Looking to relocate to NY state, but where?! (Buffalo, Rochester: sales, 2014)

[chomps]

Hello!

My family is looking to relocate next year to upstate NY from Palm Bay, FL. My husband is currently in search of a remote software developer job, so we aren't tied to any particular place (and he won't have to drive in the snow to get to work). From what I understand, the southeast quadrant of Rochester may be a good place to start, but it's really difficult to get a feel for any place from the internet alone. I've come across the names of a lot of places that don't really mean much to someone not from the state. Schenectady? Auburn? Who knows. If anyone could give me some suggestions based on the following preferences, I would be very grateful.

What we love about Palm Bay, and would love to find in a new place:
- My daughter is enrolled in a public Montessori PreK-6 school. The public schools here are rated average to slightly above average, but I'm not big on test scores or school "grades". I'm more swayed by word-of-mouth recommendations, teacher quality, extracurriculars, etc. Stuff you can't measure with a single statistic.
- Tons of public parks and recreational spaces, community centers, and nature preserves. Palm Bay has been named a "Playful City" 9 years running.
- Homes and apartments are reasonably priced, though the market is suddenly recovering now due to government contracts with the space center.
- Ethnic diversity. We are non-Hispanic white, but only 64% of Palm Bay falls into this demographic, so we are always around people of different races and nationalities.
- LGBT protections are in place for the big govt contractors in the area, as well as the school district.
- Population: 107,000. We prefer towns of medium-large size. Night life and some tourist-type entertainment can be found in the adjacent city of Melbourne (pop: 78k), which is nice. (Palm Bay is basically a bedroom community with no formal downtown, while Melbourne has a downtown area and is home to FIT.)
- Generally safe with no badly run down areas. There's the older part of town that is predominantly populated with low-income families with unkempt yards, but it's not unsafe to drive there. Crime is not centralized to that part of the city.

Why do we want to move?
- Climate change isn't treating this area well, and it's only going to get worse, in no small part because our state legislature is so corrupted by the industries here. Check out the Amendment 1 "buy the land" debacle from 2014 if you want to see a great example. We want to be at a higher elevation and away from the coast.
- We don't have seasons. I grew up in central Ohio, but my husband has never lived outside of FL. I miss, and my husband wants, the regular season cycles, both for ourselves and our children.
- Summers are just too damn hot here. The "real feel" regularly tops 100+ degrees. It's like living in a sauna.
- The culture here is just so... happily ignorant. There are pockets of "deep South" attitude that I don't want my children exposed to at such a young age. Casual racism, sexism, homophobia. We moved here from Orlando four years ago, and while those things exist everywhere, I see trucks flying the Confederate battle flag on a regular basis here, whereas I never did there, nor in Ohio. There is no shortage of "The South will rise again" mentality.
- After we sell our house, we will be applying for permanent residency in Canada. In the interim, or if we are not selected to immigrate, we want to live in a place with a more comparable climate and culture.

[tikitwo8765]

This is an interesting post. I only say this because most people move out of ny, but I did read the Canada part. Have you thought about buffalo? Im originally from there. Amherst, williamsville, hamburg, orchard park are some nice suburbs. buffalo is experiencing a revival and it is close to Canada. I miss the seasons too. I totally get what you are saying about the sexism, racism, and homophobia in the south. I know it can exist everywhere but I have experienced it more in tx. When i bought a house, the sales woman told me we dont sell to just anybody like 3 times. I wanted to tell her i could care less about people's skin color, what matters is if you are a good person. And the confederate flags. Happily ignorant is a good way to put it.

[ckhthankgod]

Ithaca comes to mind right away, except for its smaller size.


Amherst is a good suggestion in terms of a suburb with some cultural diversity, good schools and close proximity to a lot that the buffalo area has to offer.


In the Syracuse area, you may like the Jamesville-DeWitt area, which is close/adjacent to Syracuse's East Side. It is also close to Syracuse University, Le Moyne College and the hospitals on University Hill. Westcott, an East Side neighborhood known for its hippy/hipster vibe and relatively cultural openness isn't too far away as well. J-D as we call it in the Syracuse area, is a very good school district and is one of the more diverse suburban school districts in the area. Quite a few people affiliated with Syracuse University live in the district.


There are others that come work and hopefully others will chime or I may throw some other areas out there later as well.

[gt87]

East side of Rochester sounds like a perfect fit. Some of the best schools in the state, you'll defiantly get your four seasons (I don't think "climate change" has hit us yet), plenty of parks and green space, lots of fun bars, restaurants, and entertainment on the east side of the city. Overall very safe area. Unfortunately you are going to find racism, sexism, and homophobia across the country, that's just the way it is unfortunately. But I'd say overall Rochester is a very accepting place for anyone to live their lifestyle and be happy as long as they don't constantly force it on to others. I'd come for a visit if you can. I think you'd really enjoy it here.

[tikitwo8765]

Ithaca has absolute amazing scenery. I went to college an hour from there in the southern tier. Some of the most amazing falls I have ever seen in my life. Rochester and Syracuse both offer a lot of amenities. Batavia is a little more rural but directly in between buffalo and Rochester. One good thing is from all of the cities being named, you will have access to other cities in ny that are only a few hours away. And all of them should have a wegmans which is an awesome grocery store. Greece, victor, and Pittsford are some nice areas in Rochester. Buffalo has lake effect snow, not sure how much you or your husband are used to snow.

[ckhthankgod]

In the Albany area, in terms of suburbs, the Colonie school districts(South Colonie and North Colonie) and the K-8th grade Menands School (District) may be good fits. These 3 are the most culturally diverse suburban school districts and all of them are good. After 8th grade, students in the Menands School District have a choice between North Colonie's Shaker High, Watervliet High and Tech Valley High for high school. It may be the most diverse suburban school(district) in Upstate NY: Menands School - Public School

Menands School - Menands, New york - NY - School overview

Colonie is in between Albany and Schenectady. Menands is a village north of Albany within the town of Colonie.

Guilderland and Niskayuna are also very good suburban districts that may work in terms of what you are looking for as well. Niskayuna is adjacent to Schenectady's North and E/SE parts of town, which are generally fine. Guilderland is close/adjacent to UAlbany and the SW portion of Albany, which is also generally fine.

[Ellwood]

This link is to a post written by someone who moved from CA to Glen Falls NY. It is well written and detailed:
Successful relocation from Long Beach, CA to Glens Falls

[chomps]

Thank you all so much! This is exactly what I was looking for. Insider knowledge can't be beat! Unfortunately, I doubt we will be able to come for a visit before we move, though visiting and living in a place are wildly different experiences anyway. NYC was a blast to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there. Alternatively, Palm Bay is a boring city to visit, but sets a pretty high standard for me in terms of where I want my family to end up. Thank you again!

[ckhthankgod]

There are other areas that could work, but will depend on personal factors. Henrietta south of Rochester comes to mind, as it is a solid/good school district(Rush-Henrietta) with lower taxes than many other area suburbs, is one of the most culturally diverse suburban school districts in Upstate NY and has plenty of big box shopping. West Irondequoit is another very good suburban Rochester SD that has a visible degree of cultural diversity. Parts of the Spencerport SD in western Gates and SW Greece come to mind as well.

Salina north of Syracuse may also work and has a good park system. I'd say that the elementary schools in the northern portion of the town in the Liverpool SD would be the best bets(Donlin Drive and Nate Perry). North Syracuse and Lyncourt are the other SD's in the town. Parts of Clay come to mind as well.

Vestal outside of Binghamton and New Hartford outside of Utica are both very good school districts in smaller Upstate NY metro areas.

If you don't mind small cities, Lockport, Geneva, Saratoga Springs, Glens Falls, Plattsburgh, Auburn, Batavia and Rome, among some others, have solid schools and in some cases, private options from Pre K-12th grade available.

[Ellwood]

Also check into Wilton, Saratoga Springs, Town of Saratoga areas.