Pros
The health care and retirement plan benefits are very good because SUNY Upstate Medical University is part of the NY State government. People can choose to have The Empire Plan for health insurance. Honestly, this is a great plan compared with everyone else I've met and talked to in the area as well as my family that lives in other regions in the USA. Living costs in the area are low... but that is changing in some neighborhoods. Generally speaking, living costs are low when I compare them it to other cities I've lived in, which were both smaller and larger cities. There are really good people in the research departments that are truly invested in helping each other succeed. Not everyone has this attitude, but in my department there are enough people like this that things work well and I'm able to push my research forward. Being affiliated with the hospital has many advantages as a scientific researcher in a non-medical lab. There is easy access to medical expertise and devices if one's research has a medical component to it. Ordering some supplies through the hospital can get big discounts. Also SUNY Upstate is growing both in size and reputation. This is a good thing for researchers associated with the university.
Cons
SUNY upstate invests heavily into their medical research. Other departments are financially neglected. (examples: there are multiple departments with intern-chairs that the University has simply no interest in replacing. Also, some equipment that acts as 'core resources' are really just equipiment that is found in another lab. There's not really dedicated staff for many of these resources) Despite this, some researchers do well. Many others could easily do more impactful research if they had better support from the University itself. Another issue I've noticed is that some departments have more cohesiveness than others. Figuring out the social setting and how research labs interact can have a big impact on getting things done if you are looking for scientific suggestions or just need to borrow equipment /reagents.