Not a single New York city is on the “50 Best Places to Live in the U.S.” list by Niche
New York – The city of Rochester in general is a nice city to live and raise a family. Good education system, relatively low cost of living and quality medical services are among the things local residents find most valuable. Although a significant increase is seen in recent years, real estate prices in the Monroe County area are still low compared to many other states and other NY cities.
On the other hand, Rochester has really poor restaurants and food scene. Even though Rochester is a university city, there is no nightlife at all, even on weekends. Local residents are also required to pay sky-high property taxes, which comes as an additional problem, especially this year, taking into consideration the skyrocketing inflation and rising prices. Long and cold winters with lots of snow, high crime rate, public safety concerns, and not many high-profile job opportunities are some other cons that should be considered when deciding if Rochester is the right place to live.
Despite all the negative factors, Rochester was named one of the best cities to live in 2022 in the United States. Per the US News and World Report survey from earlier this year, Rochester was ranked 42nd out of 50 best cities nationwide, and was among the four NY cities that made it on the list. For comparison, Buffalo was ranked 45th overall, Syracuse was ranked 38 and Albany was ranked 21.
Per the methodology on how this survey was conducted, the best marks Rochester received were for the quality of life and value. Rochester was lacking in net migration and the job market. My friends had mixed feelings about the rankings few months ago as some said it was a well-deserved, while others found Rochester ranking on the list “unbelievable”.
But a new survey from Niche shows results that are completely different from what we saw months ago. Niche has shown over the years that it does good surveys and that the ways it does those surveys are accurate and thorough. Since their most recent survey, “2022 Best Cities to Live in America,” was done at the end of the year and used more accurate and up-to-date data, we think their results are more accurate.
Per the survey, The Woodlands, TX, Cambridge, MA, and Naperville, IL, were ranked in the top three positions, respectively, followed by Arlington, VA, Overland Park, KA, Ann Arbor, MI, Columbia, MD, Berkeley, CA, Plano, TX, and Irvine, CA. Niche took dozens of factors into consideration, including the quality of local schools, crime rates, housing trends, employment statistics, and access to amenities.
From what was easily noticeable on the list, not a single New York city was ranked among the 50 best cities to live in the United States. Meanwhile, there are a total of eight California cities on the list, while seven of them are in Texas.
In another recently published Niche survey, “2022 Best Places to Raise a Family in America”, one New York location was ranked 3. According to Niche, New York City’s suburb Great Neck Gardens was the third best place to raise a family in America, while Pennsylvania’s Chesterbrook and Penn Wynne were first and second respectively.
