I can’t speak to Syracuse itself, but some of the suburban areas around Syracuse are pretty nice and have very good schools. For example, Fayetteville-Manlius High School is ranked #807 in the entire US: https://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/new-york/...

My wife is from the area and I’ve been there dozens of times. It’s not as happening as a major city, but if you wanted to live in an affordable suburb outside a large-enough city, it would be a fine place to live.