Rochester, NY. Cost of living is super cheap, lots of good food, you've got the great lakes, finger lakes, all kinds of outdoors shit, tons of festivals, and most importantly everything is only 15 minutes away on expressways. Only real issue is winter, but the change of seasons is enjoyable.

I lived in Rochester for 5 years. I remember 6 months of gray slate skies where the clouds are low to the ground in an almost claustrophobic way. Summers were humid. It not as hot as other areas. Rochester is cheap though and has good schools. It's a good place to raise a family if you can live with the weather, the provincial nature of the town, and its comparative geographical isolation. Also flights in and out used to be quite expensive too.

I'm in Minnesota and I would describe it almost the same way. I don't make as much but stuff is so much cheaper and I love the outdoors here

When I read your first post, I was hoping you were from WNY. I moved here with the intention of leaving after college, but the longer I stay here, the more I do not wish to leave.

Also...is there any chance your company is hiring Network Engineers? :)

Unfortunately not, we're a super lean team. There's about ten tech guys for the entire world of ninety offices. I think everyone comes here for school, and expects to leave. Someday, but first school gets paid off.

I've heard some mention of crime. Was there anything you noticed while there? Were burglaries higher than normal?

Just don't live anywhere near the North side of Rochester, homocides, and violence are high there. Suburbs(where most live), Park Ave, Brighton are all fine.

And the humidity.

I think you think Rochester is somewhere near (and has similar weather to) NYC. In the 5 years I lived there, there was about a week of nasty-hot/humid weather per summer. A big improvement on NYC or Philadelphia.

Edit: For a better description of the problem with Rochester's weather, see GP's name.

Haha, yes, for a month!