$120,000 is the minimum salary to live alone in NYC. (rent, health insurance)

[acceptyourself]

Simply took the 40x rule requirement. Looked at the most desired areas in the city. Took the average studio price and multiplied that by 40.

$120,000

[bumblebyz]

Sounds like how much a well educated young professional should make. I guess the minimum qualification to live in the most desired parts of the city is to be a young well educated professional. Nothing wrong with that.

[Javawood]

If you want to live alone, then yeah I guess. I made SoHo work on half that with only 1 roommate in a large 2bd for the past year.

[Bronxguyanese]

Originally Posted by acceptyourself

Simply took the 40x rule requirement. Looked at the most desired areas in the city. Took the average studio price and multiplied that by 40.

$120,000

Thats not covering taxes, utilities, food college tuition payment. The average cost to live in NYC for a single person in a desirable neighborhood is probably around 150k a year.

[acceptyourself]

Originally Posted by Javawood

If you want to live alone, then yeah I guess. I made SoHo work on half that with only 1 roommate in a large 2bd for the past year.

really? wow.

[vision33r]

Originally Posted by Bronxguyanese

Thats not covering taxes, utilities, food college tuition payment. The average cost to live in NYC for a single person in a desirable neighborhood is probably around 150k a year.

Taxes will take away 40%, rent will take another 15-20%, food is another 7-8%, there's maybe ~20% of disposable income left.

Not much to get ahead, a 4-6 months layoff could mean getting kicked out of nyc.

[fluttereagle]

While 120k might sound like a good income, the take-home pay is only going to be only $1000 per week. That includes all the taxes, maxing out 401k, health insurance, etc. That means it's going to take 2 weeks of work to put a roof over your head assuming a $2000 per month studio. And those are getting harder to find; they just rented out a studio next to me for $2600 per month.

[EastBoundandDownChick]

I agree with Bronxguyanese. You really need 150K if you want to be in the most desirable areas.

[NOLA101]

That's stupid. People can share, or live in slightly less desirable areas. No one needs to live in a central, prime area.

I made 50k the first year I moved to NYC, and I was fine. Never had any money problems.

[fmatthew5876]

150K to live alone in a trendy neighborhood is probably about right. If you have kids however, god help you...