Upstate New York is the region of New York State north of the core of the New York metropolitan area.
Definition
There is no clear or official boundary between Upstate New York and Downstate New York, but the term "Upstate" is sometimes used to refer to the whole of the state besides New York City and Long Island. Latitude is generally a consideration in whether or not a place is "upstate", as well as elevation and being away from sea level (hence the prefix "up", meaning both to the north and having a greater altitude). Distance from New York City is also a consideration. Complicating any definition is the usage of the word "upstate" (in lowercase) as a direction, rather than as the name of a region.
Another common perception of the Upstate/Downstate boundary locates it at the point at which New York's suburbs segue into its exurbs. This line would place most, but not all, of Westchester and Rockland counties south of the boundary, putting the northwestern edge of Rockland as well as the northernmost quarter of Westchester (such as Peekskill) in Upstate New York. This definition of Upstate New York corresponds to the orange, yellow, and green areas on the map above.
A more nuanced view would suggest the boundary lies further north. Because most New York City bedroom communities in Dutchess and Orange counties are situated in the southern part of those counties and the New York City's suburban public transportation system extends some distance north, the Upstate/Downstate boundary can be defined roughly by a border extended from Wassaic (where Metro-North's Harlem Line ends) across to Poughkeepsie, down to Newburgh and then across to Middletown and Port Jervis. This definition of Upstate New York corresponds to the yellow and green areas on the map above and roughly corresponds with the area north of Interstate 84. This imaginary line also demarcates the northernmost reach of high housing prices associated with the Downstate region in contrast to the relatively low housing costs found further Upstate.
Particularly within Upstate New York, the definition of the word "upstate" is often much further north. For instance, many communities clearly beyond the New York City commuter orbit are part of New York City's media market, which includes Dutchess, Ulster and Sullivan counties, and thus do not get local television (via cable) from Albany or Binghamton TV stations. Many upstate residents note that the state capital of Albany, being mostly dominated by New York City-area politicians, has more in common with downstate than upstate, and imply that everything in between, including the Hudson Valley region and occasionally the Catskill Mountains, can be considered downstate; for example, Buffalo News columnist Donn Esmonde (in defending Caroline Kennedy's abortive Senate run) criticized Senator Kirsten Gillibrand's upstate credentials by saying "In the end... e get a 'upstate' senator whose Hudson Valley base is equidistant from New York City and Albany, the state’s power centers." Charles Schumer once famously stated "To me, the West begins across the Hudson River." Politics aside, the term "upstate" is occasionally used (somewhat ambiguously) to refer to Northern New York, including the Adirondack Mountains, as opposed to other areas of traditional upstate such as Western New York and Central New York; this definition of Upstate New York corresponds to the green areas on the map above.
For some, the term Upstate evokes sentiments of rural lifestyles and traditional values contrary to those of New York City. In the New York metropolitan area, usage of the term "Upstate New York" typically implies unfamiliarity with (and occasionally condescension towards) the area that the speaker is denoting as such. It denotes areas that are both somewhat north of and considerably more rural than the home location of the speaker. Usage of the term is often taken to be an insulting manifestation of the famous New Yorker magazine's view of the world.
New York City is dependent on upstate for a variety of services; it is the source of the city's water supply via the Delaware Aqueduct and the Catskill Aqueduct; much of the city's electric power supply comes from state owned hydroelectric plants at Niagara Falls and the St. Lawrence River such as the Robert Moses power station; and most of the state's prisons are upstate; hence the popular term "being sent up the river" (however, the term originally referred to Sing Sing, which is "up the Hudson River" from New York City, but being in Ossining in Westchester County is still in the "downstate" region). Conversely, the operation of state facilities providing these services is an important part of the upstate economy.
Although much of the eastern end of Long Island is rural, it is never considered upstate, due to it not being contiguous with upstate (one cannot pass from Long Island to upstate without either navigating waters or passing through New York City). Long Island is also significantly wealthier than upstate regions are and has a significantly different culture.
Culture
The region is culturally and economically distinct from the New York City area, though the Hudson Valley counties of Putnam, Orange, Dutchess, and Ulster are increasingly peripheral sections of the New York City metro area. The northern upstate area consists of a handful of small and medium-sized cities, with surrounding suburbs, amidst vast rural areas. Dutchess, Ulster, and Putnam are in fact on the border of the New York Upstate. They are a part of the New York Metro area.
Western New York has many cultural and economic ties to the other Great Lakes states as well as Southern Ontario, while the Capital District, the Hudson Valley, the Mohawk Valley and the Plattsburgh area have ties to New England. In fact, cultural leanings in the extreme northeastern portion of the state also cross the border so-to-speak with the presence of prominent French and Anglo Canadian ties - cultural, economic, and familial. Plattsburgh, for example has close ties to its neighbors in the Montreal area and Vermont. Some literary and cinematic depictions of upstate present a sense of small town, Midwestern lifetyles, such as It's a Wonderful Life , set in a small upstate town in the 1940s.
During the 1990s and the 2000s this area has suffered slow job growth and a rapid loss of young adults. It has been argued, however, that Upstate doesn't suffer from "brain drain" as much as it suffers from lack of "brain gain" (i.e. other areas of the country attract more educated persons than does Upstate.)
A common misconception is that the predominant ethnic group in upstate are WASPs. Actually residents of English ancestry are dominant in only a handful of rural counties. but still have a strong presence in the remaining counties. The Hudson Valley, the Capital District and the Syracuse region are heavily Irish American, while the North Country is heavily French Canadian. Italian Americans are the largest ethnic group in Oneida County, Broome County, Utica and Schenectady, while German ancestry is most common across western New York.
Persons of Polish, Irish, German, and English ancestry are predominant in Buffalo and its close suburbs. There is also a significant presence of indigenous Iroquois Native Americans in the area, who mostly congregate on several reservations: the Seneca nation and Tonawanda Band of Seneca Indians in Western New York, the Onondaga nation south of Syracuse, the Oneida nation of Oneida County and the Mohawk nation in St. Lawrence County.
The only two major league professional sports teams in Upstate New York are the Buffalo Bills of the National Football League (NFL) and the Buffalo Sabres of the National Hockey League (NHL). As a result, the collegiate sports program at Syracuse University (Syracuse Orange) attracts significant regional attention, as do minor league baseball and hockey teams. In addition to teams from Buffalo, professional sports teams from New York City, northern New Jersey, Boston, and Toronto all have followings in Upstate New York. Rochester is home to several Minor League sports teams.
Other Upstate New York minor league professional sports teams include the Syracuse Chiefs of the Triple-A baseball International League, the Binghamton Mets of the Double-A baseball Eastern League, the Binghamton Senators of the American Hockey League(AHL),the Albany Patroons of the Continental Basketball Association; and the Auburn Doubledays, Oneonta Tigers, the Jamestown Jammers, the Tri-City ValleyCats and the Batavia Muckdogs of the Class A baseball New York - Penn League.
In auto racing, Watkins Glen International Speedway is the major race track in the area and hosts annual races in the Indy Racing League and NASCAR Sprint Cup. Holland Speedway in Holland hosts races in the Whelen All-American Series. In addition, numerous smaller speedways and dirt tracks exist in Little Valley, Freedom, Humphrey, Granby (serving the city of Fulton), Oswego, Lancaster, Ransomville and numerous other cities and towns.
Two of the most important rock festivals of the 20th century were held in Upstate New York. In 1969 the Woodstock Festi
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James E. Zimmerman Sales is a Manufacturer's Representative, specializing in electronic and electro-mechanical component sales to manufacturers in Upstate New York.
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