I'm a sales rep and travel all over the state, there are some unbelievably affordable spots and many of them are in serious snow zones. The hill towns south of Buffalo and the western Fingerlakes towns south of Rochester are just plain cheap places to live. Problem is persistently wet or white and grey and windy conditions are the norm but the good days are superb. Big snow in the winter making for great skiing and fat biking so if you can handle the cold you're good and beautiful continental influenced days in the summer with incredible skiing, mountain biking and fishing. The people that are making a living out there really seem to enjoy where they live, unfortunately that's getting harder and harder to do.