Class starts in June at Expressjet, and I'm trying to figure out where to live for the first year at least, not necessarily for the rest of my life. 22, single, from upstate NY. I totally get that living in base is ideal, but hear me out... I started my current job at the end of February 2018, and was on the road 267 days. Keep in mind that's out of about 310 total days in the year that I worked at that company. So no matter where I live at the regionals, I'll be "home" a hell of a lot more than I was.

One of my best friends who is still in school offered me to sign on his lease for next year in Buffalo. Rent would be about 350 a month which is nice and cheap. I see that there are 7-8 flights a day between both BUF-ORD and BUF-EWR. Is that enough flights per day to make commuting (Expressjet) viable? Not that it matters, but I've lived between NY, Michigan, Alaska, and LA all since 2015 so you could say I'm used to moving around and really don't mind it.

7-8 flights should be plenty, especially since a few of them are on ExpressJet, so you’d have a higher priority for the jumpseat.

You’ll still probably want a crash pad in base, though. Around EWR, that’ll probably be around $250 per month.

If I were to be commuting from BUF, I would imagine a commute to EWR would work out a little better than ORD. Am I right or wrong? Either way, a combined $650 per month of rent seems pretty good

Quite possibly, because there’s no change in time zone and there’s a good chance EWR has a late night flight to BUF. Check passrider.com

The time zone change helps commuting westbound to ORD, however.

I'd imagine those flights change with the seasons too, but that is more flights than I had out of Florida to mainline hubs and I still made it.

In a pinch, you can go out of ROC, depending on what part of BUF you live in.

Also in a pinch, there are plenty of options to JFK/LGA if you can't get to EWR for some reason.

The shuttle to/from EWR is $30. Not bad.

Must be NY when $30 shuttle to go 10 miles is "not bad"

JFK or LGA-EWR is 35 miles, not 10 miles. You must not know much about NY.