Minimum guaranteed permanent after-tax monthly income you would accept to move to NYC and look for a job (apartments)

[Charlestondata]

The guaranteed monthly after-tax income would be not only guaranteed, but it would also increase by one percent annually, and it would continue even after you got a job, with no catch. In fact, it would continue even if you couldn't find a job, until your death.

Worst-case scenario: no one would hire you to do anything at all, and you couldn't think of an honest way to turn a buck on your own. But you wouldn't have to pay FICA from the guaranteed income, just $100 a month for health and dental insurance; and because you wouldn't be working you wouldn't have daily commuting expenses nor a need to keep up a wardrobe for work.

You would agree to make the move on the basis that you hoped someone somewhere in NYC would hire you to do something you like, even if it required no special skills; but if not, you could survive with somewhat of an enjoyable life of free down-to-earth entertainment and an occasional splurge.

So, how much? And oh yeah - you have no debt.

Isn't this fun?

[Henna]

It depends on quite a few factors. I am going to take a wild guess and say $48,000 if I really desperately wanted to live in NYC and no other place would suffice. That at least would get you a $1200/mo apartment and fit with the usual landlord requirements that you make 40x the monthly rent annually. You would really need a rent stabilized place where heat is included if you plan to stay for some years in the apartment and your income is hardly going to go up at all. Once you go under $1200 a month for a rental, for the most part you're either looking at problem areas, basement apartments, far-away areas, transit challenged areas, etc.

The rest of what you have to look at you can find in older threads. Do a search for "budget" and quite a few things should come up.

No one can say how much you'd have to spend on food (there have been plenty of arguments on her in the past -- my numbers always come in higher than others; some say they can get by on $200 or $250 a month). Some numbers will be fairly straightforward -- like electric bill (probably $50/mo), internet ($42 per month), gas for stove ($20 per month), subway fare - $112 per month at most, maybe $50 per month if you're only taking it when needed.

There are plenty of other categories you have to figure into your budget (health care costs, telephone, incidentals, clothing, shoes, household supplies and furniture, emergency fund, gifts for others, travels to get out of town, entertainment, laundry, etc.)

[Charlestondata]

Wow. Electric and gas must be cheap there. And subway expenses for routine use are lower than I would have thought. I'll put your answer in the column of respondents who would have to live alone and refuse to live in a basement. I know about expenses like a phone. My phone bill is $47 a month. And I buy clothes from bargain racks and thrift stores when I buy them at all and wear them forever... and ever. Thanks for your input.

[Henna]

No, electric and gas are not cheap, at least from what I've heard about other areas of the country. $20 is for cooking gas only and the $50 I quoted for electric is my best guess for a SMALL apartment for a single person who cannot afford a lot of gadgets or running A/C in the summer. I thought you're asking for bare bones, so that's what I was giving. My electric bills are more like $70 to $150 or even $200 in the summer.

And as for subways, all you have to do is look at the price of a fare and estimate how many times per month you will ride. http://www.mta.info/

[Charlestondata]

Sounds about right for the gas and heat. I pay $135 every month on an automatic draft basis to heat and cool a 960 sq ft house in South Carolina. The subway costs sound like a reasonable trade-off for the expense of gas and upkeep on a vehicle.

[Henna]

Originally Posted by Columbiadata

Sounds about right for the gas and heat. I pay $135 every month on an automatic draft basis to heat and cool a 960 sq ft house in South Carolina. The subway costs sound like a reasonable trade-off for the expense of gas and upkeep on a vehicle.

I didn't include or mention heating costs. What I did say is that you would need to rent an apartment where the heat is included. Otherwise, your expenses go way up.

Just to clarify: my electric bills are in the vicinity of $70 to $150, and my apartment is not heated with electric. The heat is gas heat and I don't pay separately for it because it's included in my maintenance bill.

[Charlestondata]

Gotcha. My heat is gas and everything else is electric. Thanks.

[joeymags]

I don't mean to over complicate your thread but depends on likelihood of being able to secure another source of income and what that would be, and what the alternative is. And I am assuming this is taxed for simplicity purposes.

I would require an income of at least 80k to live in nyc. I couldn't imagine not being able to make 30k doing just about anything, so require a supplement of say 50k, with the confidence I could earn 30k doing work I did when I was 17.