RateItAll: The Opinion Network

The NYC subway system has electronic message boards in stations, presumably so a central office can communicate service interruptions to passengers. The boards run generic messages that seldom change. News about outages are hand written with magic markers and taped to the walls. This is so typically New York, a city run by amateurs, where systems don't work, where inefficiency is the norm.

Anywhere else you buy food in a supermarket; there are no supermarkets in NYC. There are no Wal-Marts either. Instead they have small boutique stores with poor selection and high prices. Anywhere else you can rent a one bedroom apartment for $600-800; in NYC it costs $2,500, and you have to pay a broker one month's rent to set up the deal (assure the owner you're not low class), pay first and last month plus two months as deposit. You need $12,500 up front to move in. (I'm not exaggeraging, I've done it.) Anywhere else you park your car in the lot for free; in NYC you lease a parking spot for $400/mo. In most cities you take a train to the airport; NYC has no trains to two of its airports, they recently built one to the third, JFK.

You're paying for proximity to high paying jobs, right? Wrong. NYC jobs used to pay more than elsewhere; now they pay about the same. If you don't like it, you can live in Jersey for cheap and sit on the train for an hour, twice a day, same as your co-workers.

In 1955, NYC was headquarters to 31% of the Fortune 500. It is now down to 10% and falling. The only big industries left are finance (stocks) and publishing/media. Big Pharma is in NJ; computers are in the SF Bay area; defense contractors are in DC; telecom is all over the country; manufacturing moved to Asia.

Long Island is worse than NYC because it has none of the positives -- culture, things to do -- and the same negatives -- inefficiency, incompetence, people with a know-it-all attitude, high prices, the worst traffic congestion in the US and sky high property taxes.

NY is so expensive that it is an insult to my intelligence! Dirty & mean-spirited, arrogant people litter the place.

What a shame the Beautiful Statue of Liberty is stuck there.

New York City is such a great city. There is so much to do and see. I probably wouldn't live anywhere except Manhattan though, as I don't really care for Brooklyn, Bronx, or Queens that much. The attitude factor is way too extreme in all of New York though. The attitudes of the people really bring it down. Upstate has a lot of attitude problems as well, and very bad weather. Long island is not that interesting to me, the only fun place is fire island. What is the big deal about the Hamptons?

I've lived on Long Island and upstate...spent weekends in NYC. There is some beautiful country in the state but, I don't really care for NY. It's overpriced in every way, shape and/or form...and there are way too many local politicians stirring the pot. You just don't get the "bang for your buck" and the weather is near suicidal at times.

I live in western ny and it sucks to death the weather sucks but i got to represent my home state

Nothing against anybody that lives in New York, but it's just not my style.

I love New York!

new york is the harrdest place to live if ur a small business owner there always trying to find a way to screw u over. also its just gay because everyone has to be so politically correct. so what if someone is called gay they are so deal with it.

NYC is the greatest city in the world. You can always find something to do whether its 2pm or 2am. I live in upstate New York, Albany area, I have no complaints except the weather. Past couple years the winters have been very cold with little snow.

city of dreams...men allover the world see this great city as the deram destination to live and work and minkle its multi cultared society.

Pretty much all aspects of American life are represented by this important state. . .NYC is an international (if highly self-absorbed) city that is culturally counterbalanced by small towns that spot the landscape outside of the hustle-and-bustle of the city. . .upstate New York is pretty. . .the only real drawback to this state is (like all of the Northeast corridor states) is cost-of-living. . .I hear one day they will tax the oxygen. . .but for culture, universities, philosophical diversity, and history, it's hard to rate New York (as a state) low. . .

Upstate is rural, with fine resorts in the Lake Placid and Lake George region. The Finger lakes are a wine region with nice views. The cost of housing in upstate New York is very cheap. New York City is a great place to visit and live (if you have the income or money) Housing is very expensive- with an average 1000 square foot apartment nearly 1 million bucks. NYC is fantastic- but the costs are not.

Funny how so many states in the Washington to Portland (Me) corridor are rated so highly here- I guess those 'liberal' regions have something going for them.

New York is the media capital, business capital,dining capital, and entertainment capital of the world. The A-List of any industry, excluding farming, makes it in New York. The worst aspect of New York is parking and pigeons. There is no city even close to it and what it has to offer. New Yorkers are fearless, driven and accomplished.

It's alarming to have read some of the ignorant remarks in this category. I'm not sure what kind of person can say that NYC could "fall off the face of the earth for all I care." This is a city that is very important to our country in many ways. The fact is, without NYC, our country would be a very different place. As for the rest of the state seems to be like most places. Has some beautiful sights and has some that are not so beautiful.

New York is one of the most culturally and politically forward and diverse states in the nation, period. It of course has New York City, Upstate New York, and Long Island. Long Island has beautiful beaches and advanced industries, and there is no city like NYC. Upstate New York state has some of the most beautiful countryside in the whole U.S., with gorgeous rolling hills, valleys, and quaint, mirror-like lakes. New York's history is vast as well. If I could choose one state to live in for diversity, culture, and interesting people, it would be New York, hands down! I cringe at being stuck in ass-backwards Ohio at the moment, so if you are living in New York State, consider yourselves VERY lucky!!!

The Good: Finger Lakes (stunning in places), 1000 Islands (still rustic and spectacular), Adirondacks, Saratoga, Montauk fishing, Lake Ontario, parts of Brooklyn. The Bad: Rochester, Utica, Syracuse, and Buffalo are losing people and dying a slow death. NYC is pricing the creative set out of the city. High property taxes. Upstate winter weather can be brutal.

Like most of the states, New York has pretty countryside and scenery. But like every other place here it is hugely segregated. The divide between the have and have nots is evident here and is a huge social problem. New York City is overpriced and the fact that it is overpriced has made the major attractions more clean (Chinatown,SoHO,Times Square,west side,etc.). However, outside of these neighborhoods the same social problems persist. Head over the bridge to Brooklyn or to the dirty and decayed Coney Island and you will see what I mean. Also, at night you will see the desperados come out and infest the subways at night with drug dealing and prostitution. New York metropolitan museum is nice though and has free admission on certain days.

dirty, overrated, expensive, hard to make it, crime infested, snotty state with too many people! hell a 1 bedroom apartment can cost as much as 3,000 dollars!! since when does the avearge person even make that! hell you have to make 6k/mo to survive in NYC!

I'm amazed to see New York rated so high on this list. Is this because of New York City? Because the rest of the state is average, and even NYC is not what it used to be. The weather upstate is harsh. I spent two winters in Syracuse and I think the sun shined for one day in five months. Some great scenery around the Finger Lakes but the cities need help (and I'm not talking NYC here). Rochester has potential but its anchor companies (Kodak, Xerox) have seen better days.

Upstate New York is cool; NYC can disappear off the face of the earth for all I care.