The news I get here is NYC news. I hear reference to “the 5 boroughs” and “the outer boroughs.” Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island are the outer boroughs, the five boroughs includes, of course, the biggest being Manhattan and the one people usually refer to or think of when they say “New York City.”
Most people around here don’t call these local towns “the suburbs” or “the burbs.” They are relatively suburban, but are so populated that they’re unlike suburbs anywhere else. Still, to outsiders, they’re the suburbs and they are the suburbs of NYC or what are often referred to as “bedroom communities.”
There are parts of the outer boroughs that look as suburban as the areas local to where I live. Horse farms (Van Cortlandt area of the Bronx), areas with row boats (City Island), beaches (Brooklyn), amusement parks (Coney Island Brooklyn), race tracks and world famous tennis courts and parks as suburban as any other, all in NYC which is what makes NYC so incredible and versatile.
Where I live, some who live in NYC might refer to as “upstate” although it’s not upstate, and according to the NY Times definition of “upstate” it’s definitely not, either. NY TImes refers to “upstate NY” as anywhere north of the areas served by Metro North.