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A lot of people both here on C-D NYC's forum and outside the city itself always talk about how horribly expensive is is to live here in NYC. Well here is a new study that show that NYC is actually a reasonable place to live for a moderate-income family, largely because of cheap transportation costs offset the high cost of housing. And I think they define moderate income fairly too, as family income between $34,300 and $68,700 dollars a year. See the story here:
Actually just on the basis of housing and transport measured against other cities moderate incomes, we're only the 10th most expensive big city. Washington is #1, followed by Philly, Baltimore, Minneapolis, Boston, San Fran, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, and Denver. The most expensive cities on this basis (of 25 big ones) are all Sunbelt--Miami, LA, Riverside, Tampa and Atlanta.
I think most people specifically mean Manhattan and trendy neighborhoods in Brooklyn and Queens when they talk about the city being too expensive. Most people who post those "I want to move to NY, can I afford it?" threads focus exclusively on trendy areas in Manhattan which are crazy expensive. It's no secret that there are plenty of affordable neighborhoods in the city, but newcomers don't want to live there.
You can mess with the numbers all you want, but you won't convince me of that. The Census also publishes numbers concerning the average cost of various categories of items compared to the national average, and NY is as ridiculously high as you'd expect in that dataset: http://www.census.gov/compendia/stat...es/12s0728.pdf
Cheap transportation? I'm guessing we have one of the highest transit fares in the country.
But what we do have is access to certain cheaper things, if you know where to look. For instance, I buy my winter coats at sample sales for a fraction of what they'd cost retail.
A lot of people both here on C-D NYC's forum and outside the city itself always talk about how horribly expensive is is to live here in NYC. Well here is a new study that show that NYC is actually a reasonable place to live for a moderate-income family, largely because of cheap transportation costs offset the high cost of housing. And I think they define moderate income fairly too, as family income between $34,300 and $68,700 dollars a year. See the story here:
Actually just on the basis of housing and transport measured against other cities moderate incomes, we're only the 10th most expensive big city. Washington is #1, followed by Philly, Baltimore, Minneapolis, Boston, San Fran, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, and Denver. The most expensive cities on this basis (of 25 big ones) are all Sunbelt--Miami, LA, Riverside, Tampa and Atlanta.
We all feel sometimes like we're living in the most expensive place on earth, but the fact is that all things considered it could be a lot worse.
I think NYC can be affordable if middle income famlies mean both a married husband and wife living together plus 2.5 kids but in reality NYC households is primarily made up of single mother households whether if she works as a nurse banking in 80,000 to making 50,000 working in an accounting department or health office still find it difficult for many families who reside with only one parent.
I gotta say have fun reading all of that Kool Aide crap taht NYT and Wall Street Journal spits out.
Unbelievable. Their information must be skewed. I'd like to see them do a side by side comparison of one-way bus rides in those other cities vs. ours $2.25. Tolls fare in other cities vs NYC tolls? I do many road trips and have experienced the gas prices in NYC is usually around 50 cents more per gallon than other places. Gas prices in other cities (excluding San Francisco) vs NYC. Rental prices for apartments with same number of bedrooms and square footage vs NY apts. We're even over-charged for basement apartments. San Francisco and Los Angeles have high rents too but you get much more as far as space (ex: off-street parking or garage, garden-style apartment, and/or modern day amenities such as washer and dryer in apt, microwave, new appliances).
The other thing that's missing is the school quality. It's not exactly affordable for families if you have to send your kids to private school in order for them to get a decent education. I know not all the public schools here are bad but I have heard plenty of negative stories about the schools in the low and moderate income neighborhoods--enough that if I had kids of school age, I would most likely move out of the city.
I do agree, though, that if you are childless and living in an unhip area and only spend your $104 per month on transportation that you may come out ahead vs. living in a city that requires cars to get around. There are even plenty of cities that DO have subway and bus systems that would still essentially require a car to get around since their transit network is not far-reaching enough.
I don't know how the cost of the MTA compares to other cities, but there really is no other city that has such a comprehensive transit network. I think $104 per month for the unlimited is really a bargain.
First off, the income range of 34k - 69k is so ****ing wide that it's laughable. Off the bat the entire premise is nonsensical. We're talking about working poor on one end and tenuously middle class on the other.
Transportation is cheap in what way? Certainly not vehicular transport due to insurance rates, the ungodly ticket fine amounts, parking fees, etc. no one will argue that.
NYCs public transport system is extensive and runs 24 hrs but what percentage of riders actually utilize it to that extent on a regular basis?
Thirdly, when studio apts in one of the crappier areas of NYC such as east ny are going for 1 k then you know that things are off kilter.
Also, studies or the sort mentioned by op never take into account all of the hidden fees that NYers pay such as the city income tax, higher energy and telecom taxes, higher property taxes relative to space, DMV fees, water usage fees, etc.
The report is really about advocating for pubic transportation, which I agree with, but it is misleading in the context of NYC. It’s trying to prove that suburban, Sunbelt living is more expensive that people realize.
Given the thesis of the report, I’m surprised the WSJ picked up the story.
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Do those other cities have $12 tolls?
