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I am a single, 26 year old female with a black lab dog. I have been job hunting in NYC for 4 months now, flying in and out of the city and was finally offered a job in Paramus, NJ making $65,000/year. It's exactly what I want to be doing (job wise), there is room for advancement and I am excited to get started. The trouble is, my plan was to move to NYC not NJ!! Is it possible to live in the City on a $65k/year salary and commute to NJ?
From what I gather, it is possible, especially if I plan on finding potential roommates my rent will be less. But, working in Paramus, NJ I'd have to keep my car, so I would have to pay for parking in NJ or Upper West NYC (as it is cheaper long-term parking than the lower east/downtown areas), take the metro to my car, then drive to work everyday. I was just wondering if anyone has ever been in a similar situation and can offer advice....
-Is 65k/year a reasonable salary to live in the city and commute to NJ?
-If so, where would be the best place to live as far as affordability and likeability for a 26 year old single female?
-Is it a feasible feat to park my car in another area, take the metro to my car, then drive to work: repeat 5 days a week?
does "in the city" = manhattan?
i ask because plenty of ppl live in the other boros on $65K and less.
for example, you could be close to manhattan in a western queens neighborhood and pay a lot less in rent.
does "in the city" = manhattan?
i ask because plenty of ppl live in the other boros on $65K and less.
for example, you could be close to manhattan in a western queens neighborhood and pay a lot less in rent.
Not sure about commute - but as far as 65K, if you have no other debt its tight but definitely doable in manhattan. Im essesntially doing the same thing now and paying $1800 rent.
I say essentially, because my salary is actually 100K, but I have a $1200 a month student loan payment. So I have about 3800 a month take home after my loan payment.
that leaves about $2,000 for everything else per moth (food, ent, misc, trips, etc). Unfortuantely and obviously i'm not saving.
Yes, $65k is completely doable for Manhattan.....you'll have more spending power if you get a roomate and can do a share, but it is basically what I consider the bottom amount you need to earn to live alone in a small studio.
However- given the extreme commute to NJ from affordable parts of Manhattan (which are generally along the East Side- Upper East Side, Murray Hill, Lower East Side)....I think you'd be miserable. PLUS the expense of garaging your car ($300-500/mo for Upper Manhattan), PLUS the fact that some insurance companies WON'T insure your car if the garage is further than "x feet" from your primary residence (or in a shady zip code, which much of Upper Manhattan is considered).....
I think you have two options:
1. Find a job IN Manhattan if you really want to live there and enjoy it
2. Take the NJ job and live in NJ. It's not as if all of New Jersey is old folks and married couples with kids. There are more "downtown" looking parts of NJ along the Hudson River that are easily drivable to Bergen County.
PS- just saw that you have a fairly big dog. As a dog owner & dog lover, PLEASE consider NJ. You will get a much bigger apartment for your spend there. For around $1500/mo (what you can safely afford if you have zero debt & you need to rent a garage spot).....you are either looking at a tiny studio in Manhattan (tiny meaning around 250-300sf) or a tiny share in a tiny 2br (700sf range for 2 brs & a tiny living room/kitchen). Your dog will go crazy- unless he's 12 years old and already on his deathbed. Also, consider you will not likely afford an elevator building and will need to eventually lug an elderly dog up/down several flights of stairs (up to 6 flights) several times a day to let him out.
A maltese, toy poodle, yorkie, a cat....those are one thing.
A lab, golden retreiver, etc....they need more room to be active.
Check out the area around Hoboken/Jersey City near the PATH trains. They are young, urban & hip (the areas where my friends who live in North Jersey go when they don't go to the city) and have easy access NYC via PATH. My best friend from college lives near Paramus and going to visit her is a huge pain- I can't imagine doing that commute by car every day. When you consider what paying for a parking garage will do to your rent budget, you will really want to consider North Jersey.
I am a single, 26 year old female with a black lab dog. I have been job hunting in NYC for 4 months now, flying in and out of the city and was finally offered a job in Paramus, NJ making $65,000/year. It's exactly what I want to be doing (job wise), there is room for advancement and I am excited to get started. The trouble is, my plan was to move to NYC not NJ!! Is it possible to live in the City on a $65k/year salary and commute to NJ?
From what I gather, it is possible, especially if I plan on finding potential roommates my rent will be less. But, working in Paramus, NJ I'd have to keep my car, so I would have to pay for parking in NJ or Upper West NYC (as it is cheaper long-term parking than the lower east/downtown areas), take the metro to my car, then drive to work everyday. I was just wondering if anyone has ever been in a similar situation and can offer advice....
-Is 65k/year a reasonable salary to live in the city and commute to NJ?
-If so, where would be the best place to live as far as affordability and likeability for a 26 year old single female?
-Is it a feasible feat to park my car in another area, take the metro to my car, then drive to work: repeat 5 days a week?
Any and all help is appreciated, THANK YOU!!
At 65k a year, it's not worth your time or money to live in NYC and commute to work in Paramus, NJ. You literally are not going to save anything. Whatever parking situation or method you want to come up with, its going to cost you at minimum 300-400 bucks a month for combination of garage/mass transportation expense. I've done this math number of times before because I was considering similar option due to my wife and my job location. I work in NJ, she works in city.
Option A:
Parking in city and crossing bridge or tunnel to NJ. Daily commute
- Parking will run you about $200-300
- Toll will be $ 160 a month ($8 per day, $40 a week, avg of 4 wk in month).
- Total $360-460
Option B:
Parking NJ and commute to NJ then use car to work
- This may be shock but if you want parking spot in prime locations near Path or Ferry. You are looking at $ 200-300 a month just like in city. If you don't believe me call and ask parking garages in Hoboken, and Jersey city. Cheapest I saw was in Edgewater where a private home owner was renting out a free space for $150 in craigslist.
- Monthly pass. Depending on which service you use Path, Bus, or ferry. On average you can expect about same cost or higher as paying toll everyday. You will need subway to path station or port authority or ferry station. if you use ferry...price will skyrocket.
Option C:
Getting rid of car and using something like zipcar to commute. You are looking at daily rent of like 70 to 90 bucks a day so this is totally out of question.
Edit: If you really want to live in NYC and commute to NJ. There's plenty of bus service to Paramus so consider getting rid of your car and see if bus service can get you to work and back.
I think you should get a place in NJ and see how it goes. Then if you are doing well and still want to live in the city look at some options of doing so. You'll have a better idea since you'll be living so close. Who knows you might be happy where you find a place. You'll still be close enough to the city where you can visit anytime you want.
Take it like this. You're already happy you got a job that you are going to love right? So now you want to live where you've always wanted to as well? Don't be greedy..take one at a time.
I'm in the NJ camp... somewhere in Jersey City or Hoboken near the PATH trains.
The expenses of keeping a car in Manhattan,the daily tolls commuting to New Jersey,the big dog and the fact that you will pay a NYC resident income tax if you live in Manhattan all add up to a major struggle on 65,000/yr.
How long were you looking for a job? I looked for quite a while as well from another state but I insisted on finding one in Manhattan or Jersey City because I knew I absolutely I wanted to live in Manhattan. It took me longer than I hoped, but eventually it happended. I agree that you should live in NJ until you find a job in NYC.
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