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And BTW, in terms of job growth NYC doesn't even make the top 10. And in terms of income for example (the supposed, alleged figure but whatever) look at NYC versus Austin TX.
Actually the economy in the rest of the country is doing pretty well (outside of housing) and housing prices / rents outside the greater NYC metro area seem reasonable and aren't rising by meteoric rates.
Are you saying that for the same job, those in Austin can make the same as those in NYC? I am asking cause I really don't know. I know how much some friends in Austin make, but don't know how that compares to NYC.
And when many of you say the middle class are being pushed out into the suburbs, what is considered the suburbs of NYC. I assume you are not referring to a bourough as the costs there seem to be rising too correct?
The same person would make 1/3 of their income in Nashville or Denver
No way. Same jobs pay the same money. Being in NYC doesn't guarantee more money for the same work. In fact, because of all the kids wanting a big city experience, some jobs pay low due to a glut of exploitable labor.
No one really listens to you. Much of Southern Brooklyn and eastern Queens is plenty affordable. NYC right now is outpreforming the nation. Poverty rates are going down. As for affordable housing, Jersey has it in many parts. So does Staten Island. Speaking of which, I bet you could get an apartment on SI for mucho cheapo if you wanted to.
Sure, if you wanna live in Newark, its affordable. Have you looked at housing costs in Morris/Bergen/Somerset/Hunterdon counties? Its become an abomination. Not only has housing gone up, New Jersey is taxed to death and our property taxes are tens of thousands a year (I believe in parts of New York /Brooklyn/ it exceeds a few hundred).
So I'd rather live in Brooklyn and pay less for EVERYTHING than live in Jersey.
You can still find nice cape cods in NJ in towns with good school systems for about $400k. While the property taxes are higher, you don't pay the NYC income tax, so thats the tradeoff.
I am only on a middle class salary and would like to one day maybe wind up in Queens or Brooklyn. However, everytime I turn around I see you have to make at least 40x the rent in annual salary (in Manhattan at least). Are they as strict in the boroughs?
Most of the times they are, but the rents are a whole lot cheaper. If you are making around $40-$50k you shouldn't have such a hard time finding a studio or even a 1br in OK neighborhoods of Brooklyn and Queens (don't be expecting something like Williamsburg or Forest Hills though).
Otherwise you're going to have to do what a lot of people do and find a roomate.
No one really listens to you. Much of Southern Brooklyn and eastern Queens is plenty affordable. NYC right now is outpreforming the nation. Poverty rates are going down. As for affordable housing, Jersey has it in many parts. So does Staten Island. Speaking of which, I bet you could get an apartment on SI for mucho cheapo if you wanted to.
Sorry. If the median income in NY is around the mid $40K range, than how is upward of $1,100 per month in almost ANY neighborhood affordable?
"City officials today prate about 'bringing back the middle class', as if nobody were in the middle class until he had left the city and acquired a ranch house and a barbeque and thereby became precious. To be sure, cities are losing their middle class populations. However, cities need not 'bring back' a middle class, and carefully protect it like an artificial growth. Cities grow the middle class."
--Jane Jacobs, The Death and Life of Great American Cities, (1961)
New York is basically almost heaven on earth if you're rich.
New York is probably hell for low-income people in the projects.
I did a study at my class in UCLA, and New York is the richest city in the United States, they have more millionaires and billionaires than any other city in the United States.
New York is also home to the poorest county in the country. So many people on welfare. I forgot where it was but I find this shocking. The disparity between the rich and the poor is more dramatic in NYC than anywhere else. In L.A. we have it bad, but NYC is much worse.
I agree with Hustla718, but I don't think race is the issue. Class is. A rich black friend of mine also thinks NYC is totally awesome!!!!
If you have money, you can live just about anywhere and live the fabulous life. But man, NYC is like letting a kid run loose thru a candy store. Irresistible. that being said, I grew up in the rough side of town in Brooklyn and we were poor, but it was far from being hell. I had fun. Didn't even realize I was poor til I went to college in Long Island and a bunch of rich kids around me driving daddy's BMW. So the projects may appear scary from an outsider's point of view, but honestly, I felt like we had more of a sense of a "community" than I do now living in the suburbs (Long Island, Orlando or Atlanta 'burbs). I'm not even exaggerating about that.
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All about the Benjamin$$$$
