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If we are talking about Manhattan, you can't buy a 2-bed 2-bath condo on $200K income. If this is not middle class, what is it? Besides, I got the impression that this income is for two people. The guy was not asking if he can survive, he wanted to know what kind of lifestyle he can afford. Yes, he can rent a decent 2-bedroom apartment, he can spend $200 on dinner from time to time but he will not be shopping at Saks or driving a Porsche.
Last edited by KB4; 03-02-2009 at 05:43 PM..
Reason: typo
Whether you are actually part of the upper middle class is not based on whether or not you can afford to live what you think is an "upper middle class lifestyle" in NYC. "Upper middle class lifestyle" is 100% subject to people's lack of knowledge of how they are living compared to the rest of the city and the rest of the nation and serves to confuse the issue of who is part of the upper middle class.
On the subject of economic class, it means nothing to me that someone with an upper middle class household income cannot afford a 2/2 apartment in Manhattan. Economic class focuses on your income/assets compared to everyone else, NOT on what your money can buy in a given place. Don't confuse the issues.
Interesting thread...of course it depends on the lifestyle you trying to achieve and the state of your financial affairs when starting in NY.
If single, no debt, healthy, has saved up a good chunk of cash (or has access to it), living a modest lifestyle, then $200K will be nice.
If...entering NYC with tons of debt; have kids; are not a trust fund kid or have access to Daddy's millions or summer cottage; want to send your kids to a decent school; have to work twice as hard to get the $200K gig, then guess what America? NYC on $200K is not going to be a walk in the park. The city is the tax capital of the world--at least it felt that way.
I miss NYC and would love a pad there, but only if I am so rich I can afford 6...
Hi, I was wondering if anybody in the forum who made around $200K a year if they could give me a general idea of what kind of lifestyle one could expect on that income?
I'm married with a wife and am around 25 years old with zero debt if that makes a difference.
At $200k per year, you are roughly netting $11,000 per month. (depending upon deductions, healthcare, 401k, etc.)
An awesome 2 bedroom apartment in a wonderful neighborhood in Manhattan would run around $5-$6k per month. Add in regular utilities, couple credit cards, car loan/insurance, that's another $2k, most likely. Then there's $4k to "play" with.
Even though money gets sucked up FAST in NYC, $1000 play money per week is a damn good living.
Whether you are actually part of the upper middle class is not based on whether or not you can afford to live what you think is an "upper middle class lifestyle" in NYC. "Upper middle class lifestyle" is 100% subject to people's lack of knowledge of how they are living compared to the rest of the city and the rest of the nation and serves to confuse the issue of who is part of the upper middle class.
On the subject of economic class, it means nothing to me that someone with an upper middle class household income cannot afford a 2/2 apartment in Manhattan. Economic class focuses on your income/assets compared to everyone else, NOT on what your money can buy in a given place. Don't confuse the issues.
exactly...because for example, if u take 30K anywhere you're not going to be living like a king. for me it all comes down to tax brackets.
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Interesting thread. As someone from the other coast I will chime in here. $200,000 is not much these days. Is it middle class? Depends what you consider the middle I guess. Kind of need to put things in to perspective though. Someone wanted to know how come the OP had no debt when he is making those kind of numbers. If you were making $200,000 would you be in debt?
One thing that I havent seen mentioned was how much you are planning on saving? We save about 30% of our gross income, so our net income after savings per month is about 6K.
This gets us a 1 bdrm in the UWS. (2800/mth). So the rest of the 3200/mth goes to food, entertainment and student loan payments.
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