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Have you looked into other cities? Some of the southern cities offer some of what you are looking for and are a lot less expensive then NYC. Charlotte NC, Jacksonville Fla, Columbia SC, DC, all though expensive as well, is still cheaper then NYC plus in Northern Va. you can ride the Metro all over the place. Atlanta used to be booming in the jobs market, they once called it "Hot-Lanta." I think with New York today it's just so outrageously high to live there, has a dipstick for a Mayor, and there is a huge divide between wealth. NYC seems to no longer have a middle, you either have the cash to afford the place or you don't. Anywhere else in the United Sates 65k a year is considered decent, but not in NYC.
I feel the same way. Went off to college, met some great friends, and haven't missed NYC at all. Yet the moment I stepped off the train on Roosevelt Avenue I looked at the buses, the people, and the bodegas all around me and felt like I was home
When I go back to visit my dad in New York I get a little homesick but it fades. NYC is a great place in many ways but it's not the be all end all. People have to stop romanticizing and do what's best for themselves and their chosen careers. For some NYC is a career hotbed, for others it maybe a small town or foreign country. The best advice I can give is to live where you are happy and have the best shot for earning a living for yourself.
This is more of a rant than a discussion topic. Sorry, but I just need to vent this somewhere:
I lived in Brooklyn for about four months last year, and during that time, I took an ass-kicking. I lost the job I moved there for, I got turned down for multiple other jobs after interviews, I got thrown out of my place by my terrible alcoholic roommate and had nowhere to stay besides a friend's couch, I came down with a bad case of pneumonia, and I went through a really nasty breakup of a (long-distance) relationship right after she had just agreed to come there to be with me.
I couldn't handle that much **** in a row and I got so depressed I could barely function. So I gave up, moved back to Florida, and stayed with my mom until I could find a full-time job and get back on my feet. I guess I'm doing OK now. I have a job that I love, even if the pay's awful, and my own cozy little studio apartment.
But, for reasons even I don't understand, I still love New York, and I regret giving up on it every day. I want to go back and try it all again. I've been a lifelong New Yorkophine, I'm bored out of my mind in Tampa, and I miss urban living, public transit, being able to go anywhere I wanted for a flat $112 a month, the diversity (of people, food, and architecture), skyscrapers, the changing seasons, the arts scene, dollar pizza, bodega sandwiches, and all the fascinating people I met there.
I've been trying to convince myself it's not worth it and I'm better off staying here where it's "safe," but for some reason, there still really is no place I'd rather live.
But that's insane, and I know it, especially since I know I'll probably never be able to afford it. And why would I "love" a place where I went through so much? Why the hell would any sane person want to go back and experience more horrible things?
I suggest you stay in down in Florida or move to a city in Florida like Miami or Tampa, besides plenty of New Yorkers down there but then again you might not mesh with New Yorkers just like how Transplants often don't mesh with Native New Yorkers.
@OyCrumbler: I'm limiting my scope to the US for the forseeable future, because emigration's just too damn hard for someone in my position.
@StevenR: I'm from D.C. The price difference from NY is negligible, and you still need a car unless you're lucky enough to live in the inner city or within walking distance of the metro. I'd consider Atlanta. This might seem like an unblei ridiculous reason, but it's in part because DragonCon is there.
@Bronxguyanese: I live in Tampa now. (Ybor City, specifically.) I hate it. I've always had thoughts about Miami, though.
I suppose a large part of my fascination with NYC is that it's pretty much the capital of the photography industry, and I did a lot of the best work of my life when I was shooting there.
I might actually prefer to live in Chicago, but it's TOO cold. I don't think I could deal with going straight from Florida to a place where it regularly goes into the negative tens.
look, everyone should have a few kids, live in a quaint town, and buy a damn Volvo. It's the American dream. lol, I'm only kidding
Haha, that's exactly what we did, Volvo and all. I grew up in the suburbs of NY (Long Island) and wanted to live in the city since the first time I visited when I was about 12. After my wife finished grad school, she was fortunate (and smart) enough to land a job at NYU. We had it made, living the dream down in the Village in a large 1 bd 1.5 bath apartment a block from Washington Sq. with rent and parking subsidized by the University. We could drive out to the Island on the weekends and visit with family. Life was good.
However, we wanted to start a family and I didn't want to raise kids in the city (well, I did, but I didn't want to have to get recommendation letters to get them into preschool lol. I wasn't buying into that nonsense). Also, I didn't want my wife to be commuting for 4 hours a day to get to/from our house in the suburbs. That, combined with weather/taxes and a hundred other reasons, we decided to make our exit on our terms.
We crammed a lifetime of fun into those 7 years in NY and we have no regrets about leaving. 8 years on and now we have 2 kids, a Volvo (and a Hemi) in the garage. My point is, OP, go back to NY if you feel you have unfinished business there. We got it all out of our system, season tickets for my favorite team, shows, meals and memories that will last a lifetime. Someday you'll want to look back and say "I did it" and have no regrets.
Good luck! Life is too short to live in a place where you are unhappy even for a minute.
Im going to be real with you. NYC is a rough city and it will eat you up and spit you out which obviously happened to the op resulting him in going back to live in Florida and fall back on family safety net. Since you failed at NYC why try again? You should try a different city that is not so cut throat. Even though NYC is the least American city in terms of culture it is a very capitalistic city, probably the most capitalistic city in the U. S since the city is centered around money making. Due to its capitalistic nature, NYC is very competitive with people trying to break in to this industry, going to this college or that college hoping to get a 100k paying job fresh out of college, or even for some hoping to get a phone call from the MTA for a position in driving a bus, or look at thousands of people wanting to know when is the next DSNY exam. Also you are photographer. NYC has to many photographer plus iphonetographers which maked really hard to break in the industry unless you start out as a hobbiest/independent/creative type like those who live in E village and Williamsburg. As for me? I want out of NYC, I had enough of the rat race, dirty streets, shallow unattractive stuck up women, rats, crowded mta, high prices, competitive job markets, high rents even in the South Bronx, pot holes, train delays, bus delays even plane delays and high income inequality. But again life is short if NYC is worth it than go for it. Like I said life is very short. Next month spending a week out west to see if if is a place I would like to move to.
For me the suburbs of a smaller and more affordable rust bowl city will do just fine.
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