I'm giving information from when I rented and my sister's current costs - I live with her now in the house she owns (both Schenectady).

RENTING: Acceptable neighborhood, but run down (like most of Upstate)
RENT: $650 for three-bedroom (I rented a studio for $525 in a much nicer part of the city before that. $650 is VERY CHEAP for any apartment in this city, I was amazed I found it. $950 would be about normal for that size)
ELECTRICITY: about $150
GAS: about $150-$200

NOW: Decent neighborhood, "good" school district (meaning, not the BAD school district)
MORTGAGE: $1100 (this includes property taxes of about $3,500/year, which is much lower than Albany and Saratoga Counties. Also, homeowners in Schenectady do not pay a water bill or trash collection bill) - the house was $95,000, which is probably about the normal price for a large, old house with few recent updates. Asking prices range from about $85,000 - $175,000 in this region (prices are much lower in smaller cities and towns in NYS)

ELECTRICITY: about $150
GAS: about $200, but we have radiators. If we had forced air heat, it would probably be over $300
GROCERY PRICES: reasonable. Dairy products are produced locally and are pretty cheap even at convenience stores. My sister, myself, and her three children eat pretty well for about $600 per month. We almost never order out

WAGES: my sister is an RN, she makes about $23/hour and works three 12-hour shifts per week (she earns overtime only for over 12 hours per day). I work at Walmart in another city and make $8.30/hour, which is well above minimum wage, but certainly not enough for me to afford an apartment. Even when I had one and a roommate to share the cost, it became unaffordable and I lost my apartment. It was deemed that I somehow made too much money for food stamps (probably because I do not have children).
GASOLINE: prices are reasonable. About $2.49 - $2.59. A year ago it was over $4.00

OTHER INFO: Schenectady is a relatively dead city. The institutions that made it big are gone (mainly General Electric). Some revitalization is happening, but there is high crime and lots of unemployment and no jobs. We have a long way to go as a city. I think this keeps housing prices low here, and for similar reasons houses in most of Upstate New York are pretty inexpensive. Property taxes are high. My sister lucked out with hers.