Moving from west coast to either Buffalo NY or Greensboro/win-salem NC - which is the better choice?

I lived in buffalo for most of my life and went to graduate school in durham which is about an hour from greensboro.

I'm probably biased, but I would pick Buffalo by lot, but that probably has to do with my interests. If you don't like snow/cold weather, obviously NC is a better choice. Besides warmer weather and southern girls, I can't think of one thing that greensboro wins in though.

Neither are exactly awesome choices though.

There's a slew of amazing death metal bands that hail from Buffalo. Cannibal Corpse being the most noteworthy. During the early years (late 80s) of US death metal Buffalo served as a key city in establishing death metal as a viable music genre.

Also worth noting, all the bands that could afford to leave Buffalo did so. The Tampa Bay area is where they have permanently relocated. Maybe they know something about the environs of Buffalo that their flight should signal to you.

the Buffalo winters would make this decision very easy.

Current Buffalo resident, grew up in Rochester, NY. I've really enjoyed Buffalo so far, there's a pretty decent scene in the Elmwood Village and Allentown areas. The city is poor, but the poverty is highly concentrated, so for the most part it's pretty nice. It has the oldest holding stock in the country... some really old beautiful houses. The running scene is so-so... plenty of races, some good local running stores, but not many soft surfaces in close driving distance.

I'll try to add some more details later. Let me know if you have any more specific questions.

I can't say much about Winston-Salem, NC, but NC in general is hot and sunny. W-S is also a long ways from any water. It does have proximity (

Proximity to what?

Perkunas wrote:

I can't say much about Winston-Salem, NC, but NC in general is hot and sunny. W-S is also a long ways from any water. It does have proximity (

Perkunas wrote:

I can't say much about Winston-Salem, NC, but NC in general is hot and sunny. W-S is also a long ways from any water. It does have proximity (

3.5 hours to NC beaches from W-S; less from G'boro.

Lake Norman and Lake James short drives to the west/south

I'd take the NC summers over Buffalo winters.

There are other threads on W-S that you can search for information.

i moved to buffalo from a larger midwestern city almost two years ago. there's a lot to like about buffalo, you can find anything you would in a larger city (great art/music institutions even) yet it's not overwhelmingly huge and you can get just about anywhere in 20 minutes tops. thanks to climate change, even the winters are not super awful anymore... last year there were maybe two big snowstorms of a foot each, that's it. the blizzard of '77 isn't happening again anytime soon. and like another poster said, some really great neighborhoods, including the elmwood village which was rated one of the top 10 neighborhoods in the country here: http://www.planning.org/greatplaces/neighborhoods/2007/elmwoodvillage.htm

NC is super hot and unpleasant in the summer and cold and unpleasant in the winter. Probably nice in early spring and fall.

Grew up in Buffalo, went to school in NC and have spent some time in W-S and Greensboro.

Without knowing your preferences I'd say Buffalo by a long shot. Both Greensboro and Winston have nice suburbs, but as cities there isn't a lot to be desired. My quick thoughts:

1. Buffalo: Professional sports, very friendly people, some arts+music culture. Bad winters, not a great geographic location in terms of nearby attractions.

2. W-S: Downtown is ok but nothing great, good running and neighborhoods (especially around Wake Forest), close to the mountains and beach. Small, not a lot going on, no real cultural attractions.

3. Greensboro: I don't have anything good to say about it but I have known people who liked living there.

not much hotter than buffalo in the summer, based on weather data i looked up

jjjjjjjjj wrote:

NC is super hot and unpleasant in the summer and cold and unpleasant in the winter. Probably nice in early spring and fall.

Where are you from on the West Coast. Buffalo resembles Spokane in many ways if you are from the NW area. I can't speak on NC. If you are paid well in your new job a place like Buffalo is great as you can always catch a flight south in the winter to get away for a week.

OP wrote:

not much hotter than buffalo in the summer, based on weather data i looked up

jjjjjjjjj wrote:

NC is super hot and unpleasant in the summer and cold and unpleasant in the winter. Probably nice in early spring and fall.

summer in buffalo may not be much less hot than nc, but it's waaaay less humid, and you just can't beat a sunny summer day on the water! summers in buffalo are amazing, and the winters aren't actually that bad... the snowbelt hits about 5-10 miles below the actual city of buffalo, so unless you're in the south towns you don't really get pounded.

NC. It gets really freakin cold in Buffalo