The American Institute for Economic Research ranked Buffalo, NY as the 4th best community (among mid-sized cities) to attend college.? Unlike other college surveys, the AIER focuses on the environment as a whole: measuring cost of living, arts and entertainment, student concentration, and other factors.? While job prospects here are lower than elsewhere, the median salary and unemployment rate remained stable, helping to add points to Buffalo’s overall score.? Buffalo was beaten only by San Jose, Austin, and Oklahoma City– other cities, like Rochester and Pittsburgh, rounded out the top ten.
What does this mean for the Buffalo community?? Leaders and university staff want to continue to market the city as a college-friendly environment– the city already has 21 Higher Education institutions with more than 100,000 students and 30,000 staff.? And, with UB’s long-term aspirations to become a major research institution, Buffalo might very well become even more student-friendly.