Lived in Syracuse for some time, and have visited there regularly again since, and it has a lot of similarities to Rochester (which I've visited several times as well).
Upsides: Cost of living (other than taxes) is low, though that is partly because the economy is somewhat depressed, old manufacturing companies like Kodak, General Electric and Carrier have mostly pulled out of the region. Enough colleges and universities in the area that there is some educated population, and things to do. Rochester in particular has some old money from the Kodak days. Cities are small enough to get around in easily, traffic problems are almost nonexistant, and unlikely to get worse since people are not moving there in droves. Lots of parks in the area that tend to be well maintained, went to a state park near Syracuse and walked for 3 hours, saw maybe 2 other people. Farmers markets, unlike anywhere else I've lived, have fresh produce that is often CHEAPER than grocery stores, because there are actually still farmers making a living in the area. Surprisingly artsy community once you get plugged into it.
Downsides: Climate, do be prepared for cloudy and rainy/snowy weather a lot. It doesn't get super cold very often, but Syracuse at least has something like 60 "sunny" days/year, about 1 day in 6. It also has more hours/year of precipitation than, say, Seattle. Yearly snow is measured in feet, not inches. Growing up, my DW's family would have picnics in the snow. State income tax and property taxes are also fairly high.
It is mainly the climate and economy that causes people to leave the area, if you transplanted Syracuse or Rochester to North Carolina, they would be high demand places to live. And twice as expensive. . .