Where more money spent on transportation: NYC without car same as living with car in suburbs? (New York: apartments, rental)

[nycnyc11209]

Does it balance out?
If 1 Bed room cost $1500 in NYC area like Brooklyn, Bronx
And 1 Bed Room costs $1000 on suburb like Albany,NY/ Kansas City,MO + car,gas,maintence etc.
Does it balance out.

I Live in NYC. I am just wondering. Trying to relocate. How much would go on a car monthly? Unlimited metro card is $116 around NYC

[mhays25]

It's different in every city and for every person. But yes, it probably balances out a lot.

It's often said that "affordable" housing is 30% of gross income. But an alternate figure of 50% for housing and transportation would be more indicative.

The 30% figure is overgeneralized for a lot of reasons. It's using averages. Someone with kids, car, and debt will have a different dynamic than a single person without those things.

[NOLA101]

Obviously you spend much less on transportation living in NYC than living somewhere like Kansas City. But your housing costs will probably be higher in Kansas City.

So what is your question, exactly? Are you asking if the relative differences "cancel each other out"? It depends. If you want them to "cancel out", you can do so. Just find an apartment somewhere else where the difference in cost with the NYC apartment is equivalent between the difference between a montly Metrocard and monthly car costs (so car, insurance, gas, maintenance, etc.).

[sonarrat]

Figure operating costs will be about 50 cents a mile. It can be more or less depending on your point of entry, but that's a decent average. I carpool 35 miles to work, and I figure my ongoing costs are around $400/month. It would be substantially more than that if I was driving solo.

[charlygal]

Originally Posted by nycnyc11209

Does it balance out?
If 1 Bed room cost $1500 in NYC area like Brooklyn, Bronx
And 1 Bed Room costs $1000 on suburb like Albany,NY/ Kansas City,MO + car,gas,maintence etc.
Does it balance out.

I lived in NYC. I am just wondering. Trying to relocate. How much would go on a car monthly? Unlimited metro card is $116 around NYC

I lived in NYC and I now live in car country. Owning a car will always be more expensive.

Car payment $225
Insurance $85
Parking $75
Gas $60-$100
Assorted expenses, car washes, etc $25

[jackmccullough]

Your transportation expenses are likely to be higher if you own a car than if you use public transport, plus the occasional Zipcar, Uber, Lyft, or taxi in New York City.

Your overall cost of living is still likely to be higher in New York City. People who live there obviously believe it is worth it.

[Submariner]

I know people who drive and spend $200/month on their vehicle [gas, maintenance, insurance, inspections, tires, etc]. I know other people who have a hard time getting their vehicle costs below $800/month.

[Malloric]

Originally Posted by sonarrat

Figure operating costs will be about 50 cents a mile. It can be more or less depending on your point of entry, but that's a decent average. I carpool 35 miles to work, and I figure my ongoing costs are around $400/month. It would be substantially more than that if I was driving solo.

Even with car payments, mine are much less.

Gas is around $100/mo
Payment is $360
Insurance $125
Registration $12
Maintenance has been $0. 2/yr 24k included in purchase, oil changes included in purchase. Need filters and new tires soon. Maybe $600 mounted/balanced. They're close to worn so figure every two years. No real maintenance until 80k and minimal. $50/mo for the short term with tires.
$635/mo. Less than that as obviously the car came with tires which is by far the largest expense other than gas. Repairs/maintenance will go up but probably not that drastically before it's paid off.


About 35 cents a mile for me all in (@22k/yr). It'll go up a bit in years 4 and 5 as it starts needing some maintenance beyond oils and filters in year four and the likelihood of repair work goes up with age. After year 5, no more payments and it goes down drastically until repairs/maintenance eventually catch up. I tend to get rid of cars long before they catch up with payments but figure anything from 2-5 years. There's that whole hybrid thing waiting to go wrong but it's warrantied to 150k anyway which would get me to about year 7 in the highly unlikely event it needs to be replaced before then.

Residual/down were pretty much a wash. Put $5,000 down and sold my old car for $6,000. Similar vehicles, old one sold at 8 years 140k miles.

If you actual look at my costs you'll notice the issue pretty quick. My fixed costs are rounded $500/mo. That's just what it costs for it to sit there unused. The variable costs over the first two years has just been gas $100/mo, $150-200/mo going forward with things like consumables. For a new(er) car even if you drive a lot it's just mostly fixed costs. There's always that sweet spot once something is paid off and is still reliable. Depending on vehicle, maintenance, driving habits, number of miles that can lost a long time or not so long. At 20k/yr plus I certainly don't expect to get a whole lot more than 10 years of life out of the car. Above 150k there's the whole traction battery thing on mine (hybrid). I mean, it's a Toyota hybrid so failure rate is low unlike a Honda where they fail all the time. Maybe it goes to 300k, maybe not. I'll probably just replace it around 200k as I'd rather let someone else worry about that try and squeeze the last few good years out. I'd buy something else if I wasn't driving a lot. That's my currently dilemma. Now that I drive much less than I did due to changes in business, something with much higher variable costs that's more fun is fiscally much more palatable.

[victimofGM]

Not that simple. The factors will vary depending the type of vehicle you choose, insurance (price varies depending on company, level of coverage, your age, your sex, your area, miles driven per year, etc), as well as cost of necessary expenses like utilities and food. The prices of utilities and food will be different if living outside the city. Another thing to factor is would you be traveling within driving distance of vacation spots? With the right vehicle that's a tank (400 miles) or two (800 miles) of gas making it much cheaper than a bus or plane.

[RogerAnthony]

Originally Posted by NOLA101

Obviously you spend much less on transportation living in NYC than living somewhere like Kansas City. But your housing costs will probably be higher in Kansas City.

New York has some of the most expensive housing the the world. Kansas City is dirt cheap. The average one bedroom apartment in New York in $2,908 (Brooklyn is $2,165. The Bronx is $1,400). The average one bedroom apartment in Kansas City is $863.

Source: MyApartmentMap Apartment Rental Search. Map Based Listings of Apartments for Rent