insiders know ...

[october 2024 roommates]

SO, roomiematch.com's Syracuse roommate rundown:

Syracuse is a Snowy Winter Wonderland - almost 30% covered in trees, including maples, cedars, and buckthorns.

And those are often covered in snow, sometimes blizzards, easily over 100 inches a year. Syracuse sports more snow than you could shake a trekking pole with a snow basket at, and it's warm enough in summer for water sports too.

But only just, under 72 most of the time.

Another heads up for non-New-Yorkers, Syracuse is approximately halfway between NYC and Toronto. At about 250 miles from each, it's closer to Buffalo than NYC. So if you were imagining Syracuse might be like a "suburb," but still within shouting distance of New York City? Sorry nope. Not a good plan.

Rather, Syracuse is its own snowier town that seriously loves showing off local culture. Not a showdown with anything downstate, but a hub for education and entertainment for the Central region, hosting multiple important universities and a lot of cultural conventions.

A LOT of cultural conventions. Syracuse loves larger community fests, and fests in general.

Syracuse loves a fair. And a party, and a jam. Events and functions are welcome.

Any crowd contingent on a band is grand. Or a company, chorus, or creative theater. And what about string quartets, societies, ensembles, and chamber compositions from commissioned composers? And if they're all charitable, that'll be even better.

How about the Syracuse Nationals, the largest car show in the Northeast? Or Syracuse Juneteenth, including Gospel performance, a Victory Parade, and an Ancestral Celebration? There's also Syracuse Stage to Symphoria, the orchestra of Central New York.

Or stop by St. Sophia's Greek Cultural Festival, with food and dancing and food and spirit-tasting and food and costumes and food and then you'll be offered a menu.

The Syracuse Irish Festival is free. Jazz with wine is very often why not.

And nothing is more significant to Syracuse than The Great New York State Fair. It's the oldest state fair, still very large. Thirteen days of more talent, livestock, food and flower competitions than you could wave a prize-winning ribbon at . . . so it's a good thing you and your roommates won't be the only judges. There's so much food there's a New York State Fair Food Finder app to help direct your appetite.

You could find wool and roses. Llamas and ice cream. Your rabbits and your poetry could find love too.

Just don't forget your headlamp, long underwear, and lip balm.

Do beware of avalanche! But never sit on snow, you'll get too cold.

Finally, an ice ax might be optional. But why be unprepared?

The rest of the Syracuse roommate lowdown:

• Syracuse has almost 150,000 residents in the city, and about 650,000 in the greater metropolitan area.
• located along the Old Erie Canal, both Oneida Lake and Lake Ontario are nearby
• severe winters, one of the greatest annual snowfalls in the country
• very low cost of living for New York state
• over 150 parks and recreation areas totalling over 1000 acres, including public pools and ice rinks
• Higher education, health tech, research, and medical services figure predominantly in Syracuse's economy today, along with high tech - specifically cleaner energy innovation and sustainable living, a theme running through Syracuse.
• home to several colleges and universities, including Syracuse University, Upstate Medical University, Empire State College, and the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry
• no larger professional sports teams, but Syracuse University games are attended very enthusiastically
• You might want to walk around downtown, when it's not freezing cold. But otherwise, you and your roommates will likely want a car.

After you're settled down, you and your roommates should experience Syracuse's:

• Onondaga Historical Association: Includes the Iroquois Cultural Center focusing on the native peoples of central New York. Includes "A Brief History of Local Female Philanthropists" and "Social Justice in Central New York." You and your roommates could join their book club, discussing books about your region.
• Green Lakes State Park: Two glacial lakes surrounded by upland forest, featuring 18 holes of golf and 15 miles of cross-country ski and snow-shoeing trail. You can also kayak or camp in summer.
• ArtRage Gallery: Since 2008, Syracuse's "home for social justice and environmental art." They're always mounting new exhibitions and prioritize local artists who are interested in awareness and environmental themes.
• Funk N' Waffles: Waffles, wings, and funk - "From savory and sweet, from vegan to meat, we have the food that will move your feet!" We're into the Banana Bread Belafonte.

Here's the city of Syracuse's official .gov for Winter in Syracuse, helping you and your roommates prepare for winter-related concerns.

Notes

1.   The non-traditional roommate rent average for this city we've experienced over the last 3 years. We can't predict future rental availability, because we're neither in control of any rental market nor psychic, sorry!

But in most cities most of the time, the recent and relatively recent past are the best predictors.


2.   This idea came from smartasset.com's ranking of what a roommate saves you in 50 cities. They ranked where roommates will save you the most money, based on the average cost of a 1BR as opposed to a 2BR ÷ 2. Unsurprisingly, the more expensive the city, the more you can save, but the savings are significant in all larger metros. So we got the data for the rest of our cities from Zumper too.

This is really the minimum you could save, as you could live with more than one roommate, split more services, share food or other supplies, etc. More sharing tends to lead to more savings too, as per our roommate roadmap.

As per the rest of the description at the top of this page, we're calling this "traditional" roommate rent.


3.   From zumper.com.


4.   Directly quoted from the Trust for Public Land's parkland rating system.

"The ParkScore index awards each city up to 100 points for acreage based on the average of two equally weighted measures: median park size and parkland as a percentage of city area. Factoring park acreage into each city’s ParkScore rating helps account for the importance of larger “destination parks” that serve many users who live farther than ten minutes’ walking distance."

While each city's rundown already includes their individual ParkScore, nature lovers might like to see all roommate cities ranked for parkland.


5.   Directly quoted from Walk Score's Cities and Neighborhoods Ranking. They've ranked "more than 2,800 cities and over 10,000 neighborhoods so you can find a walkable home or apartment."

While each city's rundown already includes their individual Walk Score, dedicated pedestrians might like to see all roommate cities ranked for walkability.


6.   From various lists here on our own best roommate cities.