As long as you have a sustainable job, I'd actually consider Buffalo to be a pretty livable mid-sized city. It has a college/university town vibe, being home to several post-secondary institutions. Certain neighbourhoods draw parallels to ours. I've found Elmwood Village comparable to the Annex, and Allentown similar to the Junction or Leslieville. If you're an industrial heritage enthusiast like me, you'd enjoy it for their former warehouses and other structures like Silo City. Decent craft beer scene as well.
Although, I'd say there can be a very noticeable emptiness and lack of vibrancy to some parts the city. I've never felt unsafe being there, but it's common to walk or drive around and have entire blocks to devoid of street life. Especially in their actual downtown core during weekends. Seeing their demographic and population patterns through the years, it's not entirely surprising. They've been steadily losing population through recent decades. Even at a smaller increment within 2010-2019. So overall even though they've made improvements to their general public realm, they still have trouble drawing substantial new investments and attractive job markets.
