Buffalo pizza, a style unique to and ubiquitous to here. It’s as if the area had to decide between Chicago style and New York style, and confabbed the two together. Not anywhere near as good, at its best, than pedestrian examples of either NY or Chi pies. Other than kimmelweck there really isn’t a tradition of local traditional food like there is in Chicago. And oh how I miss my Italian beefs.
I know Newell Nussbaumer as mentioned in that NY Mag article, and what isn’t mentioned is that while I agree he is a tireless and needed booster of the city itself, with so much of the economic engine and population coming from the suburbs, they might as well be Siberia as far as Buffalo Rising is concerned. Buffalo more than any other place I can think of needs to focus on the region, as there is a lot about the region to promote which can be just as, if not more so, critical to the area’s growth and revitalization than just the city’s ZIP codes.
Toronto is awesome. World class. That said, any city intent on preservation, growth and self-realization should not make it a key selling point that there’s a place Just Like That 90 miles away in a different country.
I miss Chicago dearly. All things being equal I’d be back there in a heartbeat. But slowly the charms of the area are becoming interesting to me and someday perhaps I’d embrace them like the natives.
Not much into sports but we love zoos, and FOOD!!!
We live about 2 miles from downtown, in a “border” area. A little rough but many nice people. Mostly hispanic.