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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote]Idk. My in laws live in upstate NY. They all live in a nice inner city suburb with beautiful Tudor and craftsman houses dating from the 20s-40s that cost well under 500k. Schools are among the best in the state. They live near a major research university so neighbors tend to be politically liberal and well educated. Commutes are super short and hardly deserve the word. My BIL once let it slip to my DH that he makes well over 500k (way more than us here in DC). My MIL and FIL have a second home in the 1000 islands and my BIL and SIL are thinking about buying in the finger lakes area. They have a country club membership at a golf course considered to be one of the best in the country. There are lots of parks nearby if you like hiking and nature, a world class children's museum, a very good local symphony, lots of festivals in the summer. They often take off for the weekend and go skiing in the Adirondacks. Things that suck: winter if you hate the snow (which I personally don't) and high property taxes. But those taxes are partially what make the schools so good so they say it's hard to complain too much. I've been trying to get my DH to move back but he's a fed so he's reluctant to venture back into the private sector.
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I think a salary of 500K would be highly unusual in Rochester.  What does your BIL do?  We lived in Rochester for 3 years quite a few years ago.  My husband was on a contract with Xerox.  It was not renewed so we came here (where it was much easier for both of us to get better jobs).  We still have friends in Rochester and they recently told us that we were lucky that we left.  Kodak is pretty much dead and Xerox has laid off many employees.  Yes, some of them were able to get jobs in that research university you mentioned, but the pay is not as high.  Downtown Rochester is nothing to write home about.  However, I will give you the fact that the schools are incredible, the houses in certain suburbs (like Brighton) and the city are old and have character, and the parks are nice.  And it is close to the Finger Lakes and other recreational areas.  But I am not 100% sold that the economy there is doing super well.  Again, where does your BIL work and what is his take on the overall economy of the Rochester area?

As for diversity, no it is not nearly as diverse as here.  Our experience with restaurants was less than.  Maybe it has improved since we left.  We did like all the Wegman's stores (which we now have here) and the proximity to Toronto.  We did like living there for the most part.  The job situation made us leave.   [/quote]

I don't really care about cost and traffic. I care about world class entertainment, ethnic diversity and milder winters.

He's an engineer and the part owner of a small but growing company. I don't want to say which one for fear of outing him :) His income probably is unusually high for Rochester and actually here in DC too. I only mentioned it to counter the idea that it's only in the coastal cities that people can do really well financially. I think you can find rich people all over the place. Yes the downtown is nothing special and seems to be stagnating. It sounds like many companies have moved outside of the city to avoid high taxes. We did go to a concert at the Eastman Theater once though and I thought that was really nice. There were a couple cute looking cafes down in that area by the Eastman School of Music. We also saw a traveling Broadway show at the Auditorium Center. I've never been but I've heard that Geva Theater is nice as well (maybe I'll put that on my list for the next time we're up in that area). We take our kids to the Strong Museum of Play every time we visit and that is really nice imo. One of the best children's museums I've ever been to. We've been to a bunch of restaurants that I thought can compete with DC fare but are much cheaper. I forget their names off the top of my head but I could look them up if you're interested. I probably sound like a crazy Rochester booster and that's not really my intention. It's more that I think the idea that the left and right coasts are the only places to be and that everything in the middle is best relegated to "fly over" territory is not only unbelievably snobby but also foolishly inaccurate. Rochester just happens to be a smaller city I am familiar with. Shrug.[/quote]

Me again. I forgot to mention the thing that continually amazes me which is how CHEAP everything is compared to DC and how little traffic there is. My parents in law have season tickets to the Eastman Theater for concerts and they paid under 600 for *really* good seats in the orchestra section. When we went with them that one time, we left 20 minutes before the show which was enough time to drive in to the city, park, and walk in and find our seats. Incredible. You know around here, getting through traffic can be such a nightmare and a huge production. Another time we went to a Rochester Amarks game. It's minor league ice hockey but even so it's so cheap we could afford to get tickets right up against the ice which was really cool. Again, hardly any traffic. [/quote][/quote]

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