New York State's second-largest city has more in common with its Rust-Belt Midwestern neighbors than with the giant downstate metropolis centered around New York City.
For decades, Buffalo had been a city of steel mills, grain storage and auto manufacturing, as well as railroad and Great Lakes shipping. With the decline of heavy industry, the area has gone through a somewhat rocky transformation into a service economy.
The population has fallen about 2% since 2000, and the drop in demand for housing has hurt home prices. Even during the height of the housing boom, the median price never exceeded $120,000. In the second quarter, affordability was up slightly, thanks to rock-bottom interest rates.
