Growing up in Western New York, you learn to have thick skin. Those who don’t live here love talking up about how undesirable living in Buffalo must be.

The weather is cold and there’s nothing to do here.

Yes, it’s a smaller market than a Los Angeles or Chicago, but usually those who say there’s nothing to do here have 1) never been here or 2) have never bothered to go to the right places when visiting.

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As for the cold, yes, it does get cold here and it snows, but May-October are gorgeous. You can also say that about the entirety of New York State.

Like Buffalo, New York State residents get a bit irritated when those who have never been here make one glaring assumption that simply, isn’t true.

When people assume you’re FROM New York City when they hear you’re from New York State.

I’ve heard this from some friends who live in the southeast. When they hear “New York,” they immediately think of New York City. That’s the first place their mind goes to when they hear you’re a New York resident.

Most of the state is not a city. Not even close to be honest. Much of the state is countryside and farmland. You drive from Poughkeepsie to Albany and from Rochester to Buffalo, it’s a lot of country. Certainly, upstate is that in spades.

When someone says they’re from New York, that doesn’t not mean they live in New York City.

READ ON: See the States Where People Live the Longest

Stacker used data from the 2020 County Health Rankings to rank every state's average life expectancy from lowest to highest. The 2020 County Health Rankings values were calculated using mortality counts from the 2016-2018 National Center for Health Statistics. The U.S. Census 2019 American Community Survey and America's Health Rankings Senior Report 2019 data were also used to provide demographics on the senior population of each state and the state's rank on senior health care, respectively.

Read on to learn the average life expectancy in each state.

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