I absolutely agree. I was born at home in 1949 in Jordan, NY, in Onondaga Co. I never got further than Cayuga County until I was 56. The Finger Lakes area is gorgeous. For me, the only drawback was living in the lake effect area. After a nasty divorce, I finally moved to NC in 2006. My son still lives in Jordan. It is a great place to raise your kids if you can afford the taxes.
Considering the city generates the vast majority of your states wealth, not sure what you're complaining about. The city subsidizes your infrastructure through the taxes its residents pay to the state.
I understand what you are saying. But when you consider how many of New York citizens there are both in and around New York City, calling the rest of the state empty is an accurate statement.
@@cindybogart6062 I lived there for 5 years and New York City for 20+. Upstate NY has its own charms and its a great place to get away from the city for a bit... but it's just so god damn gray during the winter and spring.
NY state without the NYC metro is roughly the size and population of Wisconsin, which has a middling population for US states. So no not empty, but also not especially populated.
As somebody who lives in Buffalo and has my entire life, I think the single biggest reason why people don't relocate to upstate New York is the weather. The three largest cities outside of NYC (Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse) all get an unfathomable amount of snow that dominates the months of December - March. If you're looking to relocate, why would you intentionally move to an area where you have to wake up an hour early every single day in the winter to shovel a significant amount of snow out of your driveway before you can leave for work? Of course, if you have lived here awhile you really do just get accustomed to it, but if I was relocating from an area that doesn't get much snow, this would be a huge deal breaker to me personally. For the first time in 70 years, Buffalo's population increased which honestly isn't too surprising. The city has a lot to offer, is relatively safe, and is extremely affordable. My first house I bought in 2020 was 1600 sq ft., in move-in ready condition, and cost less than 150K. The small village of Gowanda has houses even larger and cheaper than this. So when much of the country is facing an affordability crisis, Buffalo and WNY in particular seem to be relatively unphased. if you can brave the snow and cold in the winter, you'll be awarded with some of the most beautiful summer weather in the country. It rarely gets too warm (proximity to the lake), rarely gets severe weather, and there are always a plethora of sunny days to enjoy. In the fall we have amazing foliage, and many local farms that boast the regions many locally grown apples and grapes. Not to mention regular farmers markets selling fresh beans, peas, and corn as the majority of this region is still agricultural (albeit on a smaller scale than the midwest). I personally would have probably moved to a warmer climate if my family lived elsewhere, but the older I get the more I appreciate the area. And honestly, I would rather have a blizzard than a hurricane or tornado.
Moved to Rochester from Georgia. The snow is nothing compared to the summer heat back home. Plus climate change is (unfortunately) making the winters milder. Rochester has a pretty mild winter compared to Buffalo and Syracuse. We’ve barely gotten any snow this winter. I love it here.
Shovel a foot of snow EVERY DAY IN WINTER? In Buffalo, where I lived on and off since the 1960's, never gets that much snow. It's February, and we arent' supposed to get one single inch of snow the wholevweek next week. Not one inch. 😂
Upstate has been empytying out. Downstate has been emptying out even faster. NY was consistently the 3rd most populous state for a long time until it lost that slot to FL in 2014 The weather hasn't changed much in 70 years between NY and southern states. *The reality is* : People are moving to better governed states. With annual DMV harrassment inspections that even NJ doesn't have even for new cars. With 12% state income tax With the least amount of freedom of any state rated 50/50 With terribly maintained roads (riddled with deep potholes and even worse repairs) And cost of homes plus property taxes being sky high Most ordinary middle class NYers have had it and packing their bags no matter what the region Even if they don't believe in the governance ideas of new york city, the entire state suffers
I married a western New Yorker, but we lived in another state for many years, just coming back a couple times a year to visit family. Every time I said we were “going to NY,” everyone assumed I meant NYC, so I learned to say “western NY” and mostly got blank looks. We moved to the Finger Lakes region several years ago and it is absolutely gorgeous! All of “upstate” N.Y. is, with beautiful trees, mountains, valleys, an abundance of waterfalls, rivers, and lakes. I’ve lived in a lot of states, and this is truly the most beautiful, in spite of cold winters!
Travel in middle school should be mandatory. Some sort of exchange program. I was fortunate to be able to travel and experience other countries, and many states, growing up. So many Americans are colloquial and un-cosmopolitan. And geographically bereft of knowledge.
Grew up in the Finger Lakes. It is beautiful I just couldn’t take the tyranny and taxes. I fled twenty years ago to the SW. I miss the summers & fall, you can have those winters though.
As a person born and raised in Elmira, NY, upstate population has been very much impacted by the loss of manufacturing jobs during the 1970's and 1980's. Elmira had 10 major factories in 1970; by 1980, they were all closed. While upstate New York was never as populated as New York City, many more people lived there (proportionally) during the 1950's and 1960's when good jobs were available.
You mentioned loss of jobs,does Elmira still have the prison? Visited the town many years ago and had friends back then that mentioned they had jobs there. Kind of lost track of them so was just wondering.
Jamestown had about 100K around 1900 but now barely has 30K. All the furniture factories are gone, as well as the furniture exposition, Crescent Tool, Sysco, and companies like SKF ball bearings and Valeo have but a shell of what they once had. Cummins Engine is about all that's left that's still big. There's no jobs there, I left there 25 years ago.
@@100percentSNAFU It's sad, eh? I work in municipal archives in Canada and I love looking at old staff photos of the various factories that existed in smaller cities and towns from the 60s back to the late 1800s. Quality craftsmanship that we've mostly given up on for mass-produced, likely to fall apart in a few years crap from overseas. I wonder if there's a shift coming in the future to more domestic production if either geo-politics or transportation/fuel costs makes it cost-effective to do it closer to home?
@@AP-yb8ji Elmira/Southport still has the prisons. I grew up in Elmira, and being a Corrections Officer was and still is one of the main sources of employment for the region. I left the area about 15 years ago. I still have roots and family there, but I don't know that I'll ever move back.
@@ohusky271 found the NYCidiot. There are 7.5 million people. Well over half the population of NYC that lived elsewhere in the state. The guy you replied to was commenting on how that population is called "nobody" while simultaneously being a large number of people. Try some reading comprehension classes before trying to be that guy
born and raised in albany new york, it’s definitely not empty up here, whenever i go somewhere i always see someone, just because NYC is very highly populated doesn’t mean upstate is empty its is filled with: mountains:Adirondacks, appalachian’s, and catskills water: finger lakes, adirondack lakes, niagara falls, great lakes cities: buffalo, albany, rochester, lake george village, syracuse that is just a fraction of new york’s fullness
@@urfavkaidan I to was born and raised in Albany. The State University students ruined the city. Trashed my neighborhood, the pine hills section. I moved my family up to the thousand islands area over 30 years ago. Best thing I ever did.
I am from Watertown NY and I love upstate! The winters is what keeps more people out than anything I feel. Just like one comment says, getting up an hour plus early every day to shovel feet of snow is a deterrent, but you do get used to it as part of everyday life. It's beautiful and there are lots of things to do, and I miss it terribly! I live in northern New Jersey currently, for work, but won't be here forever...I am a New Yorker through and through!
Mate that's a seriously dumb question. Most Brits have never seen York, I myself only visited it once like 30 years back. Secondly, in the time it took to type your question, you could have pulled up a video here of York and seen it for yourself. @@carultch
I went to work in Upstate NY and as a southerner I had my preconceived notions of NYer's from NYer's I had met from the city. I was gladly shown I was wrong as the people I met from Upstate were some of the nicest and most welcoming people I had met. Just as must hospitality as southerners are generally known for. Loved Upstate, one of the most beautiful areas of the country also
@@rdred8693 Thanks. The people were wonderful and I truly did enjoy my time there. I was in New Paltz and did do some hiking and exploring in the mountains outside of town.
I live in Berlin, NY. Truckers go up and down Rt 22 here all the way from Connecticut and NYC to all sorts of towns and businesses up here where it is SAFE.
I was a student teacher in New Berlin in the early 90s. Loved it up there. Great people. Fond memories. Retiring soon from teaching. Enjoy visiting upstate from Long Island. Especially in the summer.
I live in upstate NY. It is far from empty. We choose not to live on top each other. Why anyone would choose to live in such tight conditions as NYC is completely beyond me.
I'm a Southern Tier resident (on the border with PA) and love that our state is very rural. I spent my youth at a cottage on Owasco Lake and love everything about upstate! The city folks are okay down there. They make a large part of our tourism, but it's fine by us that they're geographically separated. Thank you for the interesting video!
I think it's extremely important to note that the massive jump in population from 1890 to 1900 is largely due to the absorption of Queens, Brooklyn and Staten island into the city.
@@Hawks282the state wouldn't need all that money if NYC wasn't giving it away to every lowlife with their hand out. Debit cards for uninvited trespassers, paying extra money for every illegitimate baby a ghetto woman can produce, funding baby murders, paying drag queens to groom our children, etc. We don't need your money to pay for garbage that we don't want anyway. NYC is shit. I was born and raised in The Bronx and lived there 50 years, so I know what I'm talking about, and I know you know what I'm talking about.
Syracuse native here! Whenever I tell someone that I’m from New York, they automatically assume I’m from New York City. So I always say upstate New York. I actually prefer upstate to NYC because of all the rolling hills, the lakes and the weather. Aside from the salt on the roads.
My wife and I visited upstate NY twice this year, and it's incredible. We were blown away by the magic of Watkins Glen, and the heights of Whiteface mountain, and ask the waterfalls around them. An incredible state that we haven't taken enough advantage of
Hey! Utica resident here, born & raised. This city has come a long way AND New York state has more parks and lakes than most other states. The cost of living is so much less here than a lot of other places too. Come visit or move here! You can bike the length of the state on the Erie Canal trail. Watch some hockey at the Aud or our new Nexus center. The food here is absolutely wonderful too! Try some Chicken Riggies or Utica Greens, eat a half moon, have some tomato pie while you're here!
@@TerriGoff Utica resident here also. Moved to Lexington Ohio about seven years ago & can’t wait to move back there. Nothing compares to our food in Utica. I travel back home to visit family a couple times a year and make my rounds to all the amazing restaurants there. Tomato pie, chicken riggies, giambrotte at Marlogs. Anyway, god bless.
Northern Catskills here. When I was a kid our tv antenna would at times either pick up wrgb or at other times wktv but they were always snowy. I never heard of a tomato pie or chicken riggies. We visited friends in Endicott several years ago and had a spiedie for the first time. Brooks' is a serious dinner out for us.
It reminds me of a children's book landscape, it's very beautiful . Nothing can come in league with what's in western Washington and Oregon and Hawaii though.
As a 18 year old, I met the nicest ,kindest, most wonderful people when I went to college in Upstate New York. The population may lack in quantity but never in quality.
5:50 It's probably a mistake to not include Lake Erie and Lake Ontario shore lines in your coast calculations. Both lakes are connected to the oceans and the US Coast Guard watches over these bodies of water, which have climates and major wind storms similar to an ocean coastal area.
Upstate NY is drop dead gorgeous. The only negative I can come up with is that in the winter it feels more like the Yukon. The other three seasons (Spring, Summer and Fall) you can't beat Upstate NY.
We haven't had a winter this year (2023-24). El Nino and climate change. People are tapping maples, first week of February. Crazy! Normally, if you like winter, there's plenty here. Snowmobile trails all over. Skiing. I go crosscountry skiing out my back door.
Upstate NY winters are definitely getting MUCH milder. Only thing 'bad" about upstate NY, and it's getting better. Our springs, summers and especially autumns are wonderful............
I live upstate and I have to agree. The nature really is second to none, it's a pity that more people don't know about the mountains here. The winters suck, but they definitely have been getting milder.
@@BxIowaIrelandSwAgAnd where exactly *IS* *"EVERYWHERE?"* I live near the south eastern Finger Lakes region and aside from Binghamton, and Elmira, the heroin addicts are not overrunning the area.
I live in "upstate" NY outside of Rochester. Yeah, the weather is rough in the winter but it's a great place to raise a family, get an education, and live affordably. The people are hard-working, but they don't have the edgy, tense personalities you see in NYC. Plus, it's really beautiful up here with the Finger Lakes, the Great Lakes, Niagara Falls, and the Thousand Islands. It's pretty amazing (except for January and February).
I love winter, love snow, love the cold. That being said, I live in Western NY, and I am just a little north of Buffalo, which simply does not get the snow and extremes that those in the "snow belt" can experience. It is not all snow all the time in NY. Does it get cold, sure. Though not cold enough, long enough for me. Even as I write this we have yet to have a good true fall (10/26/24). I'm still waiting on the crispy weather and low overnight temps. I recommend learning to enjoy cool/cold weather hikes (lots and lots of gorgeous areas to hike), pick up other outdoor activities (XC skiing, skiing, snowboarding, playing outside, target practice/plinking, bundle up and have a cup of cocoa outside, etc). Great way to get fresh air, sunlight(ish), and enjoy the year round temps. If are the type to only like a specific temp and otherwise sit on couch all day, then no.. move to Florida or somewhere like that. NY is gorgeous, and as stated it is rather vast. 4 mostly distinct seasons, sometimes all in one day,ha. There are pockets of cities, but mostly very much surrounded by country. Unfortunate to have it be such a red heavy state despite the significant university system. Thankful for NYC keeping it blue. I said what I said; que triggered comments.. Speaking with folks as I travel is humorous. There is this predominating perception that New York state is same as New York city. They (people just from other states) assume that the state is highly populated and we all live shoulder to shoulder. Then when pics of large swaths of land with green, trees, water, and not a single building in sight, there is surprise on their part. I follow up by stating that there are cities, we do have a population, but that there is a significant amount of country as well. All of our lakes, gorges, mountains, canals, rivers, and such all contribute to the more spacious aspect of the state. The majority of cities run directly through center of state, then peppered in are smaller ones. Depends a bit on industrial changes over the decades.
As someone who grew up in upstate NY I can tell you with 100% certainty that it has more to do with geopolitical reasons than geographical reasons. Geography certainly plays a role, but the real problem is that upstate NY is a vast farm filled wilderness entirely governed by a small densely populated island off of its southern tip.
Exactly! I'm 44, born and raised in NYS. In my entire 44 years, not ONE GOVERNOR until Hochul, came from anywhere OTHER than NYC!! And then people wonder why the state government is only interested in doing what NYC wants.
NYC is truly the downfall of NYS. The liberal minded fools who populate this major city, reflect most of the largest cities throughout the U.S., and have led to the downfall of our society. What was once a family oriented country, is now a Woke, small group catered governance. We were the envy of the entire world, but have now become the laughing stock of our allies, and our adversaries.
I am a born Syracuse native, and I remember snow and ice storms lasting up to sometimes late April and/or early May! I'm elderly now, loved rollicking in the snow, sucking on icicles, and sledding when I was a kid though! I moved away from my hometown before I got too old, because the winters were just too brutal, and I was no longer a child! Thankfully, I have close family relatives in the south where I moved!
It’s awesome to see so many fellow upstate NYers taking pride in growing up here or just the beauty of it. So many people either hate NY or talk trash about it (mostly the city) but I’ve always loved it up here. Besides the winters but the Summer and Fall are both wonderful
I'm one of the ones who talk trash about it. I was born and raised in upstate NY and lived there for 33 years. Best decision of my life was leaving there. Cold gloomy weather, cold gloomy people, ridiculous cost of living, ridiculous laws. I don't miss it at all.
As a life long upstate NY resident, another unfortunate factor of NYC having that population density is all the votes upstate have zero effect towards any election we have.
Upstate NY has also been losing population, not. just NYC in recent years. The people upstate are treated like the red headed stepchildren in NYS. They pay high taxes to support NYC and get little in return. It is beautiful but economically unfeasible to live in.
Uhhh, you do realize that a huge factor to our population decline is that most of our population are Old Boomers from the Greatest Generation And that we had a Governor who tried to kill them during Covid 👀
@@PocketWater0NYC gets a disproportionate portion of the state budget compared to the percentage of taces it contributes. NYC relies on upstate power generation It relies on upstate farming These things combined puts NYC as a tax burden on upstate NY
I remember as kid In 1968 visiting dads MALONE NY,TWO beautiful hotels Franklin and Flannigan I'm thinking, deluxe rest with Marion's on main St Busy town get back up there by 1985 era gone was.population then in 2000 Industry all gone just Prisons my dad's relatives were all BRICKLAYERS TODAY 25% LIVE IN POVERTY INCOMES.
Live 5 minutes from the southern shore of the beautiful Lake Ontario, 5 minutes outside the beautiful college town of Oswego, NY. Moved here almost fifteen years ago to start over from a nasty divorce. I love it here. It is beautiful, the pace is slower but Syracuse is only an hour away if you want to have some city life. ❤
I am German but used to live in upstate NY, in -West Oneonta for a number of years. I loved it! Beautiful countryside, really friendly people, great canoeing on the Susquehana, good soil for growing veggies. Just my home sickness for my country of birth, Germany, made me return. I still regret it at times. If I ever went back to the US, it would be to upstate, snow or no snow.
You lived in upstate NY and returned to Germany? We immigrated to Canada about 13 years ago and I can't imagine ever going back there (I hope I never have to). Things have gotten kind of bad in Canada but its even worse in Germany (we are originally from around Munich and there is no way we could ever afford anything there).
I was raised Upstate and our family camp is in the Adirondacks. I left in '04. The winter was too much for me as I got older. If I had my way, I would be there every Summer though. You can't beat a New York summer.
Adirondack Summers have always been my favorite. My grandma lives walking distance to Lake George Village but at the same time she’s up the road enough so she doesn’t have to deal with all the tourists in Summer.
Let me tell ya, winters are basically over now, so you are safe to come back if you want to. Climate change has done a number on snowfall. There has not been 1 single snow day this winter. We used to have 6 to 10 snow days. That's over now.
Buffalo, NY: 278k Rochester, NY: 211k Providence, RI: 190k Syracuse, NY: 146k Manchester, NH: 110k Albany, NY: 98k Portland, ME: 68k Schenectady, NY: 67k Utica, NY: 64k Burlington, VT: 44k Maybe you should do a video on why New England is so “empty” outside of Boston and the part of Connecticut that’s adjacent to NYC.
All these NY cities are bigger than all but 5 PA cities and by a long shot. All upside New Yorkers have to do especially if they live on the Great Lakes is really move one state down to PA. Most of our state is far more rural and except for Erie, we get way less snow. PA is largely empty in its northern half and even in its southwest quadrant, there really is only Pittsburgh of real significance.
i lived on long island for my first 23 years of life and then i moved upstate to Plattsburgh, NY. if you are stuck down in NYC or long island and need a new life, plattsburgh is 1/3 of the cost for renting quite literally. it really is everything you wish long island is and better. Plattsburgh is a tiny city located on Lake Champlain which is more like an ocean it is so massive, boating life is all the same and better. the fishing is amazing, and the capitol city of Vermont which is Burlington is directly across the lake from Plattsburgh. Both cities are on the lake and each having a huge college. not to mention i have the huge city of Montreal Canada only a very esy highway drive of 1 hour on the dot north of here. all the land surrounding these cities are still very very country so you really get the best of both worlds, i have been here for over 3 years now and i have zero plan of ever leaving, i have everything and affordable living. i cant even stand going back down to NYC or Long island for even a minute, when i visit there i insrantly want to come back up here, this is real life up here. i hope i can seriously help change someones life from this comment or i wouldnt have bothered, get out of the metro area!
I live 30 minute from Canada in Upstate NY and let me tell you of a magical place called "Stewarts"... the local gas station, convenient store and Ice cream shop... Also POUTINE which I recommend everyone try, Friesland and Gravy with Cheescurds 😇
Fun fact: The Akwesasne reservation on the southern bank of the St. Lawrence River lies at the tripoint of New York, Ontario, and Québec, and has land in all three. You can cross the border there without going through customs, since the Canadian portion of the reservation is hard to get to from the rest of Canada (you need to either boat across the river or drive through US territory). And Mohawk tribe members are exempt from border checkpoints due to a 200 year old treaty.
@timothymartin2137 Yeah, you're supposed to check in at a Canadian port of entry even if you're not crossing into the rest of Canada, otherwise you are considered to be there illegally. And it's a hotbed of smuggling so they do take it seriously. Don't cross the border with anything that you shouldn't. At this point you can buy weed on the American side so there's no need to.
@timothymartin2137 & AtomikNY - were either of you up there for Akwesasne revolution? (both sides) Summer of 89 I think. They shut down northern NY Rt 30 near Massena and the south bridge into Montreal on the Canada side. The tribes within the Rez were at war + they kept the National guard and the State Police out. 1 Huey shot down. Wild Times, and the Reservation was a major smuggling point for sure. We crossed on a gravel road into canada to a camp a few times and by river while fishing. Wasn't hard back then.
I live in upstate NY and am glad for the sparse population. I like my solitude and hate cities. The ADK mountains are my back yard and my playground. I miss the really snowy winters. (Climate change) We used to get snow by Halloween, and it would stay until May. Sometimes so deep that you had to tunnel from your front door to the driveway/road. I like to say that our winters keep the riff raff out. lol Sadly things have changed a bit. It is nice however to find someone who acknowledges our existence up here.
Hi Geoff! I was born in Massena, NY and raised in the Albany area. Your video is very well done. But, you did leave out one important factor discussing the St. Lawrence river. The river had significant rapids along the US-Canada border, not navigable by boats, until the St. Lawrence Seaway was completed in the 1950s. The dominance of the Erie canal for 120 years previous to that lead to the growth in the state and it's population growth we see today. Rochester and Buffalo were actually considered the first two major cities to grow in the USA's "Western Expansion". The Erie canal was the only easy way east to west through the Appalachian Mountains until the railroads across Pennsylvania were built, crating a faster, more direct route to cities like Detroit and Chicago. Buffalo was actually the 6th largest city in America in the late 1800s. Also, nearly 1/4 of the land Upstate is protected "forever wild" land, and is protected in the NYS constitution, and will forever be very rural. Keep up the great content. Geography nerds like me, really appreciate it. LOL
Yes, and the deindustrialization of the Rust Belt with factories that employed many people mainly moving away was also left out. Because of its location at the east end of the Great Lakes Buffalo for example was a great location for huge factories like Bethlehem Steel and Ford and GM assembly plants. They all left starting in the 1950's for many reasons. Factories and steel mills etc. get outmoded and need complete rebuilding eventually. Southern states offered all kinds of bribes of interstate exits and free land and no taxes plus lower wages, plus competition from lower wage countries facilitated by vastly lower containerized ocean/train/truck shipping and other factors all incentivized them to leave.
@@emjayay yep - I believe that Buffalo dropped about 50% of its population, and Rochester about 20-30% - I'm a Rochester ex-pat myself, moving out West for work. The decline of the Steel Belt to the Rust Belt is an important part of this story.
I grew up in NYC, and now live "upstate" about 60 miles north of the city. Upstate is not "empty" but compared to NYC the population is spread out mostly in single-family homes. Where I am in the Hudson Valley, the temperatures are about 5-10 degrees cooler year-round than the city. The winters here used to be brutal, but have been getting milder over the last ten years. Lots of towns in the Hudson Valley have become boomtowns recently because they offer a lower cost of living than the city, yet you can still get to the city daily if you need to.
The winters aren't getting milder. I been here since the 1960s, so i know that's nonsense. I'm guessing you're one of those global warming weirdos trying to shoehorn your politics into everything you say. BTW, the Hudson Valley is notorious for attracting NYC leftists; they definitely do not represent the morals and values of upstate NY.
Facts it's booming bc most the ppl from the city are buying out all the property. I don't fully consider myself an upstate NYker. Bronx born lived 17 yrs of my life NYC and 15 yrs in Hudson Valley (Poughkeepsie, Newburgh, Beacon, Marlboro, currently Wappingers area). Which is all downstate metropolitan area still as it's only 1 hr & 15 minutes roughly from the Bronx of course. I say that to say this when ppl ik assume or have a misconception about territories outside of NYC I always tell them. I've been all over and there is nowhere as beautiful as the Hudson Valley area of NY. Yea life is more settled, less entertaining depending on what you consider entertaining but for total peace & gratitude on a daily basis I would never recommend NYC over upstate. The outdoors, the tranquility, the views, the quality & preservation of life is nothing short of amazing. I tell ppl all the time that's why countless amounts of high profile wealthy ppl, from celebs, politicians, athletes all buy homes upstate NY and you'll bump into them more often than not. Over the yrs bumped into Jimmy Kimmel, Justin Beiber, George Clooney, Robert Deniro, Amari Stoudamire, 50 cent. Heard of Jay Z and Beyonce being spotted in Amenia, NY few yrs back buying a mansion out there. Was just in midtown Manhattan over the weekend. Took the subway for the first time in yrs and couldn't believe the amount of mentally ill individuals that were roaming around. Usually it's strictly homeless & drug addicts but it seems to have gotten far worse than it's ever been. It's sad seriously smh
I ❤️ upstate NY. Most of the areas are beautiful mountains, forests, lakes, rivers and black bear. The trees changing color in autumn is truly spectacular.
Born and raised in Rochester, but lived elsewhere for work after college. I've travelled to just about every city in the Northeast et al, but moved back to Rochester because it is just a great city. Yes, the climate is difficult as times during winter, but I've noticed it is getting less so. However, the geography is awesome here. Hills, the Genesee River, the Erie Canal, the Finger Lakes and Lake Ontario are all within a five to 30-minute drive. The Adirondacks are four hours away. All of these places are diverse and beautiful. This is a great place for outdoors people. Also, my commute to work is less than 10 minutes although about 6 miles away. We have great restaurants and venues, full of entrepreneurs that probably got tired of the NYC grind. We have several theaters for the Symphony, musicals, Broadway plays and art house productions. Great school systems for families. Wouldn't want to be anywhere else. OK, enough on the soap box.
@@JohnJanocha Not great, to be honest. Bus system is mediocre. All newly reconstructed arterial roads have bike lanes, but not there yet. There's also bike, scooter and ride-sharing.
@@josephardieta5697 Thanks for the response. Last fall, I began my first semester of college in the greater Rochester area. I do not own a car, so my hope is public transportation will help me get around on my own... to an extent.
Hello, central upstate NY resident here, just want to say that I like this video and would like people to know that we upstate New Yorkers are just as proud of our home as those are in NYC! Upstate New York is beautiful and offers a unique lifestyle, anyone with a chance to visit should do so!
It is very beautiful. I took a train from Buffalo to NYC for a instate vacation, and I was blown away at the beauty of central NY. It must be gorgeous in the fall with the changing color of the leaves on the trees.
Been living in Albany and Syracuse the better part of the last year and you guys are all super nice and it still has that mixing pot vibe where lots of different cultures get along and work together. I love it so far
Born and raised in Syracuse. I left 20 years ago when I graduated HS. Upstate cities are very much rust belt cities. Crappy winter weather aside - it’s really a true blessing if the Sun comes out - Syracuse is a depressing place to call home. Some of the worst poverty levels in the country. The rural areas and smaller towns may be beautiful places to call home if that’s your thing.
Agreed. Relocated from CO to Syracuse and now Utica and it’s the w saddest state of affairs/way of living I’ve ever been exposed to in my life. And no one seems to notice or care how bad it really is.
A very honest assessment. Yes, if one has seen and lived in other states - many other states - they wouldn't swear by upstage NY. An area I couldn't wait to get out of after my undergraduate years. I have great memories of those four years, but not due to being "held prisoner" in upstate NY. The winter weather is for Eskimos and idiots, with much of the population being small minded. Those who are singing its praises have no idea how much life they're missing by living in that frigid climate. And I think most of them are likely stuck there.
@@Tenobii I don't see the same I guess, I graduated from Oswego highchool and now live in downtown. Sure it's hard to get to know people but I will never cease to be amazed at the beauty and coming growth of the city due to micron. Oswego was miserable because all they have is 9 mile, the college and some parks. Here I see something and it might not be clear but some day yk? I see at least a place that has more potential then a state like TN at least.
I visited a town called Palmyra in upstate New York, it was a wonderful experience! I’d love to visit again even though it’s a bit far from Utah where I live! Upstate NY is so underrated
As a person who moved from Iowa to Ithaca and now living in Cortland, I assure you it’s far from empty. Trust me I’ve seen empty and vast miles of nothing where you don’t see anybody, this is far from it.
Talking about "nobody living there", I just spent the month of May in Montana. Including a trip into Bozeman (city of about 58,000) and including two grocery stores, I saw a total of fewer than 100 people. Must have seen a total of several hundred cattle, though!
Hasn't gone below zero this winter, and our grass is green right now, Groundhog day. Go figure. the ski slopes are hurting and snow festivals have been canceled.
maybe that's what it used to be, but global warming is quickly changing that. I'm in Toronto and we have had barely any snow. It was 3degrees today when it should have been -30 already. It's very concerning
Point of interest. The Erie Canal became THE feeder and connector between the East Coast United States and the inland territories. The dangers of the British on Lake Ontario and the difficulties of crossing the Appalachians was the impetus for the Erie Canal. The Canal facilitated the First Great Westward Movement onto inland America. It brought settlers to the new farmlands and brought back grain and other produce back to be shipped across the oceans to all parts of the world. Which, in turn, turned NY City into the world leading port it is today. All of this was accomplished out of reach of post War Of 1812 British, who felt entitled to any American ship along with and pirating vessels. The US wouldn't be The US and NYC wouldn't be NYC as quickly as they were without the Erie canal. "Why nobody lives..." is because the Nation moved THROUGH to go on to build the rest of our country. Yet Upstate has contributed to our nation in many more ways. Rochester was the birthplace of Bausch and Lomb, Xerox, Kodak, Western Union and many other advanced technologies. Frederick Douglas and Susan B Anthony fought their battles for equality and right from Upstate NY as well as large terminals for the Underground Railroad with Harriett Tubman living in Auburn NY. Upstate is amazing.
Additionally the St. Lawrence was not naturally navigable beyond Montreal due to the rapids at Cornwall/Massena. Amd the detour south of the Appalachians was really freaking long, all the around Spanish Florida and back up the Mississippi, including a portage at Chicago if you wanted to get into the lakes. And another couple fun facts about the canal: 80% of the population of NY lives within 30miles of the federally designated "Empire HSR corridor" which is the railroad tracks that replaced the canal. The Adirondack Park exists today because excessive logging in the southern Adirondack was causing increased errosion, and all that sediment was filling in the canal. And what's more important than environmentalism? The bottom line of NYC's upper class being threatened. So they helped environmentalists get the park formed and protected, by the state's constitution making it functionally impossible to ever destroy the park because it would require another amendment to undo it. Its basically impossible to undersell the impact that canal had on the history of the state.
you forgot about IBM in endicott NY just outside of Binghamton ?!! as well as Endicott Johnson footwear there. (they just got rid of the massive 4 block 150+ year old factory of it, sad really). BAE, Lockheed Martin, Unalam, Ametek and a bunch of other manufacturers are still in the area, but not as big as they were of course. and IBM left LONG AGO and boy is it like a bomb went off down there.
I was born in Syracuse, New York, and I grew up in Binghamton New York. I also have family way up on the border with Canada. The reason that no one lives in upstate New York anymore is because all of the industry moved away in the 1900s. every town in upstate New York is full of beat up old factories from 100 years ago. Businesses realized that they can make the same things overseas using slave labor rather than paying Americans. And that is why no one lives in upstate New York anymore. It’s the same story in other states too.
plus throw in the demise of the family farm after ww2. if you had a 50 to 500 acre farm, you couldn't make a living anymore. so they all shut down, and all the businesses like feed stores, hardware stores, creameries went out of business. no more jobs for farm hands. So by the 1980s most of the old farmers who stuck it out had died, and their children had already left town decades earlier for more prosperous careers.
IBM and EJ really caused to population to drop with deindustrialization in Binghamton, Endicott, and Johnson City and Erie Lackawanna discontinued all passenger services to these cities which is partly why Broome is the poorest county in upstate NY. It's quite unfortunate.
@@mikemancini313 my mom worked for IBM. Still live in vestal. I had to move out (in VA now 😔) to get good jobs and have a decent quality of life… I miss upstate NY so much.
Glad you mentioned Massena and Ogdensburg. Could have mentioned the severe down turn in population of St Lawrence and Franklin counties due to the GM plant in Massena closing as well as the down scale of Alcoa West and closure of Alcoa east/ Reynolds. All located in Massena. Also we Massena is home to the Eisenhower and Snell locks operated by the Great Lakes Seaway Development Corp, as well as the Robert Moses-Saunders power dam operated by The New York Power Authority.
This is why many of upstate NY-ers have seriously stated that the state should be split. This due to the laws of city versus state. The state portion has multiple cities and rural areas that have extreme differences of opinions from the city.
@@campbellhigle5913 hell I don't care about the city. In all honesty it should just be a part of NJ. Simple fix to the problem, besides they already claim the Jets and Giants
Governors represent and care for nyc first. That's how they become pres. Candidates. Upstate won't be allowed to secede from nyc because tax dollars fund them and they get most of their fresh water from upstate reservoirs.
We visited upstate New York last summer. I was floored by the unmatched beauty and surprised to learn there are no national parks there. I think the entire state should be designated a national park because it is incredibly beautiful. It is a very special place.
Adirondack park is larger then the top 4 national parks combine. Although technically not a national park it basically serves as one since it's like 99% wilderness
Only 2 national parks in Alaska are larger than the State Park of the Adirondacks. NYS does not need a national park. They even hosted the winter olympics there.
Because NY State had been entirely settled by the time that the federal government set up the National Parks system. Almost all land in the state falls in the jurisdiction of a town or city, there is very little federal land to make National Parks from.
It is, thanks! There's almost nothing Federal at all here outside of monuments. The Finger Lakes National Forest is the only major amount of land that is federally run. We don't even hsve that many US Routes even though all US Routed are state DOT maintained everywhere NY is the opposite of western states
I live in Northern New York and there are a lot of us living here. We just don’t like being piled on top of each other. Stop referring to us as “upstate”. There are distinct regions to the state. I grew up in Western New York. I lived in Central New York for a few years and now live in the North Country (an hour from Canada on the western edge of the Adirondack Park). We are not empty!
I feel like Geoff lives in another State and knows only what he has Googled. I grew up in Upstate NY. It was a wonderful childhood. We didn’t have big city problems. You could leave your house unlocked and leave your keys in your cars ignition overnight. I’ve got lifelong friends and a great work ethic. Fresh air, lots of room to roam/explore. Still love going back and so do my wife and kids. I’d take Upstate over NYC any day anytime.
Definitely. I grew up in Rochester and currently live in Syracuse. There's nothing to scoff about living in Syracuse with the moderate cost of living, and reasonable adjacency to many of the geographical benefits covered in this video, like Adirondack and Finger Lakes regions. However I do lock my doors... because... why not? I live close to the city? It's not a hard task to lock doors? But I get what you're saying. I'm fine here
Pfft... I NEVER got robbed or had my property vandalized when I lived in NYC or Long Island. Been living in rural upstate for decades as well now, and had my truck vandalized, my house broken into and my yard set on fire.... BY NEIGHBORS bc they *"don't like people from NYC!"* And aside from the little bit of NY accent I still have, it's not like I stick out in behavior or any other way. So yeah... I lock my doors AND got "protection." And this is in a 99% WHITE, small town!!! How's that for turning stereotypes on it's ass? 🤨 Good thing I have self control. 😎
It’s getting worse upstate since 2020. City scum moving north. Idiot governor bringing in illegal migrants and bussing them all over. Taxes going higher every year and cost of living going up because people want $15/hr to ask if they want fries with their order……
Cant leave doors unlocked any more..upstate..having more crime..seeing many illegals working on farms here ..and they are not respectful..litter everycwhere
Ive been all over the world. Also born and rasied in NYC so it might sound bias but im serious when i say Upstate has some of the most beautiful landscapes in the world. Very underrated. Great for skiing in the winters, fruit picking and wine tours in the spring and fall, and great for hiking, water rafting and camping in the summer. Some of the best universities in the world including some fun party schools.All just hours from the greatest city in the world
😮My niece from Florida would like to move to upstate New York. I've never been there, so after reading all these comments I think I would really love to come visit. ❤️
You are so right! If you drive from NYC to Montreal and exclude the first and last 30-45 minutes of travel, you basically drive through pure nature, with almost nobody in sight, and absolutely beautiful scenery. I also find it funny that tourists from all over the world flock to NYC, but almost none of them ever ventures into the Hudson Valley, the Catskill, the Adirondacks. Boy, most of them don't even visit Long Island!
A few notes, as someone who lives in NY state. Iroquois is actually not the actual name for these indigenous people- but a slang word used by the Algonquin people since they were enemies. It stuck. Their actual name is Haundenosaunee. "Adirondack" actually refers to another type of native American that were called "bark eaters' by the Algonquin. That side note aside , NY state is far from empty! Global warming is also making this area a lot less cold then people think. We barely saw any snow this year and it's been unseasonably warm. Buffalo does get a lot of snow though, not really where I would want to be. (Lake effect) . I am tired of people thinking that when I say NY they think of just the city, so I have to distinguish I'm from upstate. If folks want to stay in NYC though, that's cool. More of this open (but not empty) land which is even more beautiful (Imho) than the city. I like visiting the city, but in the end I like where I live . You also forgot to mention maple syrup and cheese. NY actually rivals VT with it's yummy cheese production as well, since there are a lot of dairy farms around. As someone else mentioned, you also forgot to talk about the Southern Tier, which is also beautiful. It has a nice highway which runs parallel to 1-90 that is just so much more scenic than the major highway. Needless to say, I disagree with your statement that this state is 'empty' other than the city. Hope everyone reading this has a good day.
Frankly the upstate/downstate rivalry should end. Upstate fees the city and the city provide lots of tourist dollars. What all New Yorkers need to focus on is government efficiency and getting more out of the tax dollars.
I suggest you take a trip upstate where you'd learn that it's not that empty, it's also beautiful in the Spring, Summer, and Fall. NYC is definitely the biggest city and there are patches of the state that are pretty rural but that's mostly every state. The weather is definitely an issue however I'll give you that, forget major cities near Canada...way too cold!!
You can see this when flying over NY in a commercial plane. The land and Finger Lakes look mystical from the air, like you're entering another dimension.
I live in Western NY and its really populated here, bumper to bumper traffic...Buffalo and Rochester area I go to Upstate NY for vacation...it's very peaceful up there. Old Forge is really nice.
I was in grade school and Junior High in Irondequoit and we moved, just in time for me to miss experiencing the woods, orchards and vineyards turn into tract homes in a couple years. I've swum in every one of the Finger Lakes.
@@davidclark39 NYC is REALLY not meant for cars. You find that out quick when you first move there. DC was built in reaction to the French Revolution; they didn't want wide boulevards converging at the offices of state, because it invites a "storming of the bastille", and it makes making your way around there really confusing. Living in Philly with a car isn't nearly so bad. You will come out of the experience an absolute black belt at parallel parking. Or if you're in the cop neighborhoods in South Philly, just park your car on the sidewalk. When in Rome....
Buffalo has lost more than half it's population, the city use to have almost 600,000 now down to 260,000, no normal thinking individuals live there anymore
Born, raised, and still living in the finger lakes region. I wouldn't say it's "empty" but it certainly is sparse. Love this area! Nice video! Alot of our names for city's etc are named after the native American tribes who once settled here.
I’m impressed!! You actually mentioned Ogdensburg. Which is were I work for the past decade. Beside the bitter cold winters upstate New York is a great place to raise children. We literally don’t lock our doors , I don’t even have a house key. Public schools are fantastic . Kids graduating class was less than 40 students. And the cost of living is reasonable. Thanks for this video!!
There appear to be a large percentage of vacation homes that are not primary residences in the region. Just because some piece of paper from the last census says 7.5 people live in the region doesn't necessarily make it so.
The percentage of residential houses that are vacation homes in "the region" - by which you seem to mean ALL of Upstate NY - is insignificant. There are spots here and there that have clusters of vacation homes, but if the census says 7.5 million people live Upstate, then that's correct. Syracuse for example has almost 700k people and you can probably count the number of vacation homes in the Syracuse area on one hand.
@@donaldclifford5763the park is 1/5 of the state's total land area. It is also one of the few areas in the eastern US that has 0 light pollution. (Not the entire thing, but near the 5 ponds wilderness area is a large blob of the darkest sky category on the light pollution map) Funny enough the state also has the worst light pollution region in the country, NYC. Not to mention the state has a bunch of other state parks and nature preserves. I'm curious what percentage of the state is "intentionally left blank" and how that affects the population to land ratio of upstate to downstate. (Downstate still has the majority of the population, NYC is insane)
I grew up in Upstate New York, about 30 minutes from the Canadian border by Lake Ontario. Let me tell you, it's cold for sure--27 degrees is normal. However, you'll never meet people like Upstate New Yorkers in any other state. They endure harsh climates, work blue-collar jobs, and love hockey. But they are some of the kindest people in the United States. They have some of those Midwestern nasal accents (it took me many years to get rid of that, lol) from across the large pond. I love the beauty of my state!
I'm three minutes from the US/Quebec border on 220 acres I recently purchased for a bit more than my new Prius. I can be in Burlington VT in about an hour, Montreal suburbs in 20 minutes, and I do my weekly Albany trip in 2 hours and 20 minutes. Cedars, sugar maples, and Amish neighbors and, most conspicuously, 0 noise. No man-made sound at all. No cars, no neighbors, just the occasional gunshot or aircraft.
Bro. I hate to call anyone a liar but I live an hour west from where you are and a house with 8 acres just sold for 240k so unless your telling me you bought the most expensive prius know to man as a new on costs (34k) I'd say your math isn't adding up
Relatives in Burlington. If you want solitude Brattleboro VT. has hardly anyone living there. and I took the Adirondack train 3? times to Montreal. Beautiful scenery but it was a 13 hr ride. Going back was harder. Was meeting my now wife halfway from where we both live.
I love our waterfalls in NY. The Finger Lakes are now a respected wine region and Taughannock Falls has been in so much media. There's a wonder of the natural world an hour from me. People know "15 miles on the Erie Canal" where I grew up. The Adirondacks are not only forever wild, but have a chair design named after them. Apples are named after different NY places and things. Car guys know Rochester carborators, and helical gears were invented in Rochester which are in every car. NY even made the iconic steam engines still in operation. There's so much history in my state.
@AdamYJ The worst part of Saratoga is the town. It was a sleepy country place at one time. Now it is yuppiefied, impossibly crammed during the whole season. It's hell for racetrack employees to afford accommodations. They're largely Hispanic and treated poorly by towns people. I hate the place now. This area is not part of the Fingerlakes district. It has a track as well. You wouldn't know it, though. Nearby Canandaigua is a beautiful little town that is a year-round community on the lake by the same name. If you like the ponies that's the place to go. There's a Casino as well, and a fabulous Wegmans.
My great grandfather came down from Ontario in the 30s to be an engineer on the nyc railroad. My grandfather followed when he was just 13 to work on tug boats in the upstate area and then became an engineer on the Delaware and Hudson rail road. My father and uncle followed with conrail and amtrak. My grandfather hand built every pew in my church where my aunt has taught sunday school for over 30 years, and built the family cabin up on dyken lake, near the vt/mass border. We're from Rensselaer NY, home to Rensselaer polytech institute, one of the most prestigious tech schools in the country. And my grandmother planted the lily pads in the lake that spread around. Its a man made lake but doing that created a whole host of wild life and now the state owns half the shore line to keep it preserved. Alot of history there in the 518. We supplied ny city with it's bricks to build with. And the first railroad in the country was indeed there. We linked the city as it grew to the rest of the state for it's needs. People who say upstate survives off the city are ignorant. Upstate has it's own economy and covid prooved it. Nothing went away, a lot of folks made more money in 2020 then they ever did, including myself as a self employed contractor. It's true what Sinatra said "if you can't make it in ny, you can't make it anywhere"
Something to keep in mind is that Buffalo used to be a major city in the US. The 1900 Census places it as the 8th largest city in the country and was the 15th in 1950. The last 70 years have seen the population cut in half, whereas the US population as a whole has doubled. From what I understand, that's mostly due to social factors (decline in domestic steel production, rail transportation, and the use of the Erie canal) which it seems like is beyond the scope of your channel. Great video!
Just to add, Phildelphia and Baltimore were major US cities too, certainly in the top 10. The St. Lawrence Seaway also lessened the need for Buffalo to be port and exchange of goods destination . The ships now bypass Buffalo as is true for many cities/towns that were once hubs for marine transportation. The invention of air conditioning by upstate New York's Mr Carrier, allowed for more manufacturing in the hotter southern states.
1970s big companies started moving their factories from cities along the Hudson River and Erie canal to the "sunbelt" first because it was cheaper, and then eventually to Mexico because it was cheaper and NAFTA happened. It also didn't help that Kodak, a giant employer and driver of the economy in Rochester, went out of business due to digital photography. GE was also a huge employer in the state.
@@keithball6480 Those air conditioners, and generous pensions from NYS entities and private companies upstate also set the stage for the exodus from the cold to the warm sunny South.
NY State is imo the most beautiful state in the country and there are so many beautiful states. There is beauty in every state. America aka Turtle Island is really breathtaking. Spots like Sedona, AZ and Telluride, CO are insane but from Montauk to the Hudson River valley and the ancient Pallasaides to upstate NY from the Catskills which is the oldest rainforest in the world to any direction north or west from there, absolutely insane rolling hills and mountains and lots and lots of it looks like it would have in ancient times. Love from the Bronx!
Northern New York native. There is a community and grace to living in the seasons many cannot comprehend. People here have different priorities and values not shared with many in the city.
Absolutely. Community, grace, and rhythm. The inherent structure in the seasons provides a meaning all its own, universal, yet unique as well, as each of us moves through them with our own memories and experiences of all that has come before.
I think most people who live in more rural areas have much better values than people who live in cities. Unfortunately, cities have greater voting volumes which often work counter to our values. It's as if we live in whole different worlds.
I moved upstate 20 years ago. I can show you 3 white supremacist enclaves among those "people [with] ... priorities and values not shared with many in the city". I only know about them because my partner's cousin shared a rural school bus route with kids from those enclaves.
I spent a few summers as a kid in Bakers Mill,NY and the Lake George area and I loved it. I grew up in the ghettos of NE ohio(Youngstown-warren) so it was a world apart from what I knew. Why more people do not live up there in the Adirondack mountains is beyond me. Waking up every morning and seeing the sun rise behind the mountains was as beautiful as it gets. Wildlife is abundant and hiking potential is crazy good.
Upstate NY is part of the Rust Belt and has suffered from economic depression. Jobs disappeared and people moved away. Years later, entrepreneurs show up to take advantage of depressed land values. They build new housing, open new businesses. The cycle starts over.
@@JoeSkylynx love canal is still a superfund site. NO ONE should be close to there. lol like Endicott's (binghamton) toxic plume. but yes the hipster-fication of places is nauseating
@@zesty3200 same I live just a few miles from the geographical center of NY. I was surprised he didn’t mention the spot as it has a marker on the side of the road for it even 🤔
@@jamesharren3882 Yeah I get it. Personally the only reason I like the city is because all of the cool cars you can see there. And in terms of wildlife the furthest it’s going to get is pigeons, rats, and crackheads.
I think if you live in a densely populated city like NYC or Tokyo or whatever, going almost *anywhere* else is probably going to feel like nobody's there at first.
One of the treasures of NYS is driving around on the highways. Signs are clear, interchanges are perfect and, there are no weird unmarked lane collapses on the road (looking at you NJ), plus very scenic.
After 18 years in NYC, I had it, COVID was the catalyst that made me move outside of that stressful concrete jungle, nothing better than owning a house upstate NY in a beautiful suburb and being part of a community. Where I now live, there's little to no traffic, the school districts are amazing, and best of all, my children don't get to see all the nonsense that is going down in NYC.
@@yankeesbroncos55 You don’t even know where I live and bitching about getting priced out? I work locally and make enough money to afford a house, if you can’t then find a better job, also last time I check my driver’s license it issued by NY State not NYC, I can move wherever I like, in fact is a free country…
While NYC's population grew 120% between 1890 and 1900, it should be noted that part of that growth was the absorption of Brooklyn (a major population center in its own right), Queens, the Bronx and Staten Island into NYC.
Although the region as a whole was absolutely booming thanks to the Erie Canal making NYC the only city on the east coast with access to the heartland/midwest/Great Lakes. This brought in a ton of trade, jobs, and immigrants. But NYC annexing its neighbors definitely makes the single city figure distorted. Its still weird to think about how Grand Central Station used to be on the edge of the city and was laughed at for its poor positioning. (And now its in the heart of the city)
Why nobody live in upstate NY is interesting! The Indians and heavily forested is a good reason why. Something to think about is that in the 1700's George Washington wrote a book saying he has traveled the world and he found very few white people in it. In the 1700's NY and Chicago was mostly forest with very few to NO white people lived there. I heard that in the late 1700's and early 1800's on the island of NY during the world fair they mass produced white people in test tubes. They was charging fair goers 5 cents to see the test tube babies. The mass produced white people cut down the forest of NY and built the whole city of NY and Chicago from 1820 to 1860, both cities built completely like they are today in 40 years! When photographing came out in the 1880s both cities built and you can not find a under construction sign to save your life, try doing that now! One last thing is that during this time period you had SO MANY orphans at the time and guess what they was all WHITE babies! Another thing is that 99.90% of White Americans can trace their family history to the island of NY and that is it unless you use dna . com which is for sure a scam. Nobody I know has any family history past their grandparents and if you stop and use commonsense that does not add up! Also there was no white people before Christ either.
I was a contractor from Rochester, moved to Watertown & Clayton. For 28 yrs, I worked the entire North Country & Central NY. The Thousand Islands was my favorite place to work and play. Ft Drum was good to me.
Philadelphia native here. I vacationed in the Thousand Islands (the Canadian side) most of my childhood summers. Stopping at Thee Diner in Watertown on the way to the border was a family tradition for maybe 15 years or so. I love upstate NY, very underrated. Always recommend the Adirondacks/Finger Lakes/Thousand Islands to my friends when they are looking to go somewhere quiet and secluded for vacation.
Grew up in harrisville, 30 miles from Watertown, and spent most of my free time fishing the streams and lake Bonaparte. My grandfather had a little cabin on the lake. Hunting season was a big part of my life as well. I still visit my family at least 3-5 times a year and enjoy the land my family has up there.
At 8:39 you make a whopper of a mistake. NYC didn't "grow" from 1.5 million to 3.4 million in 10 years from 1890 to 1900. It swallowed up land where those people already lived. Brooklyn had a million people when New York swallowed it up in 1893.
If you include Binghamton then throw in Utica and Rome who’s Metro Area has 300,000, Newburgh-Poughkeepsie Metro area has 500,000, Albany Schenectady Troy who’s Metro Area is increasing to 900,000, Rochester at 1,000,000,
"Go west young man", which I did in 1963. "Your from New York? You don't have an accent". Learned real quick to say"Up State". Born in an old farmhouse in the winter of March 1940 outside of Victor, N.Y.
I worked with a guy from Plattsburg, N.Y., which is 62 miles from Montreal, and 311 miles from NY City. He had the same task of explaining why he was not at all a "New Yorker" in the way people were defining that term.
There is an accent for upstate central NY, but it isn't as distinct as the NYC accents. (P.S. I grew up in a Syracuse suburb and I know how to pronounce Schenectady without hesitating.)
When I moved from the Syracuse area to Toronto, Canadians kept saying that “now I will experience winter”. Actually, the northern Ontario Lake winters are a piece of cake considering that experienced as a teen with snow streamers. I helped my Dad shovel our our Syracuse driveway by starting by holding the shovel over my head. Now as a resident, literally, of the St.Lawrence River shore today, it’s mild with little snow except if we want to go south into Upstate NY!
I'm from Montreal and we call Toronto the "Banana Belt" due to their very mild winters. Heck they had to call in the army when they had a bit of snow :) lol! (no we won't let you forget that one Torontonians!)
@@MbisonBalrog Yes lake effect snow usually goes west to east, but also slightly north to south. So all areas both south and east of the Great Lakes get much more snow than those west and north of them. Hence why Syracuse, Rochester, and Buffalo get much more snow than Toronto.
Coming from Va and moving to Upstate New York was definitely a huge challenge. But thanks to the military we’ve embraced living here. Yes the winters are brutal, but you do learn how to adjust. There’s much here to love and enjoy and the Fall is absolutely gorgeous
Also New York has a great deal of conservation efforts that most people do not know about. I am from that region. Logging is big but restricted and mining is also done but again restricted. Care to the environment is important in NY esp in upstate. Of course NYC has its problems. Vermont is another that cares too NH and Maine also. Mother Nature is important to us. I am not there right now. I miss home. I hope to go back and live out my senior years. I pray I get that chance.
You really don't realize how special the area is until you leave it. It has its issues for sure, but the landscape of dense little cities/towns with grand (if ageing) historic architecture, dotted with great universities, and surrounded by miles of nature has a very homey feel that I didn't really get anywhere else.
Good story for this. NY is home to the first state park, that being Niagara Falls. It's also one of the rare uses of eminent domain that's quite popular. Originally the entire riverfront was developed with tall thing buildings specifically just to block the view and make people pay to see the falls. The park was made both to preserve the falls and to make sure it was publicly available.
@@gregtufaro8166 If I had the money, I would come home and help restore NY. I made a mistake moving south for retirement. I want to come home and can't now. You do not understand what you have in NY. Take it from a person who has been west and south. YOU are better off with caring about the environment then what I have seen in this country. Trust me on this. PLEASE!
@@Jasonwolf1495 That is sad to hear because I am a victim of eminent domain in Las Vegas. I am glad no one was thrown out of their home like I was. It just hurts that the rich are not only taking the affordable housing but also taking the natural beauty away from the public. When people stop sleeping at the wheel; maybe things will change. But, until humanity comes together and says no more of Money over humanity; this will not change. Heartbreaking for me to read this.
Live in Rochester. It's 58° today and only shoveled my driveway three times this year. Not to mention my tree had blooms on it in the end of December. I guess you can say we have mild summers if you call 90° mild. I was born here have moved away and came back because I love the seasons here.
I live in Canada right on lake ontario. We get milder winters and Summers then you guys who are farther away from the great lakes. Rarely gets above 86 here and our winters rarely get below 0 now. We used to regularly get to -22 in the winter when I was a kid but thats long since gone
People have been fleeing NYC for years. The fact that this video included Long Island and the Hudson Valley for population purposes, shows that the "city" or 5 boroughs of NYC have been losing residents for a long time. Many of the people that flee NYC, move to Long Island or the Hudson Valley to get away from the mess.
Many are leaving the state completely, myself included. NYC has been manipulating the numbers by including the vast migration of asylum seekers as part of the population. If you remove their number and only count the tax-paying population,, you can see the massive drop in population in the last 5 years.
@@notsosilentmajority1 Census numbers say you're a lying jerk but you don't seem to be the type to let facts get in your way of your narrative (there's also no proof about the migrant thing). "Tax-paying" also leaves out citizen-children and old folks on fixed incomes -- Are they not "American" enough for your kind either?
I grew up in Spencerport NY or as my brother used to call it, The Economic Hub of Ogden. The village of Spencerport was on the canal and was called The Port of Spencer in the olden days. There was a lot of farm land that seems to have disappeared as of late. IMO t is one of the better school districts as well.
As someone from Iowa, where the population is 3.5 million, a population of over 7 million is hardly 'empty' statistics. I think too many people are from sardine packed cities and don't have a realistic view of what constitutes empty.
As someone who lives in upstate, don't feel bad if you forget there's more to our state than the city, our state government does too
I absolutely agree. I was born at home in 1949 in Jordan, NY, in Onondaga Co. I never got further than Cayuga County until I was 56. The Finger Lakes area is gorgeous. For me, the only drawback was living in the lake effect area. After a nasty divorce, I finally moved to NC in 2006. My son still lives in Jordan. It is a great place to raise your kids if you can afford the taxes.
Bro this comment has me cackling at 8 am 😂
gotta maintain the century-old traditions
State government ignoring our needs IS a problem.
Considering the city generates the vast majority of your states wealth, not sure what you're complaining about. The city subsidizes your infrastructure through the taxes its residents pay to the state.
Upstate isn’t “empty” it’s just that NYC is SO populated
I understand what you are saying. But when you consider how many of New York citizens there are both in and around New York City, calling the rest of the state empty is an accurate statement.
😂😝🤣 It’s very pretty up there, but way too cold. I lived there for 2 yrs.
you know what he means dont be like that lol.
@@cindybogart6062 I lived there for 5 years and New York City for 20+. Upstate NY has its own charms and its a great place to get away from the city for a bit... but it's just so god damn gray during the winter and spring.
NY state without the NYC metro is roughly the size and population of Wisconsin, which has a middling population for US states. So no not empty, but also not especially populated.
As somebody who lives in Buffalo and has my entire life, I think the single biggest reason why people don't relocate to upstate New York is the weather. The three largest cities outside of NYC (Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse) all get an unfathomable amount of snow that dominates the months of December - March. If you're looking to relocate, why would you intentionally move to an area where you have to wake up an hour early every single day in the winter to shovel a significant amount of snow out of your driveway before you can leave for work? Of course, if you have lived here awhile you really do just get accustomed to it, but if I was relocating from an area that doesn't get much snow, this would be a huge deal breaker to me personally.
For the first time in 70 years, Buffalo's population increased which honestly isn't too surprising. The city has a lot to offer, is relatively safe, and is extremely affordable. My first house I bought in 2020 was 1600 sq ft., in move-in ready condition, and cost less than 150K. The small village of Gowanda has houses even larger and cheaper than this. So when much of the country is facing an affordability crisis, Buffalo and WNY in particular seem to be relatively unphased.
if you can brave the snow and cold in the winter, you'll be awarded with some of the most beautiful summer weather in the country. It rarely gets too warm (proximity to the lake), rarely gets severe weather, and there are always a plethora of sunny days to enjoy. In the fall we have amazing foliage, and many local farms that boast the regions many locally grown apples and grapes. Not to mention regular farmers markets selling fresh beans, peas, and corn as the majority of this region is still agricultural (albeit on a smaller scale than the midwest).
I personally would have probably moved to a warmer climate if my family lived elsewhere, but the older I get the more I appreciate the area. And honestly, I would rather have a blizzard than a hurricane or tornado.
Agree, i was from buffalo
I just read all that and those are great points honestly, now I don’t need to watch the video 😂😂
Moved to Rochester from Georgia. The snow is nothing compared to the summer heat back home. Plus climate change is (unfortunately) making the winters milder. Rochester has a pretty mild winter compared to Buffalo and Syracuse. We’ve barely gotten any snow this winter. I love it here.
Shovel a foot of snow EVERY DAY IN WINTER? In Buffalo, where I lived on and off since the 1960's, never gets that much snow. It's February, and we arent' supposed to get one single inch of snow the wholevweek next week. Not one inch. 😂
Upstate has been empytying out.
Downstate has been emptying out even faster.
NY was consistently the 3rd most populous state for a long time until it lost that slot to FL in 2014
The weather hasn't changed much in 70 years between NY and southern states.
*The reality is* : People are moving to better governed states.
With annual DMV harrassment inspections that even NJ doesn't have even for new cars.
With 12% state income tax
With the least amount of freedom of any state rated 50/50
With terribly maintained roads (riddled with deep potholes and even worse repairs)
And cost of homes plus property taxes being sky high
Most ordinary middle class NYers have had it and packing their bags no matter what the region
Even if they don't believe in the governance ideas of new york city, the entire state suffers
Upstate NY is not "empty". We just don't live like sardines in a can.
🤣🤣
Alot of Nys is farm land and forests
💯
I lived in Glens Falls as a child, i absolutely LOVED it
😂👍
I married a western New Yorker, but we lived in another state for many years, just coming back a couple times a year to visit family. Every time I said we were “going to NY,” everyone assumed I meant NYC, so I learned to say “western NY” and mostly got blank looks. We moved to the Finger Lakes region several years ago and it is absolutely gorgeous! All of “upstate” N.Y. is, with beautiful trees, mountains, valleys, an abundance of waterfalls, rivers, and lakes. I’ve lived in a lot of states, and this is truly the most beautiful, in spite of cold winters!
Travel in middle school should be mandatory. Some sort of exchange program. I was fortunate to be able to travel and experience other countries, and many states, growing up. So many Americans are colloquial and un-cosmopolitan. And geographically bereft of knowledge.
I live in the finger lakes region , love it , but hate the taxes .
I always say upstate New York. It's a laugh how many people reply, "you mean white plains?" I have to laugh.
Grew up in the Finger Lakes. It is beautiful I just couldn’t take the tyranny and taxes. I fled twenty years ago to the SW. I miss the summers & fall, you can have those winters though.
@@daisygage7557 I fled those taxes twenty years ago.
As a person born and raised in Elmira, NY, upstate population has been very much impacted by the loss of manufacturing jobs during the 1970's and 1980's. Elmira had 10 major factories in 1970; by 1980, they were all closed. While upstate New York was never as populated as New York City, many more people lived there (proportionally) during the 1950's and 1960's when good jobs were available.
You mentioned loss of jobs,does Elmira still have the prison? Visited the town many years ago and had friends back then that mentioned they had jobs there. Kind of lost track of them so was just wondering.
Jamestown had about 100K around 1900 but now barely has 30K. All the furniture factories are gone, as well as the furniture exposition, Crescent Tool, Sysco, and companies like SKF ball bearings and Valeo have but a shell of what they once had. Cummins Engine is about all that's left that's still big. There's no jobs there, I left there 25 years ago.
@@100percentSNAFU It's sad, eh? I work in municipal archives in Canada and I love looking at old staff photos of the various factories that existed in smaller cities and towns from the 60s back to the late 1800s. Quality craftsmanship that we've mostly given up on for mass-produced, likely to fall apart in a few years crap from overseas. I wonder if there's a shift coming in the future to more domestic production if either geo-politics or transportation/fuel costs makes it cost-effective to do it closer to home?
@@AP-yb8ji Elmira/Southport still has the prisons. I grew up in Elmira, and being a Corrections Officer was and still is one of the main sources of employment for the region. I left the area about 15 years ago. I still have roots and family there, but I don't know that I'll ever move back.
That is CENTRAL ny not upstate. Gosh you people
“Nobody” being 7.5 million people would be the 13th largest state in terms of population still.
most live in NYC and Buffalo
And only 1/2 the size of Alaska to accumulate such 👏👏👐
@@ohusky271 you didn't watch the video
@@ohusky271 found the NYCidiot. There are 7.5 million people. Well over half the population of NYC that lived elsewhere in the state. The guy you replied to was commenting on how that population is called "nobody" while simultaneously being a large number of people. Try some reading comprehension classes before trying to be that guy
@@ohusky271 and long island
born and raised in albany new york, it’s definitely not empty up here, whenever i go somewhere i always see someone, just because NYC is very highly populated doesn’t mean upstate is empty its is filled with:
mountains:Adirondacks, appalachian’s, and catskills
water: finger lakes, adirondack lakes, niagara falls, great lakes
cities: buffalo, albany, rochester, lake george village, syracuse
that is just a fraction of new york’s fullness
Right on.. I'll take trees and animals as neighbors over people any day, especially citiots!
@@urfavkaidan I to was born and raised in Albany. The State University students ruined the city. Trashed my neighborhood, the pine hills section. I moved my family up to the thousand islands area over 30 years ago. Best thing I ever did.
Born and raised and still live in Rochester, I have never felt that upstate NY is "empty."
Rochester aint bad. The Red Lobster there is great
Don't drive a Kia or Hyundai, or go out at night in Rochester.
They are meaning more so in between like roc, su, buff, and albany not a whole lot other than the bing ithaca and watertown for upstate
@@superegghead13 yeah that’s like… every state in the US though
A garbage plate is mandatory to eat before you leave Rochester
I'm an Irishman, and I visited Upstate New York last summer. Lake George is simply stunning. Cant wait to go back some day
Make sure you check out Saratoga Springs next time you visit.
True. It's one of the most beautiful lakes in all the U.S. in my opinion.
thats where im from
im from that area as well! @@thenewyorkcitizen
It’s ok, not all that. I like Saratoga better.
7.5 million people is not “nobody” or “empty”
In comparison to over 12 million taking up 5% of the land it’s a vast difference
@@kingjames3949It's still quite dense compared to other states like Maine or Vermont.
Considering you can fit 3 Taiwans in upstate New York, and each one has a population of almost 24 million, upstate New York is pretty sparse.
@@Peanutbetter27 True but those states have no condensed population, let alone something as international as NYC
He should say, NYC and Hudson valley. Most of the money and residents are in those 2 areas.
I am from Watertown NY and I love upstate! The winters is what keeps more people out than anything I feel. Just like one comment says, getting up an hour plus early every day to shovel feet of snow is a deterrent, but you do get used to it as part of everyday life. It's beautiful and there are lots of things to do, and I miss it terribly! I live in northern New Jersey currently, for work, but won't be here forever...I am a New Yorker through and through!
I heard you got 10 feet of snow in Watertown yesterday. Ugh, I hope you have a nice plow
@@hyzercreek You DEFINITELY need a plow up here!! It's too hard to have to shovel all of the snow sometimes...
As a Brit,I have travelled the length and breadth of New York State, and it is absolutely beautiful.
Does any part of New York resemble its namesake of York in England, in your opinion?
Mate that's a seriously dumb question. Most Brits have never seen York, I myself only visited it once like 30 years back. Secondly, in the time it took to type your question, you could have pulled up a video here of York and seen it for yourself. @@carultch
I went to work in Upstate NY and as a southerner I had my preconceived notions of NYer's from NYer's I had met from the city. I was gladly shown I was wrong as the people I met from Upstate were some of the nicest and most welcoming people I had met. Just as must hospitality as southerners are generally known for. Loved Upstate, one of the most beautiful areas of the country also
@@christophermckenzie8486 We love Southerners.
Glad you enjoyed your time.
Hope you got to see our wonderful dairy farms.
@@rdred8693 Thanks. The people were wonderful and I truly did enjoy my time there. I was in New Paltz and did do some hiking and exploring in the mountains outside of town.
As a truck driver, going thru upstate New York was always a treat...
I live in Berlin, NY. Truckers go up and down Rt 22 here all the way from Connecticut and NYC to all sorts of towns and businesses up here where it is SAFE.
OTR Alabama trucker here. I love traversing I-88 between Albany and Binghamton. Except when I have 45,000+ payload!
I was a student teacher in New Berlin in the early 90s. Loved it up there. Great people. Fond memories. Retiring soon from teaching. Enjoy visiting upstate from Long Island. Especially in the summer.
Lot lizards was hittin huh ?
I like driving I-87
I live in upstate NY. It is far from empty. We choose not to live on top each other. Why anyone would choose to live in such tight conditions as NYC is completely beyond me.
Yup! Get out of the cities while you still can.
sometimes you're just born there and get used to it
community, diversity, culture, independence from cars to name a few
whereabout?
@@meladversity Crime, expensive rent, overcrowded streets, homeless people…
I'm a Southern Tier resident (on the border with PA) and love that our state is very rural. I spent my youth at a cottage on Owasco Lake and love everything about upstate! The city folks are okay down there. They make a large part of our tourism, but it's fine by us that they're geographically separated. Thank you for the interesting video!
Lindley, Presho, Caton? I used to play little league in Lawrenceville, PA...
I think it's extremely important to note that the massive jump in population from 1890 to 1900 is largely due to the absorption of Queens, Brooklyn and Staten island into the city.
I never knew they weren't part of the city. That's interesting.
Thank you ☺️
A lot of immigration at that point too.
So the city of NY is made up of 5 counties !
Yes the other Boroughs were originally counties with many cities in them .
@@Hollandsemum2 Staten Island and overcrowding aren't two terms I'd put together.
On behalf of the empty part of the state we like it that way. We invite the crowds in NYC to stay where they are.
Yes!
Thanks! More pizza for us! 😁
The most racist people of new york live in upstate NY
@@Hawks282the state wouldn't need all that money if NYC wasn't giving it away to every lowlife with their hand out. Debit cards for uninvited trespassers, paying extra money for every illegitimate baby a ghetto woman can produce, funding baby murders, paying drag queens to groom our children, etc. We don't need your money to pay for garbage that we don't want anyway. NYC is shit. I was born and raised in The Bronx and lived there 50 years, so I know what I'm talking about, and I know you know what I'm talking about.
Most rural areas feel the same way about libtard crowds and tin canners.
Syracuse native here! Whenever I tell someone that I’m from New York, they automatically assume I’m from New York City. So I always say upstate New York. I actually prefer upstate to NYC because of all the rolling hills, the lakes and the weather. Aside from the salt on the roads.
i also live in upstate ny. yonkers to be more specific
@@eddiew2325 funny joke
My wife and I visited upstate NY twice this year, and it's incredible. We were blown away by the magic of Watkins Glen, and the heights of Whiteface mountain, and ask the waterfalls around them. An incredible state that we haven't taken enough advantage of
As a Geneva resident I have to explain it all the time
@CB.PUNISHER.1900 I'm almost certain it was a joke
Hey! Utica resident here, born & raised. This city has come a long way AND New York state has more parks and lakes than most other states. The cost of living is so much less here than a lot of other places too. Come visit or move here! You can bike the length of the state on the Erie Canal trail. Watch some hockey at the Aud or our new Nexus center. The food here is absolutely wonderful too! Try some Chicken Riggies or Utica Greens, eat a half moon, have some tomato pie while you're here!
@@TerriGoff Utica resident here also. Moved to Lexington Ohio about seven years ago & can’t wait to move back there. Nothing compares to our food in Utica. I travel back home to visit family a couple times a year and make my rounds to all the amazing restaurants there. Tomato pie, chicken riggies, giambrotte at Marlogs. Anyway, god bless.
Northern Catskills here. When I was a kid our tv antenna would at times either pick up wrgb or at other times wktv but they were always snowy.
I never heard of a tomato pie or chicken riggies. We visited friends in Endicott several years ago and had a spiedie for the first time. Brooks' is a serious dinner out for us.
Is Steak, Eggs and Greens still open ?????? I lived in Utica from '91-'93
Upstate New York, has a large and varied landscape. Some of the most beautiful parts of the country are there
It reminds me of a children's book landscape, it's very beautiful .
Nothing can come in league with what's in western Washington and Oregon and Hawaii though.
@@AThimbleofHalloween
New York is much more beautiful than the overrated Oregon and Washington.
Only place beating New York is West Virginia
And the least diverse population in the country
@@AThimbleofHalloween My side of the mountain was one of my favorite books when I was around 12 years old.
California is way better, has everything including the Weather,
As a 18 year old, I met the nicest ,kindest, most wonderful people when I went to college in Upstate New York. The population may lack in quantity but never in quality.
Whereabouts?
Grew up near the capital, went to college up in the north country where my family is from. I loved it up der bub!
Potsdam?
Potsdam, Canton, St Lawrence U, Clarkston.
*awwwws in Syracusan*
5:50 It's probably a mistake to not include Lake Erie and Lake Ontario shore lines in your coast calculations. Both lakes are connected to the oceans and the US Coast Guard watches over these bodies of water, which have climates and major wind storms similar to an ocean coastal area.
@@DEO777 to locals we refer to the Great Lakes and St Lawrence River as the Fourth Coast.
Upstate NY is drop dead gorgeous. The only negative I can come up with is that in the winter it feels more like the Yukon. The other three seasons (Spring, Summer and Fall) you can't beat Upstate NY.
We haven't had a winter this year (2023-24). El Nino and climate change. People are tapping maples, first week of February. Crazy!
Normally, if you like winter, there's plenty here. Snowmobile trails all over. Skiing. I go crosscountry skiing out my back door.
Upstate NY winters are definitely getting MUCH milder. Only thing 'bad" about upstate NY, and it's getting better. Our springs, summers and especially autumns are wonderful............
There are five seasons in upstate New York, Gonna be Winter, Winter, Still frickin' Winter, The Rainy, and finally Construction...
I live upstate and I have to agree. The nature really is second to none, it's a pity that more people don't know about the mountains here. The winters suck, but they definitely have been getting milder.
The upstate area also has a great wine economy around the Finger Lakes.
The Finger Lake region is absolutely stunning, extremely beautiful
shout out to the "burn unit"! that's crow town, prison city, harriet's chosen home town
junky to live overall. visiting is ok.
Heroin addicts being everywhere might change your mind on that one.
@@BxIowaIrelandSwAgAnd where exactly *IS* *"EVERYWHERE?"* I live near the south eastern Finger Lakes region and aside from Binghamton, and Elmira, the heroin addicts are not overrunning the area.
@@BxIowaIrelandSwAg Better than rowdy teens of NYC
I live in "upstate" NY outside of Rochester. Yeah, the weather is rough in the winter but it's a great place to raise a family, get an education, and live affordably. The people are hard-working, but they don't have the edgy, tense personalities you see in NYC. Plus, it's really beautiful up here with the Finger Lakes, the Great Lakes, Niagara Falls, and the Thousand Islands. It's pretty amazing (except for January and February).
Zweigles, garbage plates and awesome haddock fish frys.
Things I could not come close to getting living in Seattle for 6 years.
Where abouts? My parents are living in Geneva, though originally we were from Elmira lol
Where abouts? My parents are living in Geneva, though originally we were from Elmira lol
This is why I still live here.
The winter isn’t so bad imo because there are several ski hills around. But yes upstate New York is absolutely beautiful
I love winter, love snow, love the cold. That being said, I live in Western NY, and I am just a little north of Buffalo, which simply does not get the snow and extremes that those in the "snow belt" can experience. It is not all snow all the time in NY. Does it get cold, sure. Though not cold enough, long enough for me. Even as I write this we have yet to have a good true fall (10/26/24). I'm still waiting on the crispy weather and low overnight temps.
I recommend learning to enjoy cool/cold weather hikes (lots and lots of gorgeous areas to hike), pick up other outdoor activities (XC skiing, skiing, snowboarding, playing outside, target practice/plinking, bundle up and have a cup of cocoa outside, etc). Great way to get fresh air, sunlight(ish), and enjoy the year round temps. If are the type to only like a specific temp and otherwise sit on couch all day, then no.. move to Florida or somewhere like that.
NY is gorgeous, and as stated it is rather vast. 4 mostly distinct seasons, sometimes all in one day,ha. There are pockets of cities, but mostly very much surrounded by country. Unfortunate to have it be such a red heavy state despite the significant university system. Thankful for NYC keeping it blue. I said what I said; que triggered comments..
Speaking with folks as I travel is humorous. There is this predominating perception that New York state is same as New York city. They (people just from other states) assume that the state is highly populated and we all live shoulder to shoulder. Then when pics of large swaths of land with green, trees, water, and not a single building in sight, there is surprise on their part. I follow up by stating that there are cities, we do have a population, but that there is a significant amount of country as well. All of our lakes, gorges, mountains, canals, rivers, and such all contribute to the more spacious aspect of the state. The majority of cities run directly through center of state, then peppered in are smaller ones. Depends a bit on industrial changes over the decades.
Nobody gets snow like they used to these days
@@c.rutherford I concur!
As someone who grew up in upstate NY I can tell you with 100% certainty that it has more to do with geopolitical reasons than geographical reasons. Geography certainly plays a role, but the real problem is that upstate NY is a vast farm filled wilderness entirely governed by a small densely populated island off of its southern tip.
So true!
Exactly! I'm 44, born and raised in NYS. In my entire 44 years, not ONE GOVERNOR until Hochul, came from anywhere OTHER than NYC!! And then people wonder why the state government is only interested in doing what NYC wants.
NYC is truly the downfall of NYS. The liberal minded fools who populate this major city, reflect most of the largest cities throughout the U.S., and have led to the downfall of our society. What was once a family oriented country, is now a Woke, small group catered governance. We were the envy of the entire world, but have now become the laughing stock of our allies, and our adversaries.
Yeah, hence the Empire State...🤷🏾♂️😄
I am a born Syracuse native, and I remember snow and ice storms lasting up to sometimes late April and/or early May! I'm elderly now, loved rollicking in the snow, sucking on icicles, and sledding when I was a kid though! I moved
away from my hometown before I got too old, because the winters were just too brutal, and I was no longer a child! Thankfully, I have close family relatives in the south where I moved!
It’s awesome to see so many fellow upstate NYers taking pride in growing up here or just the beauty of it. So many people either hate NY or talk trash about it (mostly the city) but I’ve always loved it up here. Besides the winters but the Summer and Fall are both wonderful
New Amsterdam is a lovely place isn’t it?
Very proud to be from upstate New York!
I'm one of the ones who talk trash about it. I was born and raised in upstate NY and lived there for 33 years. Best decision of my life was leaving there. Cold gloomy weather, cold gloomy people, ridiculous cost of living, ridiculous laws. I don't miss it at all.
@@Humble-Daniel🍻🍻 I am ashamed to say Syracuse is my hometown
@@Humble-Daniel I'm with you. I'm outta here in a few years. The best part of NY will be seeing it in the rear view mirror for the last time.
7.5 million people isnt exactly nobody. Thats still more than countries like New Zealand, Singapore and Mongolia
Even that is concentrated into about 5 or 6 metros. Huge swaths are vast wilderness.
Even more than Ireland ( the Republic not the island ) , Denmark, Norway or Finland.
Plus, that 7.5. million people alone, is larger than over the entire population of at least 20 states!
Absolutely! As a kiwi we have around 4M total, so the definition of empty is rather subjective
@@ianbedwell4871 New Zealands population is over 5 million
Most of us upstaters don't even consider NYC as part of New York. And we like it that way
I live on long island and I barely think about upstate except Rochester Buffalo Syracuse and Albany
Hey, thats fine by us. We really dont care too much about upstate like that anyway, if you want me to keep it 100 with you.
I feel like one of the only people from Upstate that actually likes the city
We don't claim yall either
@@jjmcg9184😭🤣😂
As a life long upstate NY resident, another unfortunate factor of NYC having that population density is all the votes upstate have zero effect towards any election we have.
They are all trump voters anyway. booo
Well considering who most you upstate usually end up voting for in elections….not much of a surprise
Update New York still votes blue because of the cities
Yeah this is a weird analysis. NY is like solid blue, it's not a swing state.
Zero effect in _any_ election? If ONLY Congress had a House of Representatives, then that would not be true!
The beauty of upstate NY is so underrated
YOU CAN SAY THAT AGAIN!!
Shhhhhh....!
Indeed it is gorgeous
Too bad way up north is so cold in the winter.
#2 state for number of waterfalls (supposedly Michigan is #1). Why NY's waterfalls are not more marketed to tourists is beyond me.
Upstate NY has also been losing population, not. just NYC in recent years. The people upstate are treated like the red headed stepchildren in NYS. They pay high taxes to support NYC and get little in return. It is beautiful but economically unfeasible to live in.
100% come dune south!!
That's very interesting. What sources did you use to find out about the taxes? I would like to learn about the tax situation supporting nyc.
Uhhh, you do realize that a huge factor to our population decline is that most of our population are Old Boomers from the Greatest Generation
And that we had a Governor who tried to kill them during Covid 👀
@@PocketWater0NYC gets a disproportionate portion of the state budget compared to the percentage of taces it contributes.
NYC relies on upstate power generation
It relies on upstate farming
These things combined puts NYC as a tax burden on upstate NY
I remember as kid In 1968 visiting dads MALONE NY,TWO beautiful hotels Franklin and Flannigan I'm thinking, deluxe rest with Marion's on main St Busy town get back up there by 1985 era gone was.population then in 2000 Industry all gone just Prisons my dad's relatives were all BRICKLAYERS TODAY 25% LIVE IN POVERTY INCOMES.
Live 5 minutes from the southern shore of the beautiful Lake Ontario, 5 minutes outside the beautiful college town of Oswego, NY. Moved here almost fifteen years ago to start over from a nasty divorce. I love it here. It is beautiful, the pace is slower but Syracuse is only an hour away if you want to have some city life. ❤
I am German but used to live in upstate NY, in -West Oneonta for a number of years. I loved it! Beautiful countryside, really friendly people, great canoeing on the Susquehana, good soil for growing veggies. Just my home sickness for my country of birth, Germany, made me return. I still regret it at times. If I ever went back to the US, it would be to upstate, snow or no snow.
I am from a tiny town named Schenevus. 15 minutes from Oneonta. Exit 18 on I88. My brother lives in west Oneonta.
Just graduated from Oneonta!
You lived in upstate NY and returned to Germany? We immigrated to Canada about 13 years ago and I can't imagine ever going back there (I hope I never have to). Things have gotten kind of bad in Canada but its even worse in Germany (we are originally from around Munich and there is no way we could ever afford anything there).
My son also went to Suny! @@infam0us913
I'm from an even smaller town called Westford!🤣@@setherrrrs___775
I was raised Upstate and our family camp is in the Adirondacks. I left in '04. The winter was too much for me as I got older. If I had my way, I would be there every Summer though. You can't beat a New York summer.
live about halfway between Syracuse and Rochester, still waiting for winter to start. seen snow once, gone the next day.
Those winters are a thing of the past. It's pretty much North Carolina
Adirondack Summers have always been my favorite. My grandma lives walking distance to Lake George Village but at the same time she’s up the road enough so she doesn’t have to deal with all the tourists in Summer.
@@adreanmarantz2103 auburn?
Let me tell ya, winters are basically over now, so you are safe to come back if you want to. Climate change has done a number on snowfall. There has not been 1 single snow day this winter. We used to have 6 to 10 snow days. That's over now.
Buffalo, NY: 278k
Rochester, NY: 211k
Providence, RI: 190k
Syracuse, NY: 146k
Manchester, NH: 110k
Albany, NY: 98k
Portland, ME: 68k
Schenectady, NY: 67k
Utica, NY: 64k
Burlington, VT: 44k
Maybe you should do a video on why New England is so “empty” outside of Boston and the part of Connecticut that’s adjacent to NYC.
Rochester NY has 211k add in the suburbs of Monroe County and it has over 750k. According to the 2022 census.
Why bother?
Weird that Buffalo, Rochester and Providence together are smaller than Winnipeg, MB.
@@wendull811k that makes more sense
All these NY cities are bigger than all but 5 PA cities and by a long shot. All upside New Yorkers have to do especially if they live on the Great Lakes is really move one state down to PA. Most of our state is far more rural and except for Erie, we get way less snow. PA is largely empty in its northern half and even in its southwest quadrant, there really is only Pittsburgh of real significance.
i lived on long island for my first 23 years of life and then i moved upstate to Plattsburgh, NY. if you are stuck down in NYC or long island and need a new life, plattsburgh is 1/3 of the cost for renting quite literally. it really is everything you wish long island is and better. Plattsburgh is a tiny city located on Lake Champlain which is more like an ocean it is so massive, boating life is all the same and better. the fishing is amazing, and the capitol city of Vermont which is Burlington is directly across the lake from Plattsburgh. Both cities are on the lake and each having a huge college. not to mention i have the huge city of Montreal Canada only a very esy highway drive of 1 hour on the dot north of here. all the land surrounding these cities are still very very country so you really get the best of both worlds, i have been here for over 3 years now and i have zero plan of ever leaving, i have everything and affordable living. i cant even stand going back down to NYC or Long island for even a minute, when i visit there i insrantly want to come back up here, this is real life up here. i hope i can seriously help change someones life from this comment or i wouldnt have bothered, get out of the metro area!
I live 30 minute from Canada in Upstate NY and let me tell you of a magical place called "Stewarts"... the local gas station, convenient store and Ice cream shop... Also POUTINE which I recommend everyone try, Friesland and Gravy with Cheescurds 😇
Stewart’s Hotdogs and Soda are a must
omgosh I miss Stewart's breakfast sandwiches, another Upstate NY gem is breakfast pizza. So delicious .
Your Stewart's has poutine??? Not in the capital district 😡
Stewart's breakfast sandwiches and ice cream 🥰🥰🥰
Fuck yes dude, I’m from Canton and the midnight walk to Stewart’s was a staple activity for my friend group
The worst thing about NY is its govt.
100%
Thats the truth right there.
😂😂🤣🤣👍
The accuracy!
Also, the weather is miserable. A lose lose
Fun fact: The Akwesasne reservation on the southern bank of the St. Lawrence River lies at the tripoint of New York, Ontario, and Québec, and has land in all three. You can cross the border there without going through customs, since the Canadian portion of the reservation is hard to get to from the rest of Canada (you need to either boat across the river or drive through US territory). And Mohawk tribe members are exempt from border checkpoints due to a 200 year old treaty.
@timothymartin2137 Yeah, you're supposed to check in at a Canadian port of entry even if you're not crossing into the rest of Canada, otherwise you are considered to be there illegally. And it's a hotbed of smuggling so they do take it seriously. Don't cross the border with anything that you shouldn't. At this point you can buy weed on the American side so there's no need to.
@timothymartin2137 & AtomikNY - were either of you up there for Akwesasne revolution? (both sides) Summer of 89 I think. They shut down northern NY Rt 30 near Massena and the south bridge into Montreal on the Canada side. The tribes within the Rez were at war + they kept the National guard and the State Police out. 1 Huey shot down. Wild Times, and the Reservation was a major smuggling point for sure. We crossed on a gravel road into canada to a camp a few times and by river while fishing. Wasn't hard back then.
I go there weekly
@@mobile-to6rz The Oka Crisis, 1990
I was just there two months ago. I have a friend that lives on "The Rez" as they say. (Have to mention the cheap, high quality, tax free "Green")
I live in upstate NY and am glad for the sparse population.
I like my solitude and hate cities.
The ADK mountains are my back yard and my playground.
I miss the really snowy winters. (Climate change) We used to get snow by Halloween, and it would stay until May. Sometimes so deep that you had to tunnel from your front door to the driveway/road. I like to say that our winters keep the riff raff out. lol Sadly things have changed a bit.
It is nice however to find someone who acknowledges our existence up here.
Were supposed to get some tonight
@@FDDLERSGREEN
Fond memories of youth. 😌
Hi Geoff! I was born in Massena, NY and raised in the Albany area. Your video is very well done. But, you did leave out one important factor discussing the St. Lawrence river. The river had significant rapids along the US-Canada border, not navigable by boats, until the St. Lawrence Seaway was completed in the 1950s. The dominance of the Erie canal for 120 years previous to that lead to the growth in the state and it's population growth we see today. Rochester and Buffalo were actually considered the first two major cities to grow in the USA's "Western Expansion". The Erie canal was the only easy way east to west through the Appalachian Mountains until the railroads across Pennsylvania were built, crating a faster, more direct route to cities like Detroit and Chicago. Buffalo was actually the 6th largest city in America in the late 1800s. Also, nearly 1/4 of the land Upstate is protected "forever wild" land, and is protected in the NYS constitution, and will forever be very rural.
Keep up the great content. Geography nerds like me, really appreciate it. LOL
Yes, and the deindustrialization of the Rust Belt with factories that employed many people mainly moving away was also left out. Because of its location at the east end of the Great Lakes Buffalo for example was a great location for huge factories like Bethlehem Steel and Ford and GM assembly plants. They all left starting in the 1950's for many reasons. Factories and steel mills etc. get outmoded and need complete rebuilding eventually. Southern states offered all kinds of bribes of interstate exits and free land and no taxes plus lower wages, plus competition from lower wage countries facilitated by vastly lower containerized ocean/train/truck shipping and other factors all incentivized them to leave.
hello from massena, new york!
@@emjayay yep - I believe that Buffalo dropped about 50% of its population, and Rochester about 20-30% - I'm a Rochester ex-pat myself, moving out West for work. The decline of the Steel Belt to the Rust Belt is an important part of this story.
@@emjayay, yours was the smartest take on the issue that I've read.
1. What would we's all do without your brilliant, detailed knowledge of upper New York?!? 2. Amazing content !!
I grew up in NYC, and now live "upstate" about 60 miles north of the city. Upstate is not "empty" but compared to NYC the population is spread out mostly in single-family homes. Where I am in the Hudson Valley, the temperatures are about 5-10 degrees cooler year-round than the city. The winters here used to be brutal, but have been getting milder over the last ten years. Lots of towns in the Hudson Valley have become boomtowns recently because they offer a lower cost of living than the city, yet you can still get to the city daily if you need to.
60 miles from the city is not calling it upstate. 4 hours away from the city is upstate
that makes no sense, than what do you call the hudson valley region? Because it's not the city that's for sure.@@abetteryou2025
The winters aren't getting milder. I been here since the 1960s, so i know that's nonsense. I'm guessing you're one of those global warming weirdos trying to shoehorn your politics into everything you say. BTW, the Hudson Valley is notorious for attracting NYC leftists; they definitely do not represent the morals and values of upstate NY.
@@abetteryou2025correct. 60 miles is only the NYC suburbs.
Facts it's booming bc most the ppl from the city are buying out all the property. I don't fully consider myself an upstate NYker. Bronx born lived 17 yrs of my life NYC and 15 yrs in Hudson Valley (Poughkeepsie, Newburgh, Beacon, Marlboro, currently Wappingers area). Which is all downstate metropolitan area still as it's only 1 hr & 15 minutes roughly from the Bronx of course. I say that to say this when ppl ik assume or have a misconception about territories outside of NYC I always tell them. I've been all over and there is nowhere as beautiful as the Hudson Valley area of NY. Yea life is more settled, less entertaining depending on what you consider entertaining but for total peace & gratitude on a daily basis I would never recommend NYC over upstate. The outdoors, the tranquility, the views, the quality & preservation of life is nothing short of amazing. I tell ppl all the time that's why countless amounts of high profile wealthy ppl, from celebs, politicians, athletes all buy homes upstate NY and you'll bump into them more often than not. Over the yrs bumped into Jimmy Kimmel, Justin Beiber, George Clooney, Robert Deniro, Amari Stoudamire, 50 cent. Heard of Jay Z and Beyonce being spotted in Amenia, NY few yrs back buying a mansion out there. Was just in midtown Manhattan over the weekend. Took the subway for the first time in yrs and couldn't believe the amount of mentally ill individuals that were roaming around. Usually it's strictly homeless & drug addicts but it seems to have gotten far worse than it's ever been. It's sad seriously smh
I ❤️ upstate NY. Most of the areas are beautiful mountains, forests, lakes, rivers and black bear. The trees changing color in autumn is truly spectacular.
Born and raised in Rochester, but lived elsewhere for work after college. I've travelled to just about every city in the Northeast et al, but moved back to Rochester because it is just a great city. Yes, the climate is difficult as times during winter, but I've noticed it is getting less so. However, the geography is awesome here. Hills, the Genesee River, the Erie Canal, the Finger Lakes and Lake Ontario are all within a five to 30-minute drive. The Adirondacks are four hours away. All of these places are diverse and beautiful. This is a great place for outdoors people. Also, my commute to work is less than 10 minutes although about 6 miles away. We have great restaurants and venues, full of entrepreneurs that probably got tired of the NYC grind. We have several theaters for the Symphony, musicals, Broadway plays and art house productions. Great school systems for families.
Wouldn't want to be anywhere else. OK, enough on the soap box.
How is the public transportation?
@@JohnJanocha Not great, to be honest. Bus system is mediocre. All newly reconstructed arterial roads have bike lanes, but not there yet. There's also bike, scooter and ride-sharing.
I recently moved to Fairport (in the Greater Rochester area) and love it!
@@josephardieta5697 Thanks for the response. Last fall, I began my first semester of college in the greater Rochester area. I do not own a car, so my hope is public transportation will help me get around on my own... to an extent.
@@JohnJanocha the new, much safer and much more efficient public transportation of the 21st century is called Uber and Lyft.
Hello, central upstate NY resident here, just want to say that I like this video and would like people to know that we upstate New Yorkers are just as proud of our home as those are in NYC! Upstate New York is beautiful and offers a unique lifestyle, anyone with a chance to visit should do so!
It is very beautiful. I took a train from Buffalo to NYC for a instate vacation, and I was blown away at the beauty of central NY. It must be gorgeous in the fall with the changing color of the leaves on the trees.
Been living in Albany and Syracuse the better part of the last year and you guys are all super nice and it still has that mixing pot vibe where lots of different cultures get along and work together. I love it so far
@@FOX007-um1wr it's spectacular - never gets old
NYS is absolutely gorgeous-from a New Jerseyan.💕
Thank you! Yeah I love this area so much. I’m tired of all the hate it gets
Born and raised in Syracuse. I left 20 years ago when I graduated HS. Upstate cities are very much rust belt cities. Crappy winter weather aside - it’s really a true blessing if the Sun comes out - Syracuse is a depressing place to call home. Some of the worst poverty levels in the country. The rural areas and smaller towns may be beautiful places to call home if that’s your thing.
Agreed. Relocated from CO to Syracuse and now Utica and it’s the w saddest state of affairs/way of living I’ve ever been exposed to in my life. And no one seems to notice or care how bad it really is.
im from a small rural town not far from syracuse, now i live in the city (of syracuse) and man... it blows here. We have the mall and a zoo. thats it.
A very honest assessment. Yes, if one has seen and lived in other states - many other states - they wouldn't swear by upstage NY. An area I couldn't wait to get out of after my undergraduate years. I have great memories of those four years, but not due to being "held prisoner" in upstate NY. The winter weather is for Eskimos and idiots, with much of the population being small minded. Those who are singing its praises have no idea how much life they're missing by living in that frigid climate. And I think most of them are likely stuck there.
Syracuse is far from being in a sad.
@@Tenobii I don't see the same I guess, I graduated from Oswego highchool and now live in downtown. Sure it's hard to get to know people but I will never cease to be amazed at the beauty and coming growth of the city due to micron. Oswego was miserable because all they have is 9 mile, the college and some parks. Here I see something and it might not be clear but some day yk? I see at least a place that has more potential then a state like TN at least.
I visited a town called Palmyra in upstate New York, it was a wonderful experience! I’d love to visit again even though it’s a bit far from Utah where I live! Upstate NY is so underrated
Tell people In Buffalo And Niagara Falls "upstate", you'll get schooled. It is 'Western New York'
Western NY is part of Upstate. Everything above NYC is Upstate.
@@tomfields3682 ; totally didnt understand what i meant, but...okay
@@tkbuffalogaminghe doesn’t get it.
@@tomfields3682nah that’s not how it works here. You got upstate, western, and the north country.
@@kingchuckfinley North Country, or simply Northern New York. But yes, people in upstate NY don’t call it upstate. We break it down by region.
As a person who moved from Iowa to Ithaca and now living in Cortland, I assure you it’s far from empty. Trust me I’ve seen empty and vast miles of nothing where you don’t see anybody, this is far from it.
You ain't kiddin...with exception of Des Moines, 4 hrs of flat from Davenport to Council Bluffs..
Nice bro I was born and raised in dryden. We don't like ithaca bc its NYC lite
Ithaca is a pretty town
My truck broke down outside of Cortland one winter day and I was there for three days. Everyone was so nice and I really didn't want to leave.
Talking about "nobody living there", I just spent the month of May in Montana. Including a trip into Bozeman (city of about 58,000) and including two grocery stores, I saw a total of fewer than 100 people. Must have seen a total of several hundred cattle, though!
I Live there, I'll save ya'll 20 minutes. It gets down to -20 in the winter and we can get up to 3 ft of snow overnight.
Hasn't gone below zero this winter, and our grass is green right now, Groundhog day. Go figure. the ski slopes are hurting and snow festivals have been canceled.
@@jamesvandamme7786 We've had weirdly warm weather this winter in the UK, too. It's been 12C more often than it should and has rarely dipped below 0C
In the snowbelt areas maybe, the rest of the region is getting very mild. I have not seen -20 in 10+ years.
Not to mention the high level of taxation
maybe that's what it used to be, but global warming is quickly changing that. I'm in Toronto and we have had barely any snow. It was 3degrees today when it should have been -30 already. It's very concerning
yea, Hochul does consider upstate citizens as "nobody"!
Point of interest.
The Erie Canal became THE feeder and connector between the East Coast United States and the inland territories.
The dangers of the British on Lake Ontario and the difficulties of crossing the Appalachians was the impetus for the Erie Canal.
The Canal facilitated the First Great Westward Movement onto inland America.
It brought settlers to the new farmlands and brought back grain and other produce back to be shipped across the oceans to all parts of the world. Which, in turn, turned NY City into the world leading port it is today.
All of this was accomplished out of reach of post War Of 1812 British, who felt entitled to any American ship along with and pirating vessels.
The US wouldn't be The US and NYC wouldn't be NYC as quickly as they were without the Erie canal.
"Why nobody lives..." is because the Nation moved THROUGH to go on to build the rest of our country.
Yet Upstate has contributed to our nation in many more ways.
Rochester was the birthplace of Bausch and Lomb, Xerox, Kodak, Western Union and many other advanced technologies.
Frederick Douglas and Susan B Anthony fought their battles for equality and right from Upstate NY as well as large terminals for the Underground Railroad with Harriett Tubman living in Auburn NY.
Upstate is amazing.
Additionally the St. Lawrence was not naturally navigable beyond Montreal due to the rapids at Cornwall/Massena. Amd the detour south of the Appalachians was really freaking long, all the around Spanish Florida and back up the Mississippi, including a portage at Chicago if you wanted to get into the lakes.
And another couple fun facts about the canal:
80% of the population of NY lives within 30miles of the federally designated "Empire HSR corridor" which is the railroad tracks that replaced the canal.
The Adirondack Park exists today because excessive logging in the southern Adirondack was causing increased errosion, and all that sediment was filling in the canal. And what's more important than environmentalism? The bottom line of NYC's upper class being threatened. So they helped environmentalists get the park formed and protected, by the state's constitution making it functionally impossible to ever destroy the park because it would require another amendment to undo it.
Its basically impossible to undersell the impact that canal had on the history of the state.
you forgot about IBM in endicott NY just outside of Binghamton ?!!
as well as Endicott Johnson footwear there. (they just got rid of the massive 4 block 150+ year old factory of it, sad really).
BAE, Lockheed Martin, Unalam, Ametek and a bunch of other manufacturers are still in the area, but not as big as they were of course.
and IBM left LONG AGO and boy is it like a bomb went off down there.
These "empty' videos have gotten out of hand. The "empty" land is about as densely populated as Michigan, South Carolina, or Tennessee.
lol I agree
I was born in Syracuse, New York, and I grew up in Binghamton New York. I also have family way up on the border with Canada.
The reason that no one lives in upstate New York anymore is because all of the industry moved away in the 1900s.
every town in upstate New York is full of beat up old factories from 100 years ago.
Businesses realized that they can make the same things overseas using slave labor rather than paying Americans.
And that is why no one lives in upstate New York anymore. It’s the same story in other states too.
plus throw in the demise of the family farm after ww2. if you had a 50 to 500 acre farm, you couldn't make a living anymore. so they all shut down, and all the businesses like feed stores, hardware stores, creameries went out of business. no more jobs for farm hands. So by the 1980s most of the old farmers who stuck it out had died, and their children had already left town decades earlier for more prosperous careers.
IBM and EJ really caused to population to drop with deindustrialization in Binghamton, Endicott, and Johnson City and Erie Lackawanna discontinued all passenger services to these cities which is partly why Broome is the poorest county in upstate NY. It's quite unfortunate.
@@mikemancini313 my mom worked for IBM. Still live in vestal. I had to move out (in VA now 😔) to get good jobs and have a decent quality of life… I miss upstate NY so much.
Glad you mentioned Massena and Ogdensburg. Could have mentioned the severe down turn in population of St Lawrence and Franklin counties due to the GM plant in Massena closing as well as the down scale of Alcoa West and closure of Alcoa east/ Reynolds. All located in Massena. Also we Massena is home to the Eisenhower and Snell locks operated by the Great Lakes Seaway Development Corp, as well as the Robert Moses-Saunders power dam operated by The New York Power Authority.
This is why many of upstate NY-ers have seriously stated that the state should be split. This due to the laws of city versus state. The state portion has multiple cities and rural areas that have extreme differences of opinions from the city.
Upstate is pretty conservative, and their needs are not often met. I always felt NYC should be its own state or float away. I hated NYC.
Living in upstate, I'd rather die than have Elise Stefanik represent me. The city can stay.
@@campbellhigle5913 hell I don't care about the city. In all honesty it should just be a part of NJ. Simple fix to the problem, besides they already claim the Jets and Giants
Governors represent and care for nyc first. That's how they become pres. Candidates. Upstate won't be allowed to secede from nyc because tax dollars fund them and they get most of their fresh water from upstate reservoirs.
@@foggylegg6362 water treaties between states exist
We visited upstate New York last summer. I was floored by the unmatched beauty and surprised to learn there are no national parks there. I think the entire state should be designated a national park because it is incredibly beautiful. It is a very special place.
Adirondack park is larger then the top 4 national parks combine. Although technically not a national park it basically serves as one since it's like 99% wilderness
Only 2 national parks in Alaska are larger than the State Park of the Adirondacks. NYS does not need a national park. They even hosted the winter olympics there.
Too expensive to live there
Because NY State had been entirely settled by the time that the federal government set up the National Parks system. Almost all land in the state falls in the jurisdiction of a town or city, there is very little federal land to make National Parks from.
It is, thanks!
There's almost nothing Federal at all here outside of monuments. The Finger Lakes National Forest is the only major amount of land that is federally run.
We don't even hsve that many US Routes even though all US Routed are state DOT maintained everywhere
NY is the opposite of western states
Got stationed at Fort Drum in 2022 and the area is by far my most favorite place to have lived within the US!
Same here
i live right next the to the black river fort drum gates
I grew up 30 minutes from Fort Drum.
@@Coffeeandkiddos Fort drum definitely did boost Jefferson county population. I don’t mind the cold so much. The other season as not so bad at all.
Small world!
I live in Northern New York and there are a lot of us living here. We just don’t like being piled on top of each other. Stop referring to us as “upstate”. There are distinct regions to the state. I grew up in Western New York. I lived in Central New York for a few years and now live in the North Country (an hour from Canada on the western edge of the Adirondack Park). We are not empty!
I feel like Geoff lives in another State and knows only what he has Googled. I grew up in Upstate NY. It was a wonderful childhood. We didn’t have big city problems. You could leave your house unlocked and leave your keys in your cars ignition overnight. I’ve got lifelong friends and a great work ethic. Fresh air, lots of room to roam/explore. Still love going back and so do my wife and kids. I’d take Upstate over NYC any day anytime.
Definitely. I grew up in Rochester and currently live in Syracuse. There's nothing to scoff about living in Syracuse with the moderate cost of living, and reasonable adjacency to many of the geographical benefits covered in this video, like Adirondack and Finger Lakes regions. However I do lock my doors... because... why not? I live close to the city? It's not a hard task to lock doors? But I get what you're saying. I'm fine here
Pfft... I NEVER got robbed or had my property vandalized when I lived in NYC or Long Island.
Been living in rural upstate for decades as well now, and had my truck vandalized, my house broken into and my yard set on fire.... BY NEIGHBORS bc they *"don't like people from NYC!"* And aside from the little bit of NY accent I still have, it's not like I stick out in behavior or any other way.
So yeah... I lock my doors AND got "protection." And this is in a 99% WHITE, small town!!! How's that for turning stereotypes on it's ass? 🤨
Good thing I have self control. 😎
It’s getting worse upstate since 2020. City scum moving north. Idiot governor bringing in illegal migrants and bussing them all over.
Taxes going higher every year and cost of living going up because people want $15/hr to ask if they want fries with their order……
@@Mike-bl9dv 👍 I’m just saying that’s what we did. It’s a very small town.
Syracuse area I definitely would lock up too.
Cant leave doors unlocked any more..upstate..having more crime..seeing many illegals working on farms here ..and they are not respectful..litter everycwhere
Ive been all over the world. Also born and rasied in NYC so it might sound bias but im serious when i say Upstate has some of the most beautiful landscapes in the world. Very underrated. Great for skiing in the winters, fruit picking and wine tours in the spring and fall, and great for hiking, water rafting and camping in the summer. Some of the best universities in the world including some fun party schools.All just hours from the greatest city in the world
😮My niece from Florida would like to move to upstate New York. I've never been there, so after reading all these comments I think I would really love to come visit. ❤️
I bet. I've never been to New York or anywhere in that part of the country. The upstate area does look so pretty, I'd love to visit there one day.
Nice in the Summer, then....not so much@@sherryberry2394
You are so right! If you drive from NYC to Montreal and exclude the first and last 30-45 minutes of travel, you basically drive through pure nature, with almost nobody in sight, and absolutely beautiful scenery. I also find it funny that tourists from all over the world flock to NYC, but almost none of them ever ventures into the Hudson Valley, the Catskill, the Adirondacks. Boy, most of them don't even visit Long Island!
yeah skiing is great if you like ice. better off going to Vermont
A few notes, as someone who lives in NY state. Iroquois is actually not the actual name for these indigenous people- but a slang word used by the Algonquin people since they were enemies. It stuck. Their actual name is Haundenosaunee. "Adirondack" actually refers to another type of native American that were called "bark eaters' by the Algonquin. That side note aside , NY state is far from empty! Global warming is also making this area a lot less cold then people think. We barely saw any snow this year and it's been unseasonably warm. Buffalo does get a lot of snow though, not really where I would want to be. (Lake effect) . I am tired of people thinking that when I say NY they think of just the city, so I have to distinguish I'm from upstate. If folks want to stay in NYC though, that's cool. More of this open (but not empty) land which is even more beautiful (Imho) than the city. I like visiting the city, but in the end I like where I live . You also forgot to mention maple syrup and cheese. NY actually rivals VT with it's yummy cheese production as well, since there are a lot of dairy farms around. As someone else mentioned, you also forgot to talk about the Southern Tier, which is also beautiful. It has a nice highway which runs parallel to 1-90 that is just so much more scenic than the major highway. Needless to say, I disagree with your statement that this state is 'empty' other than the city. Hope everyone reading this has a good day.
Than
Frankly the upstate/downstate rivalry should end. Upstate fees the city and the city provide lots of tourist dollars. What all New Yorkers need to focus on is government efficiency and getting more out of the tax dollars.
nice info ty for it all.
I agree with you wholeheartedly. I wrote a reply elsewhere about economic changes from my time as a child in Buffalo to an adult in New York City.
@@Amidat Upstate *Feeds* NYC. We send Our tax money to NYC, then left with serious infrastructure failures. As you may know it's very complicating.
I suggest you take a trip upstate where you'd learn that it's not that empty, it's also beautiful in the Spring, Summer, and Fall. NYC is definitely the biggest city and there are patches of the state that are pretty rural but that's mostly every state. The weather is definitely an issue however I'll give you that, forget major cities near Canada...way too cold!!
You can see this when flying over NY in a commercial plane. The land and Finger Lakes look mystical from the air, like you're entering another dimension.
the finger lakes are magical - really a different vibration going on there - all for the good
One of the most beautiful areas in the country. Every village is tidy and very pretty. I'm moving back.
I love the Finger lakes they are very beautiful been to them many times.
Lived there , never want to go back. What a dump.
yes we do have a lot of hidden forest n land n lakes.
I live in Western NY and its really populated here, bumper to bumper traffic...Buffalo and Rochester area
I go to Upstate NY for vacation...it's very peaceful up there. Old Forge is really nice.
Haha, I live in Buffalo. The traffic is nothing compared to a NYC, Washinton DC, Philly, Atlanta etc. We rarely have major traffic jams by comparison.
I live just outside Rochester and the traffic is heavy. My friends from Detroit always comment how much traffic there is here.@@davidclark39
I was in grade school and Junior High in Irondequoit and we moved, just in time for me to miss experiencing the woods, orchards and vineyards turn into tract homes in a couple years. I've swum in every one of the Finger Lakes.
@@davidclark39 NYC is REALLY not meant for cars. You find that out quick when you first move there. DC was built in reaction to the French Revolution; they didn't want wide boulevards converging at the offices of state, because it invites a "storming of the bastille", and it makes making your way around there really confusing.
Living in Philly with a car isn't nearly so bad. You will come out of the experience an absolute black belt at parallel parking. Or if you're in the cop neighborhoods in South Philly, just park your car on the sidewalk. When in Rome....
Buffalo has lost more than half it's population, the city use to have almost 600,000 now down to 260,000, no normal thinking individuals live there anymore
Born, raised, and still living in the finger lakes region. I wouldn't say it's "empty" but it certainly is sparse. Love this area! Nice video! Alot of our names for city's etc are named after the native American tribes who once settled here.
The white man cometh...😢
I’m impressed!! You actually mentioned Ogdensburg. Which is were I work for the past decade. Beside the bitter cold winters upstate New York is a great place to raise children. We literally don’t lock our doors , I don’t even have a house key. Public schools are fantastic . Kids graduating class was less than 40 students. And the cost of living is reasonable. Thanks for this video!!
7.5 million isn’t empty to me. Nunavut is empty only 40,000 ppl.
There appear to be a large percentage of vacation homes that are not primary residences in the region. Just because some piece of paper from the last census says 7.5 people live in the region doesn't necessarily make it so.
The percentage of residential houses that are vacation homes in "the region" - by which you seem to mean ALL of Upstate NY - is insignificant. There are spots here and there that have clusters of vacation homes, but if the census says 7.5 million people live Upstate, then that's correct. Syracuse for example has almost 700k people and you can probably count the number of vacation homes in the Syracuse area on one hand.
The Adirondack Park, "forever wild", is about the size of the state of Connecticut. Big enough to really get lost in.
@@donaldclifford5763the park is 1/5 of the state's total land area. It is also one of the few areas in the eastern US that has 0 light pollution. (Not the entire thing, but near the 5 ponds wilderness area is a large blob of the darkest sky category on the light pollution map)
Funny enough the state also has the worst light pollution region in the country, NYC.
Not to mention the state has a bunch of other state parks and nature preserves.
I'm curious what percentage of the state is "intentionally left blank" and how that affects the population to land ratio of upstate to downstate. (Downstate still has the majority of the population, NYC is insane)
And the entire Yukon has only 27,000 people! I've been there & it's large!
Syracuse resident here, it’s not really empty, theres still 7.5 million of us
Everybody I know in upstate hates NYC. They say NYC ruined the state
I'm about an hour or so north of you, just off 81. There are definitely people up here.....dammit!
I grew up in Upstate New York, about 30 minutes from the Canadian border by Lake Ontario. Let me tell you, it's cold for sure--27 degrees is normal. However, you'll never meet people like Upstate New Yorkers in any other state. They endure harsh climates, work blue-collar jobs, and love hockey. But they are some of the kindest people in the United States. They have some of those Midwestern nasal accents (it took me many years to get rid of that, lol) from across the large pond. I love the beauty of my state!
Just admit it - you are basically Canadian ;)
watching from Hillsdale NY
I'm three minutes from the US/Quebec border on 220 acres I recently purchased for a bit more than my new Prius. I can be in Burlington VT in about an hour, Montreal suburbs in 20 minutes, and I do my weekly Albany trip in 2 hours and 20 minutes. Cedars, sugar maples, and Amish neighbors and, most conspicuously, 0 noise. No man-made sound at all. No cars, no neighbors, just the occasional gunshot or aircraft.
That's awesome
Man I would join you if I didn't have to go back to paying NYS taxes (based on the city).
Bro. I hate to call anyone a liar but I live an hour west from where you are and a house with 8 acres just sold for 240k so unless your telling me you bought the most expensive prius know to man as a new on costs (34k) I'd say your math isn't adding up
Sounds like chateaugay
Relatives in Burlington. If you want solitude Brattleboro VT. has hardly anyone living there. and I took the Adirondack train 3? times to Montreal. Beautiful scenery but it was a 13 hr ride. Going back was harder. Was meeting my now wife halfway from where we both live.
I love our waterfalls in NY. The Finger Lakes are now a respected wine region and Taughannock Falls has been in so much media. There's a wonder of the natural world an hour from me. People know "15 miles on the Erie Canal" where I grew up. The Adirondacks are not only forever wild, but have a chair design named after them. Apples are named after different NY places and things. Car guys know Rochester carborators, and helical gears were invented in Rochester which are in every car. NY even made the iconic steam engines still in operation. There's so much history in my state.
And don't forget the best Macintosh apples. There's nothing like a Mac.
@@biff5856 no!!! Golden delicious or honey crisp!!
Also, supposedly one of the best racetracks in Saratoga.
@AdamYJ The worst part of Saratoga is the town. It was a sleepy country place at one time. Now it is yuppiefied, impossibly crammed during the whole season. It's hell for racetrack employees to afford accommodations. They're largely Hispanic and treated poorly by towns people. I hate the place now. This area is not part of the Fingerlakes district. It has a track as well. You wouldn't know it, though. Nearby Canandaigua is a beautiful little town that is a year-round community on the lake by the same name. If you like the ponies that's the place to go. There's a Casino as well, and a fabulous Wegmans.
My great grandfather came down from Ontario in the 30s to be an engineer on the nyc railroad. My grandfather followed when he was just 13 to work on tug boats in the upstate area and then became an engineer on the Delaware and Hudson rail road. My father and uncle followed with conrail and amtrak. My grandfather hand built every pew in my church where my aunt has taught sunday school for over 30 years, and built the family cabin up on dyken lake, near the vt/mass border. We're from Rensselaer NY, home to Rensselaer polytech institute, one of the most prestigious tech schools in the country. And my grandmother planted the lily pads in the lake that spread around. Its a man made lake but doing that created a whole host of wild life and now the state owns half the shore line to keep it preserved. Alot of history there in the 518. We supplied ny city with it's bricks to build with. And the first railroad in the country was indeed there. We linked the city as it grew to the rest of the state for it's needs. People who say upstate survives off the city are ignorant. Upstate has it's own economy and covid prooved it. Nothing went away, a lot of folks made more money in 2020 then they ever did, including myself as a self employed contractor. It's true what Sinatra said "if you can't make it in ny, you can't make it anywhere"
Something to keep in mind is that Buffalo used to be a major city in the US. The 1900 Census places it as the 8th largest city in the country and was the 15th in 1950. The last 70 years have seen the population cut in half, whereas the US population as a whole has doubled. From what I understand, that's mostly due to social factors (decline in domestic steel production, rail transportation, and the use of the Erie canal) which it seems like is beyond the scope of your channel.
Great video!
Just to add, Phildelphia and Baltimore were major US cities too, certainly in the top 10. The St. Lawrence Seaway also lessened the need for Buffalo to be port and exchange of goods destination . The ships now bypass Buffalo as is true for many cities/towns that were once hubs for marine transportation. The invention of air conditioning by upstate New York's Mr Carrier, allowed for more manufacturing in the hotter southern states.
1970s big companies started moving their factories from cities along the Hudson River and Erie canal to the "sunbelt" first because it was cheaper, and then eventually to Mexico because it was cheaper and NAFTA happened. It also didn't help that Kodak, a giant employer and driver of the economy in Rochester, went out of business due to digital photography. GE was also a huge employer in the state.
Yeah this video was clearly not well researched.
@@keithball6480 Those air conditioners, and generous pensions from NYS entities and private companies upstate also set the stage for the exodus from the cold to the warm sunny South.
Binghamton, NY, Endicott, NY, Johnson City, NY were all really hurt by NAFTA and deindustrialization.
NY State is imo the most beautiful state in the country and there are so many beautiful states. There is beauty in every state. America aka Turtle Island is really breathtaking.
Spots like Sedona, AZ and Telluride, CO are insane but from Montauk to the Hudson River valley and the ancient Pallasaides to upstate NY from the Catskills which is the oldest rainforest in the world to any direction north or west from there,
absolutely insane rolling hills and mountains and lots and lots of it looks like it would have in ancient times. Love from the Bronx!
Northern New York native. There is a community and grace to living in the seasons many cannot comprehend. People here have different priorities and values not shared with many in the city.
Absolutely. Community, grace, and rhythm. The inherent structure in the seasons provides a meaning all its own, universal, yet unique as well, as each of us moves through them with our own memories and experiences of all that has come before.
I think most people who live in more rural areas have much better values than people who live in cities. Unfortunately, cities have greater voting volumes which often work counter to our values. It's as if we live in whole different worlds.
@@TinaFieldHoweCreativeDifferent values, not necessarily better ... I have lived rural, suburban, and urban within our beautiful state.
I would love to consider living i. New York. If only it wasn't connected to NYC and Hocul!@@TinaFieldHoweCreative
I moved upstate 20 years ago. I can show you 3 white supremacist enclaves among those "people [with] ... priorities and values not shared with many in the city". I only know about them because my partner's cousin shared a rural school bus route with kids from those enclaves.
I spent a few summers as a kid in Bakers Mill,NY and the Lake George area and I loved it.
I grew up in the ghettos of NE ohio(Youngstown-warren) so it was a world apart from what I knew.
Why more people do not live up there in the Adirondack mountains is beyond me.
Waking up every morning and seeing the sun rise behind the mountains was as beautiful as it gets.
Wildlife is abundant and hiking potential is crazy good.
Locals avoid LG like the plaque in the summer due to tourism.
Youngstown is a horribly depressing place
Upstate NY is part of the Rust Belt and has suffered from economic depression. Jobs disappeared and people moved away. Years later, entrepreneurs show up to take advantage of depressed land values. They build new housing, open new businesses. The cycle starts over.
Sorta like how Buffalo Canal went from being some Chernobyl-esque industrial hellscape too now being full of trendy bars/art studios?
@@JoeSkylynx love canal is still a superfund site. NO ONE should be close to there. lol
like Endicott's (binghamton) toxic plume. but yes the hipster-fication of places is nauseating
As someone who lives in upstate New York I can in fact say that it is not empty
@@zesty3200 same I live just a few miles from the geographical center of NY. I was surprised he didn’t mention the spot as it has a marker on the side of the road for it even 🤔
I'm glad that you noted the importance of the six Nations tribes from the area and shared a little of their story.
@@RandiMEE yes that was interesting, as a 🇬🇧
as an introvert in upstate ny, I see this as an absolute win
Except this guy is going to ruin it
Please never make a joke again
@@saige98 Thanks for the input, but I think I’ll continue my Silly Streak
am jealous. nyc is overrated. Crime, noise, excessive taxes, tourism, no nature(no the parks don’t count imo)
@@jamesharren3882 Yeah I get it. Personally the only reason I like the city is because all of the cool cars you can see there. And in terms of wildlife the furthest it’s going to get is pigeons, rats, and crackheads.
I think if you live in a densely populated city like NYC or Tokyo or whatever, going almost *anywhere* else is probably going to feel like nobody's there at first.
That’s not true in European cities. America is unique in its type of sprawl
0:30 No other state is as dominated by a city
One of the treasures of NYS is driving around on the highways. Signs are clear, interchanges are perfect and, there are no weird unmarked lane collapses on the road (looking at you NJ), plus very scenic.
After 18 years in NYC, I had it, COVID was the catalyst that made me move outside of that stressful concrete jungle, nothing better than owning a house upstate NY in a beautiful suburb and being part of a community. Where I now live, there's little to no traffic, the school districts are amazing, and best of all, my children don't get to see all the nonsense that is going down in NYC.
The needs of those outside NYC are quite different than those in NYC. They should almost be treated as two different "states."
Make sure you don't vote for the same stupid people, policies that created the mess that is NYC. Thanks.
Thanks for coming! Now because of people like you who moved here during covid, locals are getting priced out!
@@yankeesbroncos55 You don’t even know where I live and bitching about getting priced out? I work locally and make enough money to afford a house, if you can’t then find a better job, also last time I check my driver’s license it issued by NY State not NYC, I can move wherever I like, in fact is a free country…
@@HWwise TRUMP 2024!
While NYC's population grew 120% between 1890 and 1900, it should be noted that part of that growth was the absorption of Brooklyn (a major population center in its own right), Queens, the Bronx and Staten Island into NYC.
The Bronx is a bit more complicated than that
Although the region as a whole was absolutely booming thanks to the Erie Canal making NYC the only city on the east coast with access to the heartland/midwest/Great Lakes. This brought in a ton of trade, jobs, and immigrants.
But NYC annexing its neighbors definitely makes the single city figure distorted. Its still weird to think about how Grand Central Station used to be on the edge of the city and was laughed at for its poor positioning. (And now its in the heart of the city)
Why nobody live in upstate NY is interesting! The Indians and heavily forested is a good reason why. Something to think about is that in the 1700's George Washington wrote a book saying he has traveled the world and he found very few white people in it. In the 1700's NY and Chicago was mostly forest with very few to NO white people lived there. I heard that in the late 1700's and early 1800's on the island of NY during the world fair they mass produced white people in test tubes. They was charging fair goers 5 cents to see the test tube babies. The mass produced white people cut down the forest of NY and built the whole city of NY and Chicago from 1820 to 1860, both cities built completely like they are today in 40 years! When photographing came out in the 1880s both cities built and you can not find a under construction sign to save your life, try doing that now! One last thing is that during this time period you had SO MANY orphans at the time and guess what they was all WHITE babies! Another thing is that 99.90% of White Americans can trace their family history to the island of NY and that is it unless you use dna . com which is for sure a scam. Nobody I know has any family history past their grandparents and if you stop and use commonsense that does not add up! Also there was no white people before Christ either.
@@jamesesslinger1976 You need to add /s to your comment.
@@firesurfer lives
I was a contractor from Rochester, moved to Watertown & Clayton. For 28 yrs, I worked the entire North Country & Central NY. The Thousand Islands was my favorite place to work and play. Ft Drum was good to me.
A friend of mine also a contractor bought a 120 acre farm for 90, 000 with a small lake what a nice life he has ,
Fort Drum was good to a lot of people. For awhile it was scaled back and public square in Watertown was boarded up.
Philadelphia native here. I vacationed in the Thousand Islands (the Canadian side) most of my childhood summers. Stopping at Thee Diner in Watertown on the way to the border was a family tradition for maybe 15 years or so. I love upstate NY, very underrated. Always recommend the Adirondacks/Finger Lakes/Thousand Islands to my friends when they are looking to go somewhere quiet and secluded for vacation.
Grew up in harrisville, 30 miles from Watertown, and spent most of my free time fishing the streams and lake Bonaparte. My grandfather had a little cabin on the lake. Hunting season was a big part of my life as well. I still visit my family at least 3-5 times a year and enjoy the land my family has up there.
Wow gee.
At 8:39 you make a whopper of a mistake. NYC didn't "grow" from 1.5 million to 3.4 million in 10 years from 1890 to 1900. It swallowed up land where those people already lived. Brooklyn had a million people when New York swallowed it up in 1893.
Syracuse Binghamton and Buffalo are pretty big. Maybe not classified as major but still big ass cities
Don’t forgot Rochester! Not from there but might as well give them justice
If you include Binghamton then throw in Utica and Rome who’s Metro Area has 300,000, Newburgh-Poughkeepsie Metro area has 500,000, Albany Schenectady Troy who’s Metro Area is increasing to 900,000, Rochester at 1,000,000,
Theres nothing to do in binghamton and it has no trains or airport which would make it easier to get to since it has a good university
@@rubina1868 Binghamton is absolutely horrible. Buffalo isn't all that terrible, but still pretty bad. Only drove through Syracuse so I wouldn't know
Buffalo is a major city. The city limits is somewhat misleading, and the metro area has over a million people.
"Go west young man", which I did in 1963. "Your from New York? You don't have an accent". Learned real quick to say"Up State". Born in an old farmhouse in the winter of March 1940 outside of Victor, N.Y.
That’s where I’m headed!
I worked with a guy from Plattsburg, N.Y., which is 62 miles from Montreal, and 311 miles from NY City. He had the same task of explaining why he was not at all a "New Yorker" in the way people were defining that term.
There is an accent for upstate central NY, but it isn't as distinct as the NYC accents. (P.S. I grew up in a Syracuse suburb and I know how to pronounce Schenectady without hesitating.)
@@gblakev Right?!!!
How ya doin’? Low drawl from the southern tier area…moved from there at an early age, most of my relatives there still speak like that, nice folks !
When I moved from the Syracuse area to Toronto, Canadians kept saying that “now I will experience winter”. Actually, the northern Ontario Lake winters are a piece of cake considering that experienced as a teen with snow streamers. I helped my Dad shovel our our Syracuse driveway by starting by holding the shovel over my head. Now as a resident, literally, of the St.Lawrence River shore today, it’s mild with little snow except if we want to go south into Upstate NY!
Winter is shrinking even in upstate NY, much less snow than I was use to in the 70s 80s and 90s.
I hear lake effect snow goes west to east
I'm from Montreal and we call Toronto the "Banana Belt" due to their very mild winters. Heck they had to call in the army when they had a bit of snow :) lol!
(no we won't let you forget that one Torontonians!)
My friend from Waterloo apparently shares the same view as you. She states that Mississauga is much milder than her hometown.
@@MbisonBalrog Yes lake effect snow usually goes west to east, but also slightly north to south. So all areas both south and east of the Great Lakes get much more snow than those west and north of them. Hence why Syracuse, Rochester, and Buffalo get much more snow than Toronto.
Coming from Va and moving to Upstate New York was definitely a huge challenge. But thanks to the military we’ve embraced living here. Yes the winters are brutal, but you do learn how to adjust. There’s much here to love and enjoy and the Fall is absolutely gorgeous
Also New York has a great deal of conservation efforts that most people do not know about. I am from that region. Logging is big but restricted and mining is also done but again restricted. Care to the environment is important in NY esp in upstate. Of course NYC has its problems. Vermont is another that cares too NH and Maine also. Mother Nature is important to us. I am not there right now. I miss home. I hope to go back and live out my senior years. I pray I get that chance.
You really don't realize how special the area is until you leave it. It has its issues for sure, but the landscape of dense little cities/towns with grand (if ageing) historic architecture, dotted with great universities, and surrounded by miles of nature has a very homey feel that I didn't really get anywhere else.
new york is finished. Despite it's beauty, it is now a horrible place to live and will take decades to restore
Good story for this. NY is home to the first state park, that being Niagara Falls. It's also one of the rare uses of eminent domain that's quite popular. Originally the entire riverfront was developed with tall thing buildings specifically just to block the view and make people pay to see the falls. The park was made both to preserve the falls and to make sure it was publicly available.
@@gregtufaro8166 If I had the money, I would come home and help restore NY. I made a mistake moving south for retirement. I want to come home and can't now. You do not understand what you have in NY. Take it from a person who has been west and south. YOU are better off with caring about the environment then what I have seen in this country. Trust me on this. PLEASE!
@@Jasonwolf1495 That is sad to hear because I am a victim of eminent domain in Las Vegas. I am glad no one was thrown out of their home like I was. It just hurts that the rich are not only taking the affordable housing but also taking the natural beauty away from the public. When people stop sleeping at the wheel; maybe things will change. But, until humanity comes together and says no more of Money over humanity; this will not change. Heartbreaking for me to read this.
Live in Rochester. It's 58° today and only shoveled my driveway three times this year. Not to mention my tree had blooms on it in the end of December. I guess you can say we have mild summers if you call 90° mild. I was born here have moved away and came back because I love the seasons here.
I love the seasons here but as the years go by I am sorely missing our winters.
@@buffalowtYes, almost as if the climate we remember from the 1970s isn't the same anymore…
This is an area where you can easily see that climate change is real.
I live in Canada right on lake ontario.
We get milder winters and Summers then you guys who are farther away from the great lakes.
Rarely gets above 86 here and our winters rarely get below 0 now.
We used to regularly get to -22 in the winter when I was a kid but thats long since gone
@@John_Weiss this is tragically the case.
I’ve only been alive 22 years and the change i have noticed is drastic.
People have been fleeing NYC for years. The fact that this video included Long Island and the Hudson Valley for population purposes, shows that the "city" or 5 boroughs of NYC have been losing residents for a long time. Many of the people that flee NYC, move to Long Island or the Hudson Valley to get away from the mess.
Many are leaving the state completely, myself included. NYC has been manipulating the numbers by including the vast migration of asylum seekers as part of the population. If you remove their number and only count the tax-paying population,, you can see the massive drop in population in the last 5 years.
@@DoomFinger511
Absolutely!! I took my family away years ago and we have never looked back.
@@notsosilentmajority1 Census numbers say you're a lying jerk but you don't seem to be the type to let facts get in your way of your narrative (there's also no proof about the migrant thing). "Tax-paying" also leaves out citizen-children and old folks on fixed incomes -- Are they not "American" enough for your kind either?
The influx of illegal migrants will probably push up the population count in NYC.
I grew up in Spencerport NY or as my brother used to call it, The Economic Hub of Ogden. The village of Spencerport was on the canal and was called The Port of Spencer in the olden days. There was a lot of farm land that seems to have disappeared as of late. IMO t is one of the better school districts as well.
As someone from Iowa, where the population is 3.5 million, a population of over 7 million is hardly 'empty' statistics. I think too many people are from sardine packed cities and don't have a realistic view of what constitutes empty.
True story
I’m from Montana. For us, Iowa would be too populated lol.