Buffalo has long watched its college graduates flee for New York City or other metros, but remote work optimists say that trend is finally flipping — are we actually keeping our talent, or is it wishful thinking?
Join the debate to comment
Reading is free. Members pay to post — that's why it stays clean.
Add your commentBorn and raised in South Buffalo, watched every single one of my UB friends pack up and head to NYC or Boston the week after graduation for like 20 years straight. Then COVID happened. I'm not gonna pretend it's totally reversed but I genuinely know more young professionals who stayed OR came back in the last 3 years than in the previous decade combined. That's not nothing. That's actually something worth talking about honestly instead of just doom-scrolling about the same old brain drain narrative.
I moved here from Pittsburgh two years ago specifically BECAUSE of remote work and cheaper housing and honestly? Best decision I ever made. Elmwood Village is genuinely cool, the food scene is underrated, and I own a house at 29. My coworkers in San Francisco are paying $3,200/month for a studio. I'm building equity. Anyone who still thinks Buffalo is just a punchline hasn't been here recently.
To everyone saying remote work is saving Buffalo — okay, then where are all the new restaurants and bars that should be popping up to serve this alleged wave of young remote workers staying in the city? I go down Chippewa on a Friday night and it's not exactly teeming with a new generation. Allen Street is the same 6 places it's always been. If the talent retention is real, where's the neighborhood-level proof of it? I'm asking genuinely, challenge me if you think I'm wrong.
I think people confuse two different things. Remote work is keeping SOME graduates here, mostly the ones who already had family reasons to stay. It's not magically converting kids who always wanted to experience a big city into lifetime Buffalonians. Those people are still leaving, they're just occasionally coming back in their early 30s when they want to buy a house. That's a different pattern than retention, that's just delayed return migration, and honestly it might be just as valuable long term? I don't know. I'm genuinely uncertain about this one.
wishful thinking. my daughter graduated from Canisius last May, had a fully remote job offer from a DC firm, and still moved to DC anyway. You know why? Because her friends all left. Remote work lets you work from anywhere but it doesnt make Buffalo's social scene for 23 year olds any more exciting. That's the part nobody wants to say out loud.
ok but can we talk about the fact that buffalo's remote work retention is entirely dependent on broadband infrastructure that is still genuinely spotty in half the city? I work from home in Lovejoy and my connection drops constantly. Until Spectrum actually upgrades these neighborhoods we're gonna keep losing people who WANT to stay but can't reliably do their jobs here. Fix the infrastructure first, then celebrate.
Actually the real story here is that Buffalo is cheaper than literally every city these remote workers would otherwise move to. Median home price is like $280k compared to $600k+ in Denver or Austin. Once people do the math they stay. It's not complicated.
Nope. Hard disagree with the optimists here. The Bills and Sabres are not an economic development strategy.
Fun fact: Buffalo actually has one of the highest rates of college graduates in the entire northeast corridor due to all the universities here pumping out degrees every year. So even if half leave we're still way ahead of comparable rust belt cities. Note: I might be slightly mixing up enrollment numbers with retention rates here but the point stands that we have massive educational infrastructure.
Can you be a genuinely good person without any religion at all?
110 comments
Is it wrong to choose not to have children just because you don't want to?
110 comments
Would you still eat meat if you had to kill the animal yourself?
109 comments
Are dating apps genuinely harder for men or for women?
108 comments