Manhattan on $1000/month (New York, Union, Ridge: 2009, rent, crime)

[SilkCity0416]

Manhattan on 1,000/month? Don't do it. It isn't worth struggling to live in Manhattan, with that kind of money. Unless, you're planning on living with roommates, or somewhere way Uptown.

Like others are saying: You might find something in Queens or Brooklyn. If you throw in a few hundred dollars, you can find something nice in parts of Queens, such as Asoria. In Brooklyn, you might be able to shoot for areas like Prospect Heights, maybe Park Slope, that will leave you about 30 minuets from Downtown. If you're still looking at Manhattan, try looking Uptown.

[kitkat826]

I pay under $1,000 in Manhattan, and have a really nice shared apartment. But I am in Central Harlem, definitely almost an hour to the financial district.

Also, when you say "20 minutes", do you literally mean 20 minutes door-to-door? I find that a 40 minute commute really isn't that bad, considering you never have to worry about parking, and very rarely "traffic" (meaning slow or backed up trains).

[clevedark]

Parts of Jersey City, and Union City might yield something in your budget. In NJ.

[ohiogirl22]

I have about a 30 minute commute door to door and I don't mind it at all. an NYC commute is much diffrent than others

[Jdawg8181]

Originally Posted by ohiogirl22

I have about a 30 minute commute door to door and I don't mind it at all. an NYC commute is much diffrent than others

I have a 2 hour commute...

[Henna]

I think it's very unreasonable to expect a 20 minute door to door commute in NYC if you have a budget to worry about. People who have tons of money perhaps can afford to move next door to their workplace. I think it might be reasonable to look for 20 minutes on the subway, but that usually translates into a 40 minute commute unless home and office are right next to the subway stations.

[ohiogirl22]

I would also like to mention I am very blessed to live near the subway and have my work be only 5 blocks from my stop.

[esmith143]

That is depressing. My current commute is 25-30 minutes door to door and it's above average by our standards, I only went with this commute because it allowed me to afford a big house on an acre lot on a single salary (it cost less than a Wall Street area condo mentioned by Mightyqueen801).

I see some reasonably priced apartments in Kensington area of Brooklyn. What would the door-to-door commute be from Kensington to WTC?

[UrbanLover]

A place for 1000 a month in manhattan is not realistic.

Look into the other four boroughs or Northern NJ.

[stillife]

Kensington would not be a great commute to WTC area. The neighborhood is serviced by the F line which goes from Brooklyn to Chinatown (East Broadway is the first stop in Manhattan) so even if you lived near the F in Kensington, you'd have a hike when you get into Manhattan. You could transfer from the F to the R at 4th Avenue in Brooklyn, which would bring you to the WTC area, but the R is a slow and annoying train.

If you have the addresses of prospective apartments, you can plug them into Hopstop along with your work address and get a much more exact picture of the commute (including the walk to and from subway stations).

There are some express buses that run to Manhattan which might be faster (albeit more expensive) but I don't know anything about them.