The city of Buffalo is the second most densely inhabited city in New York State. It is situated within the Western New York region on the eastern shores of Lake Erie. The city of Buffalo sits at the head of the Niagara River and across from Fort Erie, Ontario. The City of Buffalo forms the seat of Erie County. It is the principal city of the Buffalo-Niagara Falls metropolitan area which is the largest within Upstate New York. Based on the Census of the year 2010, Buffalo had a population of 261,310 and there were 1,215,826 people within the Buffalo-Niagara-Cattaraugus Combined Statistical Area. Downtown Buffalo is situated 17 miles south or 27 km south of Niagara Falls.
Around 1789, the area grew as a small trading community near Buffalo Creek. After the Erie Canal opened in 1825, Buffalo quickly grew to city status. Buffalo became the 8th biggest in the nation by the year 1900 and grew to become a major railroad hub. The city of Buffalo also became recognized as the biggest grain-milling center in the country.
As the 20th Century evolved, the city of Buffalo saw a reversal of fortunes. Like for instance, the opening of the St. Lawrence Seaway re-routed shipping within the Great Lakes. Various steel mills and various heavy industry were moved to places such as China. During the 1970s, with the start of Amtrak, Buffalo Central Terminal was abandoned and trains were re-routed to Exchange Street Station and nearby Depew, New York.
The economy in the area is based on a mixture of light manufacturing, service oriented companies and high technology. There is likewise some life science research and industry. Though manufacturing has declined over recent decades, it still plays an essential part in the economy. Finances, health services and education have grown to become more popular in the present economy. Additionally, the region's "Byte Belt," comprises around 700 high-tech companies which offer many job opportunities.
The areas of employment that can be found within the region consist of jobs in: pharmaceuticals, chemicals, automotive components, plastics and polymers, defense technology, aerospace, food and food products, fabricated metals and medical instruments.
The city of Buffalo has emerged as a center for bioinformatics and human genome research. Some of this research is being carried out at the Rosewell Park Cancer Institute and the University at Buffalo. The technological resources from the University are provided to private business. A number of organizations and companies are included in the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus.
Lots of big corporations have their head offices situated in Buffalo, for instance, M&T Bank and facilities for HSBC Bank USA, KeyBank, Bank of America and Merchants Insurance Group. Amongst the largest food manufacturers which is family-owned within the world, Rich Products is also located within Buffalo. New Era Cap Company and Labatt Brewing also call the city of Buffalo home for their head offices. Ford also has a plant here.
The Buffalo and Erie County Workforce Development Consortium, Inc. provides several local programs for training and retraining workers. The Business Services Division of the Buffalo and Erie County Workforce Development Consortium is available to organize on the job training, to be able to help transition displaced workers and to customize training programs for companies.