Cost of living in NYC- a break down

[Andy Nguyen]

Rent keeps going up. House price has not risen much but still remains out of reach for most people. Also, who can get a mortgage nowadays?

 

[DHaynes]

What are some areas to avoid? I'm kind of paranoid about leasing an apartment without knowing which areas are high crime.

 

[Andy Nguyen]

I found the folks at city-data very knowledgeable
New York City Forum - Relocation, Moving, Local City Discussions - City-Data Forum

 

[doug reich]

What are some areas to avoid? I'm kind of paranoid about leasing an apartment without knowing which areas are high crime.

South Bronx. Places with riots associated with them.

New York is quite safe. If you are very worried, I bet you could call a police precinct or otherwise research crime statistics.

It is easier to evaluate specific candidates as opposed to providing a comprehensive list. Do you have cross-streets/neighborhoods?

 

[Yan He]

What are some areas to avoid? I'm kind of paranoid about leasing an apartment without knowing which areas are high crime.

I think you'd better avoid some specific area in Lower East Side, Manhattan: Rivington Street cross Alan.

1. I moved in Feb 2008. So far there are 3 people killed around 3 block radius.
2. Homeless people would sing and curse all night long in summer time (there is a park feet away); some crazy people play extremely loud rap or hispanis music in their cars parking right under my window in cold/rainy days(police officers told me 'this is not emergency...' when I called 911 to report around 1:00 am;
3. Kids of my neighbors will dance and jump and run till 2:00 am in the morning----now I really believe the family upstairs are VAMPIREs!!

Except for that, great bars/rest./...

 

[Andy Nguyen]

police officers told me 'this is not emergency...' when I called 911 to report around 1:00 am;

LOL. You should use 311 to complain about noise, smell, heat, rat, homeless singing, etc

 

[doug reich]

311 is pretty sweet. They told me there was no uniform way of reporting traffic violations as I see them. (I so hate right turn on red jokers.)

 

[Yan He]

LOL. You should use 311 to complain about noise, smell, heat, rat, homeless singing, etc

But they were there in the middle of night...when 311 reacts, it might have been days later. And can I report my VAMPIRE neightbors too?:prayer:

 

[Andy Nguyen]

311 is pretty much the designated complain hotline for quality of life issues except emergency situation. We used it to report excessive noise and lack of heat and they follow up promptly.

 

[evil]

or you can just do a PhD and everything is paid for.........

 

[ktoss]

If you don't mind stay a little bit far away from Manhattan. Bensonhurst is the area I recommended. I am staying in that area. I think, this area looks safe to stay and more over it's cheap. I'm a student and I pay rental cost for my room for around 500$ per month.

 

[Andy Nguyen]

N.Y.C. so costly you need to earn six figures to make middle class

BY Elizabeth Hays
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

More than $2,000 a month for day care. Some of the highest phone bills in the country. Jam-packed, 50-plus-minute commutes to work.

You knew it was tough to live in New York City — but this tough?

A new report shows just how ugly — and expensive — New York City can be, especially for the middle class, squeezed by skyrocketing living costs and stagnant wages.

The study, released Thursday by the Center for an Urban Future, shows that New York City is hands-down the most expensive place to live in the country.

Among the findings:

* A New Yorker would have to make $123,322 a year to have the same standard of living as someone making $50,000 in Houston.
* In Manhattan, a $60,000 salary is equivalent to someone making $26,092 in Atlanta.
* You knew it was expensive to live in Manhattan, but Queens? The report tagged Queens the fifth most expensive urban area in the country.
* The average monthly rent in New York is $2,801, 53% higher than San Francisco, the second most expensive city in the country.

"Income levels that would enable a very comfortable lifestyle in other locales barely suffice to provide the basics in New York City," the report concludes.

Other belt-tightening details include:

* New Yorkers paid about $34 a month for phone service in 2006. In San Francisco, similar service cost $17 a month.
* Home heating costs have jumped 125% in the past five years and are up 243% since 1998.
* Full-time day care costs can run up to $25,000 a year for one child, depending on the neighborhood, or about as much as some college tuitions.
* Meanwhile, wages in the city have remained mostly flat in all boroughs but Manhattan — even during the boom years from 2003 to 2007.

It's not only money that makes life here hard, researchers said — which might not be news to most New Yorkers.

Take commutes, for example. The report found that many New Yorkers put up with commutes double the national average of 25.5 minutes.

Commuting to Manhattan from St. Albans, Queens, can take 51.7 minutes, while getting there from Canarsie, Brooklyn, can run 50.8 minutes.

Researchers said the combination of skyrocketing costs, stagnant wages and a deteriorating quality of life forced hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers to flee the city for cheaper areas during the boom years from 2002 to 2006.

The report found that more New Yorkers left each year during the boom than left during the dark days of the early 1990s.

Center for Urban Future Director Jonathan Bowles noted that the number of people fleeing the city has slowed since 2007 as the rest of the country has sunk into recession, jobs have dried up nationwide and home values here started to sink.

Mayor Bloomberg downplayed the report but said he is concerned about the constant drumbeat of job losses in the city.

"There is turnover all the time. That's very healthy," Bloomberg said. "We're doing fine, but it is very worrisome, the number of people who are losing their jobs."

Here is the link to the aforementioned report
http://www.newgeography.com/content...challenges-facing-new-york-citys-middle-class

 

[Andy Nguyen]

Another interesting article on NYT about how someone may struggle living in NYC with $500K salary (the salary cap proposed to executive of banks receiving bailout money)
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/08/fashion/08halfmill.html

 

[Sanket Patel]

Another interesting article on NYT about how someone may struggle living in NYC with $500K salary (the salary cap proposed to executive of banks receiving bailout money)
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/08/fashion/08halfmill.html

I've got mixed feelings about that article. The author is jumping back and forth between an executive and a family of four. Unless I'm mistaken, I don't think most families of 4 have chauffeurs, bodyguards, wear $1000 suits, own houses/condos in exclusive areas of the city, attend charity galas, etc.

Also, when writing about the executives, the writer is quick to list a myriad of expenses but doesn't mention the net worth of some of these poor executives having to live off of a measly $500,000.

I know NYC is a very expensive place. I'm from Florida and I definitely notice the difference. In Florida for $500, I had: 1bed/1bath apartment, full kitchen, living room, patio, washer + dryer included, cable + internet included, swimming pool + gym in the complex, gated community with a security guard, and I had a dog. The only expense besides rent was, on average, a $50 electric bill. After coming from that and seeing the prices in NYC, I understand the meaning of expensive. Hell, even a simple bean burrito from Taco Bell costs nearly double what it did in Florida!

Is it just me or does it seem the writer is trying to cultivate some sympathy for executives who are subject to the salary cap?

 

[Andy Nguyen]

I don't have the blessing of living in other states to really appreciate the "low cost of living". Since I only live in NYC, I'm calibrated to think paying less than 1000K/month for a 1BR apt is cheap. I'm also used to think $6 for lunch with a soda is a bargain.
Looking back at the first post of this thread, I couldn't find anything on that list that is getting cheaper.
But who realizes they are getting less for their money if they only spend their life in NYC, right?

 

[bigbadwolf]

This is an article in the NYT going back over two years. Hasn't lost its relevance, though.

Private school: $32,000 a year per student.

Mortgage: $96,000 a year.

Co-op maintenance fee: $96,000 a year.

Nanny: $45,000 a year.

We are already at $269,000, and we haven’t even gotten to taxes yet.

“As hard as it is to believe, bankers who are living on the Upper East Side making $2 or $3 million a year have set up a life for themselves in which they are also at zero at the end of the year with credit cards and mortgage bills that are inescapable,” said Holly Peterson ...

 

[bigbadwolf]

A modest three-bedroom apartment, she said, which was purchased for $1.5 million, not the top of the market at all, carries a monthly mortgage of about $8,000 and a co-op maintenance fee of $8,000 a month. Total cost: $192,000. A summer house in Southampton that cost $4 million, again not the top of the market, carries annual mortgage payments of $240,000.

Many top executives have cars and drivers. A chauffeur’s pay is between $75,000 and $125,000 a year, the higher end for former police officers who can double as bodyguards, said a limousine driver who spoke anonymously because he does not want to alienate his society customers.

 

[Abdel]

This is an article in the NYT going back over two years. Hasn't lost its relevance, though.

wow...might have to stay in Montreal then.

 

[Eugene Krel]

i weep for those living outside of their means.

 

[MRoss]

As I told my high school classes last year: If you have a family of 2 kids in NYC, better earn $20,000 than $100,000.

With $20,000 you get:
1) Section 8 (nearly entire rent paid)
2) HEAP (no more heating bills)
3) Food stamps
4) WIC
5) Americhoice
6) Baby-sitting paid by government
7) Tax-Returns (+$8,000)
8) ...

Walk away with = $28,000
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

With $100,000 you get:
1) Nearly $40,000 in taxes ('cause you have such a small family)
2) Must pay rent (-$25,000)
3) Must pay heat (-$4,000)
4) Must pay for food (-$5,000)
5) Must buy baby stuff (-$3,000)
6) Must pay health insurance (-$10,000)
7) Must pay baby-sitters (-$6,000)
8) ...

Walk away with = $7,000

Remind me why I'm in school again?