People do it. Some commute east coast/HI, or east coast/Europe. I know people who commute west coast/south America. The gold-standard for a suckass commute is a two-leg transcon, you're talking about a one-leg regional intra-state commute.

Factors include how many daily flights, on which airlines, and which types of planes. Narrowbodies usually have more jumpseats, and less chance of weight restriction than RJ's. Also matters how many other commuters are on that route.

But NYC is a very junior base for many airlines, and in the grand scheme ROC isn't that far away. Any trains?

A quick search on passrider shows eight daily flights between ROC and the three NYC airports, with some mainline, that seems reasonable as a baseline.

Bottom line yes you can probably do it, and plenty of people do similar commutes. But it's always better to live in base if possible. Or live in a large/mid-size city with more options as opposed to a regional outstation.

In many cases the difference between commuting and living in base is the difference between a good job and a great job. A lot of folks commute, and there wouldn't be so many if was all that bad. Although it can be very bad, depending on specifics.