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How is your car insurance only $100 a month? Not registered to your address in Astoria or is it just a liability only coverage? I was paying like $240 in Brooklyn for a late model car.
When I lived in NYC (Bronx) I carried full coverage for $880 a year. A number of factors determine your insurance rate, good credit is a big determining factor. Now I'm in PA with full coverage for $465 a year.
True there's people who will say you can't live in Manhattan if you "only" have $200,000 in income (I heard this once on the UES and had to do a double take of who would say that) but in a city where individuals making $30-50k per year are defined as "low income" you'll start to see that NYC has one of the highest costs of living in the world, specifically housing costs. A lot of people say New York has a housing affordability crisis.
Quote:
Originally Posted by inspironmini
If you can find a room-mate or move here with a friend you could easily find a nice 2 bedroom apartment in any number of decent neighborhoods for under $2000. I'm not talking about scary and dangerous hoods, i'm talking places that are within a 20 minute commute to Manhattan, and even places that are pretty hip (code for lots of young people, night life, etc.) In neighborhoods such as Astoria, Sunnyside, Long Island City, or Greenpoint you can find 2 bedrooms in the $1600-$1800 range. I'm not talking shoeboxes either, I'm talking legit 2 bedrooms with full size rooms, nice hardwood floors, a kitchen with a full size stove and oven, and even a patio. That's only $900 per person per month. Less than $12,000 a year for rent. If the standard "rent should be 1/3 of your paycheck" rule applies here you only need to make $36,000 a year. Definitely possible to make that working at a busy bar or nice restaurant where you can potentially pull in hundreds of dollars per night.
Your next biggest expense (depending on the person of course) will probably be food. This is where your choices really dictate your cost of living. I have had some of the best meals of my life in this city for under $10. Big ass bowls of healthy and delicious thai curry, incredible gyros and kebabs, pizza for a few bucks a slice, etc. Hell, you can get a decent sized falafel sandwich for $2.50! There is such a plethora of awesome, authentic, and cheap food here that i'm actually amazed how many people overspend when they don't necessarily need to. Not to mention if you buy groceries and substitute some of your meals at home.
Same goes for entertainment. If going to a mad men style bar whipping up $14 manhattans is your thing then yeah, you will need a significant amount of money. But you can also catch happy hour at any number of bars in the city and get a flavorful craft beer for $5. Or how about a bar serving $3 tecates on a saturday night in one of the "coolest" neighborhoods in the city? There are music shows all over the city that can be as cheap as a few bucks to get in to. Some of them are even free.
Basically I just want to show other young people who are thinking about moving here that it really is doable. You can live here pretty comfortably on not all that much money.
True, you can do all of those things and save money when you're young and in your 20's; preferably before you turn 26 so that you'll be covered on your parent's insurance since many employers are cutting back on health coverage and benefits these days.
A lot of young college graduates who move here many cannot find jobs that will even pay the standard $40,000 entry level salary (depending on their field) and move back home or somewhere less expensive after a year or so or struggling. ~$35,000 would be as low as you can go if you're trying to live a financially independent life but you'd have to cut back on the craft beers and other things you mentioned since eating out would be occasional luxuries on that income. Plus, many young college grads are saddled with massive student loan debt and cobble together multiple part time jobs to make ends meet, in addition to bills and a portion of their rent being paid by their parent's... if their parent's are willing to support them like that is- many aren't. Not to mention competition for bartending positions where you can pull in "hundreds of dollars in tips a night" is extreme. Even competition for a stockroom position at Barnes & Noble is extreme and they pay $9 per hour.
Not trying to sound negative but as you get older many desire more than the college lifestyle (living with multiple roommates, cheap street cart dinners, living paycheck to paycheck, etc..) And that's without the cost of having children.
How is your car insurance only $100 a month? Not registered to your address in Astoria or is it just a liability only coverage? I was paying like $240 in Brooklyn for a late model car.
Manhattan address usually has lower premium if your record is clean.
I was paying $800 for 6 months until I got into an accident and the insurance hiked $200.
I live in Brooklyn. I leased my car so it's 300k/100k full coverage.
NYC is expensive just like any other major cities like SF, Boston, LA, etc.
The cost of living is similar, maybe NYC is little higher due to housing.
London is even more expensive than NYC in my experience.
A bowl of ramen in London = 12 pound
A bowl of ramen in NYC = $12
Last edited by hollandog; 08-28-2014 at 01:41 PM..
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