I spend several months in Ames and Des Moines, Iowa 2 years ago and you won't appreciate how decent Buffalo is until you've spent time in Iowa. All the "Best Places To Live" guides I'm sure you've read have raved about Iowa being a great place for families and whatnot. But I can tell you from personal experience that Iowa is a miserable, socially and culturally repressed, conservative state that your kids will be dying to get out of ASAP. Iowa is also lacking big time in the outdoor activity department. No large bodies of water or lakes near Ames and very few parks and wooded areas for recreation. Several of my friends originally from Iowa got their educations at Iowa State and took off to Minneapolis, Chicago, and Kansas City despite Iowa having a decent job market and low cost of living. That being said if you and your family must move to Ames, you will have no problems finding a decent place to live. Lots of charming, older houses in the vicinity of the university and plenty of new suburban type subdivisions too.