Should I move to Miami or NYC (Port Orange, Westchester: houses, buying)

[JaxMover]

been to both cities

[doggiebus]

How exciting would it be to live in NYC while going to college. That would be a lot of fun.

[Elvi03]

I will give you my honest opinion (as a LIFELONG NYC resident):

Living in NYC for $60,000 will **NOT** allow you the luxury of living in the city - not even in the lower east side. An average rent for a studio apartment is $2000+ (my whole family is in Real Estate). So unless you want to have ramen noodle soups and walking to work, you will not afford this on that salary. You will wind up sharing an apartment with one or more roommates - hire a company that puts up a (moveable) wall in the middle of the living room, and share the rent. You may not mind this initially since you are young, just graduating school and eventually will make more money to get your own place.

If you are a person like my sister who makes $65k, plus a 10k bonus, and value your privacy, forget manhattan. You will be renting a pre-war, 4th floor walk-up 1 bedroom in the marble hill section of the Bronx for $875 a month. Not alot of 'hip' activities going on in the Bronx.

$60,000 may equal alot of money in many places, in NYC it equals borderline poor.

[Major League]

Yikes, why would someone enjoy that lifestyle in NYC? I guess you need to make large salary to do so.

[picsesmauve957]

New York would be nice, but at your income, Miami.

[Major League]

Why would your income be $60k in Miami and NYC? Wouldnt there be some difference in the pay?

[Wild Style]

Originally Posted by Elvi03

I will give you my honest opinion (as a LIFELONG NYC resident):

Living in NYC for $60,000 will **NOT** allow you the luxury of living in the city - not even in the lower east side. An average rent for a studio apartment is $2000+ (my whole family is in Real Estate). So unless you want to have ramen noodle soups and walking to work, you will not afford this on that salary. You will wind up sharing an apartment with one or more roommates - hire a company that puts up a (moveable) wall in the middle of the living room, and share the rent. You may not mind this initially since you are young, just graduating school and eventually will make more money to get your own place.

If you are a person like my sister who makes $65k, plus a 10k bonus, and value your privacy, forget manhattan. You will be renting a pre-war, 4th floor walk-up 1 bedroom in the marble hill section of the Bronx for $875 a month. Not alot of 'hip' activities going on in the Bronx.

$60,000 may equal alot of money in many places, in NYC it equals borderline poor.

your location says Westchester which isn't NYC

I have friends living on St. Nich right now who are paying FAR less than 2000 a month for a one bedroom. Also know people living in Washington heights for far less than what you have quoted. As stated previously though these places are "hood".

[Keeper]

Good suggestion.. go to the NYC forum and read some of the threads or post one yourself. You will find others who have asked similiar questions.
The other good answer here was you are going to have to pay NYC and NY state income tax. You might want to figure out how much that is going to take out of your pay.

[ReSpEcT]

Originally Posted by Major League

Why would your income be $60k in Miami and NYC? Wouldnt there be some difference in the pay?

I was asking the same question to myself...

[miamiblue]

Originally Posted by Major League

Why would your income be $60k in Miami and NYC? Wouldnt there be some difference in the pay?

I was just about to ask the same question. What line of work would offer the exact same salary in two very different cost of living areas?

By and large, I would think that if you did a salary comparison between both places, you should see that NYC salaries would be more in line with NYC cost of living, and likewise for Miami for the same type of position (although, I think this can be debatable with the COL inflation over the past 10 years in South Florida and salaries not really moving along with it).