Has anyone here lived in the same town or state their whole life?

[BillsPride12]

Been in WNY my entire life.  I do notice that it feels like the majority of the posters on here seem to have lived all over the place...always makes me feel like I've done something wrong with my life 

[ExiledInIllinois]

17 minutes ago, Bill from NYC said:

Williamsville is one of the nicest towns I have ever been in. I would be interested in living there if not for the snow. It's too much for me.

Definitely not "salt of the earth."  LOL... If You live in Williamsville, laborers get rid of the snow for you.   What's it really matter?  😆🤣

[Augie]

1 hour ago, Bill from NYC said:

Williamsville is one of the nicest towns I have ever been in. I would be interested in living there if not for the snow. It's too much for me.

 

When my wife retires I’d like to move back to (tax free) Sarasota, FL for most of the year, but my wife hates heat. She has always wanted a cool mountain place for summers. We’ve looked in the NC mountains, which I love. BUT, the wife is set on taking our son and his wife to Buffalo for the opener next season (if allowed, obviously). She’s never even been to a Bills home game, but she is set on this! 

 

My sneaky little plan is some early autumn time in Williamsville, which is MUCH less expensive than the NC mountain towns we like so much. Best of both worlds!

 

I was in Hamburg until 4th grade. Last trip back I went there for lunch and was very pleasantly surprised at how quaint it was. That’s another location I’d like her to see. WNY is a great place much of the year, but I totally get the aversion to serious winter for extended periods. 

[Jauronimo]

At my first corporate job in Rochester a speaker came in for some all company workshop we were having and asked who was from Rochester. Nearly every hand went up.  Next question was who has never lived anywhere else.  Nearly every hand went up.  Most people stick to where they're from and don't venture that far away.  

[BUFFALOKIE]

1 hour ago, Bill from NYC said:

Williamsville is one of the nicest towns I have ever been in. I would be interested in living there if not for the snow. It's too much for me.

Born in Plattsburgh, been in Tulsa since age 1.

[The Frankish Reich]

My thinking about why so many posters here are ex-WNYers: it's an age thing. Specifically, people in their mid-40s to mid-60s.  My impression is that posters here skew a bit older. Add it up and that coincides with entering the job market between the mid-1970s and the early 1990s - pretty much the steepest decades of Buffalo's industrial and population decline. People moved away but clinged to their Bills and occasionally their Sabres too. My family dragged us out of Buffalo when I was just a kid during this time period. And here I am. Clinging. Bills only.

[Augie]

4 hours ago, Jauronimo said:

At my first corporate job in Rochester a speaker came in for some all company workshop we were having and asked who was from Rochester. Nearly every hand went up.  Next question was who has never lived anywhere else.  Nearly every hand went up.  Most people stick to where they're from and don't venture that far away.  

 

I don’t have any answers, but I find this interesting. I left Buffalo for college when I was 17. There are fine schools in WNY, but I kind of felt like I was supposed to “go somewhere” for college with bigger name schools. It certainly doesn’t mean I got a better education, but almost certainly means it was more expensive.

 

Looking back on it, and looking at our situation now, it seems to me people who leave do so for schools and jobs. Almost everybody I know in Atlanta moved for education or employment.  Are you in Houston? Is it similar there? HUGE job market, I’d think most people came from somewhere else to take advantage of that. If you are in Rochester, or Charlotte or Greenville, SC (VERY nice town, BTW), it probably leans more heavily to local born and raised. 

 

Our son grew up in Sarasota, but is in Atlanta working for Ernst & Young and getting his MBA at Emory. Those jobs and that education just aren’t available in Sarasota. I wish it was, because if he moved back we would follow! We are here for my wife’s work and the ATL airport (which used to matter). 

 

If you are in Dayton, OH, or Indianapolis or Rochester you probably grew up there. Jobs and money seem to draw people. Curious about the people drawn to Houston. The last I looked they had more Fortune 1000 companies than Atlanta and Chicago combined. That shocked me at the time.  

 

But the vast majority of the country is NOT a major job hub, and MOST people probably stay close to home and family. Nobody from my small family is left in Buffalo, but they all left during the worst of times for WNY. 

 

 

.

Edited February 11, 2021 by Augie

[ExiledInIllinois]

3 hours ago, The Frankish Reich said:

My thinking about why so many posters here are ex-WNYers: it's an age thing. Specifically, people in their mid-40s to mid-60s.  My impression is that posters here skew a bit older. Add it up and that coincides with entering the job market between the mid-1970s and the early 1990s - pretty much the steepest decades of Buffalo's industrial and population decline. People moved away but clinged to their Bills and occasionally their Sabres too. My family dragged us out of Buffalo when I was just a kid during this time period. And here I am. Clinging. Bills only.

The reason I am exiled. I am a blue collar guy.  Buffalo was a labor town.  Most headquarters were elsewhere.  When a company retracts,  where does it go... ?? Back to its home base.  During that industrial decline there were simply too many people in the area that were brought in during the boom years.   The War years... The area couldn't sustain that labor population... Hence, the exodus. 

Edited February 11, 2021 by ExiledInIllinois

[Jauronimo]

3 hours ago, Augie said:

 

I don’t have any answers, but I find this interesting. I left Buffalo for college when I was 17. There are fine schools in WNY, but I kind of felt like I was supposed to “go somewhere” for college with bigger name schools. It certainly doesn’t mean I got a better education, but almost certainly means it was more expensive.

 

Looking back on it, and looking at our situation now, it seems to me people who leave do so for schools and jobs. Almost everybody I know in Atlanta moved for education or employment.  Are you in Houston? Is it similar there? HUGE job market, I’d think most people came from somewhere else to take advantage of that. If you are in Rochester, or Charlotte or Greenville, SC (VERY nice town, BTW), it probably leans more heavily to local born and raised. 

 

Our son grew up in Sarasota, but is in Atlanta working for Ernst & Young and getting his MBA at Emory. Those jobs and that education just aren’t available in Sarasota. I wish it was, because if he moved back we would follow! We are here for my wife’s work and the ATL airport (which used to matter). 

 

If you are in Dayton, OH, or Indianapolis or Rochester you probably grew up there. Jobs and money seem to draw people. Curious about the people drawn to Houston. The last I looked they had more Fortune 1000 companies than Atlanta and Chicago combined. That shocked me at the time.  

 

But the vast majority of the country is NOT a major job hub, and MOST people probably stay close to home and family. Nobody from my small family is left in Buffalo, but they all left during the worst of times for WNY. 

 

 

.

I am in Houston.  It seems like maybe 1/4 of the people I have met are actually from here.  Everyone else came from another part of the country or world.  Houston has the second biggest economy in the country after NYC.  Second most fortune 500, second most millionaires, second most billionaires.  Its a really awesome job market since its the oil and gas capital of the world so every other company is competing for talent with the super major oil companies.  Best decision I made was moving here.

[Miyagi-Do Karate]

32 minutes ago, Jauronimo said:

I am in Houston.  It seems like maybe 1/4 of the people I have met are actually from here.  Everyone else came from another part of the country or world.  Houston has the second biggest economy in the country after NYC.  Second most fortune 500, second most millionaires, second most billionaires.  Its a really awesome job market since its the oil and gas capital of the world so every other company is competing for talent with the super major oil companies.  Best decision I made was moving here.

Houston also has such a relatively lower cost of living. For some jobs, you can get as make as you would Make in NYC but have like 70% lower cost of living.

[CowgirlsFan]

Yes.

Texas

Born in Fort Worth

Moved to Arlington in 1976

Moved to Granbury 2014.

[BringBackFergy]

Yes...NYS

1969-2000 WNY

2000-Present. Upstate near Saratoga

 

[Steve O]

14 hours ago, Jauronimo said:

At my first corporate job in Rochester a speaker came in for some all company workshop we were having and asked who was from Rochester. Nearly every hand went up.  Next question was who has never lived anywhere else.  Nearly every hand went up.  Most people stick to where they're from and don't venture that far away.  

Had I been at the workshop my hand would have gone up both times. Currently live at the Northern border of both the town of Irondequoit and the United States. My 101-1/2 year old mother lives 2-1/2 miles from me in the house I grew up in...good chance I'll move back to it should I outlive her.  Ironically my grammar school, less than a block from that house, is now the senior center...guess I'll begin and end my life there as well.

Edited February 11, 2021 by Steve O

[Marv's Neighbor]

19 hours ago, ExiledInIllinois said:

I think they say like 90% of people live within 100 miles of their birthplace.  

 

And... 9/10 Canadians 🇨🇦🍁🇨🇦 live within a 100 miles of the USA🇺🇸... 😆🤣

Canada may as well be a million miles.

[Chef Jim]

I moved away from my small town in WNY when I went off to college.  My mom on the other had is living in the same house her parents bought in 1933.  She did leave for college, met my dad and had three kids and moved back in the mid 50's so she's not actually been there the whole time. It's just kind of cool she's still there. 

 

Oh and that little town is Alexander.  Same place where Pinto Ron went to school.  Funny story.  I met Kenny at a Raiders game when I lived in Oakland.  We were chatting and he asked where I was from.  I said a really small town between Batavia and Attica.  He said "oh I went to ACS!"  I ran cross country with his younger brother.  Small world. 

[mead107]

Have always lived in same area. 
with in 10 miles of my home now. 

[Fan in San Diego]

On 2/10/2021 at 11:44 AM, \GoBillsInDallas/ said:

WNY, Mississauga, Montreal, NYC, DFW.

Interesting mix there. Are you Canadian?

[DefenseWins]

Where else would one rather be? Born here, raised here, lived here, will die here. Why go anywhere else? (unless you have to) I was a Bills fan from back in the Old Rockpile era... I've seen all the BAD football... It's nice to win for a change...

[Chef Jim]

23 minutes ago, DefenseWins said:

Where else would one rather be? Born here, raised here, lived here, will die here. Why go anywhere else? (unless you have to) I was a Bills fan from back in the Old Rockpile era... I've seen all the BAD football... It's nice to win for a change...

 

It's a big beautiful world out there.  Nothing personal but a lot of it is much more beautiful than WNY.  

[DefenseWins]

On 2/11/2021 at 4:40 PM, Chef Jim said:

 

It's a big beautiful world out there.  Nothing personal but a lot of it is much more beautiful than WNY.  

and there's a "Golden Arches" wherever you go... not to mention hurricanes, tornados, earthquakes, terrorist attacks in bigger cities, sharks in the oceans... just to name a few... Be careful what you wish for...