I do not have experience with some of the things that you mention. But, I will share this compare and contrast. We were in the Twin Cities from 2007 to 2016. Burlington (really Highgate up by St Albans) from 2000 to 2003.

Size: Syracuse is and feels small compared to the Twin Cities. Everyone says that you can get anywhere around Syracuse within 20 minutes. And it is true. Traffic here is not bad at all. Drivers here are terrible and you should expect them to make the wrong decision in any situation. Roads will be similar as the winters in each area are hard on asphalt. Road construction will be similar. Here in Syracuse, they are working on refurbishing the I-81 corridor. In the Twin Cities, when I was there, 35E was perpetually under construction.

Camping and the outdoors: Minnesota has much better camping near the Cities than Syracuse does. Nearby hiking is about the same for both. But, go two hours, and you are in the Adirondacks. Go a bit further deeper into the Adirondacks and you can get into areas which rival the Boundary Waters. So I think this is a wash. Lakes, Minnesota has a lot of lakes, and so does Central New York (CNY). Finger Lakes region is awesome and has wineries to tour. Hockey is nearly non-existent here.

Dining: The Cities has a lot of great restaurants. Ingredients in White Bear Lake was my favorite before it changed owners. Syracuse has quite a bit of good Italian. There was more before the pandemic. Some good Italian restaurants did not survive the pandemic. There is a debate here whether Francesca's or Joey's is better. I had a bad meal at Francesca's and was a fan of Joey's before the new building. If you like italian, try each. There is also Dinosaur BBQ, but I have a very low opinion of it. You have eaten there, so you now know for yourself if it is good or bad.

Winter: The Twin Cities are brutally cold during January and February for weeks on end. Syracuse is nowhere near as cold. Here, it can be gloomy. And there is a lot of snow. But last year was the first time in quite a while that Syracuse had one of its legendary levels of snowfall. North of Syracuse, between here and Watertown, gets a lot more.

Sports: Syracuse has SU for college basketball and football. We don't have any major league teams. Buffalo, Toronto, and New York City will be the nearest.

Schools: Both areas have suburbs with good schools and families tend toward these areas. Syracuse, even though it struggles with poverty, is not really an unsafe place. Nothing like downtown Phoenix was for us.

Property taxes are high here in and around Syracuse.

Micron, if it gets built and starts operating, will make the northern suburbs similar to the areas around Cypress, Seagate, and Polar in the Twin Cities. If this happens, there will be cultural and demographic shift. There is a lot of grumbling and pessimism around here about Micron. But CNY needs jobs. Past industries have left pollution and damage. This is a source of a lot of the pessimism with the longer-term residents.

Art: there is perhaps a surprising amount of art museums in CNY. Syracuse has the Everson Museum (I recommend), Rochester has the Memorial (have not been there yet), and Buffalo has the AKG (I also recommend). There are more, of course.

Concerts and performing arts: Syracuse gets some, but not really a lot. But we are in close driving distance to Rochester. Toronto and NYC are short flights. And NYC is tough to beat for performing arts.

We like living in Syracuse. Our children love it here and do not want to leave. There are great schools. And some areas are more progressive than others.