10 Things New Yorkers Are Tired of Defending About Their State
“Why do you stay?”
New Yorkers field that question from relatives in Florida, coworkers in Texas, and seatmates on every flight out of LaGuardia.
The answer takes longer than the flight.
These are the things New Yorkers keep having to defend, and why they’ve stopped apologizing.
The State Isn’t the City
New York City covers one small corner of a state that stretches from the Atlantic to two Great Lakes.
The rest holds dairy farms, vineyards, ski towns, and more shoreline than outsiders would ever guess.
Tell someone you’re from New York, and they picture subway platforms.
You might live six hours from the nearest one.
New Yorkers spend half their travel small talk drawing that map for people.
Buffalo sits closer to Toronto than to Manhattan, a fact that rearranges every outsider’s mental picture of the state.
Highest Taxes in America
Yes, New Yorkers know.
The state carries the heaviest state and local tax burden in the country, at 15.9% by the Tax Foundation’s count.
Announcing it to a New Yorker at a party adds nothing. They see the pay stub.
What outsiders skip is the other half of the math: The parks, the transit, the schools, and the safety nets that keep pulling people back.
New Yorkers grumble about the bill and pay it, which is its own kind of loyalty.
Nobody defends the number itself. New Yorkers defend the idea that a state can cost more and still be worth it.
Snow Measured in Feet
Syracuse averages nearly 128 inches of snow a year, the most of any big city in the country.
Buffalo digs out on national TV every winter, and the anchors always sound amazed.
New Yorkers aren’t amazed.
The plows run, New Yorkers clear their driveways before work, and the kids still make the bus.
Snow is a chore in New York, not a crisis.
Rochester and Buffalo chase Syracuse on the snow list every year, and all three keep track with pride.
Lake-effect storms roll off Lake Erie and Lake Ontario in walls, and towns south of Buffalo measure a single storm in feet.
Then everyone goes to work.
‘Everyone’s Leaving’ Headlines
Every census estimate brings a fresh round of stories about people fleeing New York.
Some neighbors do leave, usually chasing cheaper housing or a warmer January.
Nearly 20 million people still call New York home, and it remains the fourth most populous state in the country.
The ones who stay are tired of hearing eulogies for a place with a crowded farmers market every Saturday morning.
Meanwhile, the same cousins who moved away keep coming back every August for a week at the lake.
Blunt Isn’t Rude
New Yorkers answer the question they’ve been asked. Nothing extra.
Outsiders read the speed as hostility.
Watch what happens when a stranger’s car dies on a two-lane road outside Utica, though.
Somebody stops to help before the hood’s all the way up.
New Yorkers just skip the small talk and go straight to the favor.
Upstate, the bluntness even comes with a wave from every pickup on a county road.
Psst! How well do you know New York beyond the skyline? See if you can ace our quiz.
Quiz
Empire State Trivia
Answer these questions on New York, the whole state this time. We bet you can’t get them all right. Prove us wrong?
Upstate Isn't Empty
The Adirondack Park covers about six million acres, more ground than Yellowstone, Everglades, Glacier, and Grand Canyon national parks combined.
Add the Finger Lakes and their wine trails, Letchworth's gorge, and small towns with diners worth the drive.
Whiteface, Gore, and Hunter carry skiers through a full winter without an airport, and summer fills the same mountains with hikers chasing all 46 High Peaks.
Outsiders call everything north of Westchester "the middle of nowhere."
New Yorkers stopped correcting them and kept the trails to themselves.
Bagels and Pizza
New Yorkers consider the bagel argument settled, and they're tired of reopening the case.
A proper New York bagel has a crust that pushes back and a middle with some chew.
Folding a slice of pizza keeps the grease off your shirt and lets you eat while walking.
Every New Yorker who moves away spends years chasing a bagel that never appears.
They'll tell you about it, too, at length.
Out-of-staters counter with a hometown pizzeria, and New Yorkers hear them out politely.
Wings Born in Buffalo
Buffalo wings started at the Anchor Bar in 1964, when Teressa Bellissimo fried a batch for her son's friends late one night.
In Buffalo, nobody calls them Buffalo wings. They're just wings.
New Yorkers defend the name every time a chain three states away advertises "authentic Buffalo style."
Blue cheese comes on the side, and the ranch question starts arguments.
Bills Loyalty
Rooting for the Buffalo Bills means shoveling out a stadium seat in December and tailgating at 9 a.m. in single digits.
Outsiders ask why.
Bills fans buried four straight Super Bowl losses and still show up louder than ever, and that's the answer.
The tailgate menu alone, beef on weck and a pot of chili, justifies the trip.
Loyalty like that shouldn't need defending. New Yorkers do it anyway.
Niagara Falls Is Worth It
Somewhere along the way, calling Niagara Falls a tourist trap became a reflex for out-of-state travelers.
New Yorkers hear it and book another trip.
The gift shops sell kitsch. The falls don't.
The mist reaches you a quarter mile before the railing does.
Terrapin Point puts you close enough to feel the ground hum.
Ride the Maid of the Mist once, and see if "overrated" survives the first thirty seconds.
New Yorkers will grant you the wax museums and the fudge shops. Then they'll point at the water and rest their case.
11 New York Restaurants Everyone Misses
New York City loses restaurants every week, and a few took a piece of the city with them when they closed.
No amount of money or nostalgia has managed to bring these eleven back.
11 New York Restaurants Everyone Misses but Nobody Can Bring Back
27 All-Inclusive Resort Perks That Sound Better Than They Are
You pay once, show up, and everything's handled. That's the promise of the all-inclusive resort.
A lot of those brochure perks play out differently once you're standing at the swim-up bar.
Here's what New York vacationers should watch for before booking.
27 All-Inclusive Resort Perks That Sound Better Than They Are for New York Vacationers
