Minimum Salary to Live/Enjoy NYC

Just curious on those of you guys who are living in NYC currently - what do you think you would need to enjoy/live comfortable in this city?

I'm just curious since I know a lot of people run credit card debt their first year in banking - which seemed excessive to me, but I know a few guys who just know how to blow cash at 22. At 70k base, I've been able to save a ton, still rage 1-2 nights a week and have some discretionary spending as well. I like to eat well, and drink/go out on weekends pretty hard, but I've found myself to be in a pretty good financial position, despite how much this city costs. Obviously banking covers a lot of your expenses that would normally not be the case in a 9-5 job.

Just curious...

 

enjoy/live in NYC? 150k - nice apartment costs mucho dinero in NYC

also the cost of blow is becoming quite high

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$300,000. Net of tax. If you count Westchester: $175,000 net of tax.

Should be enough to make the mortgage payments on a decent apartment in NYC (say 3bed/2.5 bath).

"We are lawyers! We sue people! Occasionally, we get aggressive and garnish wages, but WE DO NOT ABDUCT!" -Boston Legal-
 
Erwe422:
holymonkey:
$300,000. Net of tax. If you count Westchester: $175,000 net of tax.

Should be enough to make the mortgage payments on a decent apartment in NYC (say 3bed/2.5 bath).

Where in Westchester is this? $175k net of tax is more than the median income for a family in Scarsdale.

Scarsdale. Tarrytown. Briarcliff. You name it.

Mortgage on a $1.2 mil house with 20% ($240k) down is about $5,800 at 6%. Property tax is $25-30k. Add in another $1k for car-related expenses (assuming you finance it). MTA pass costs $500 a month. $175k (~$14,500/month) doesn't go too far in Scarsdale. And trust me, at $1.2 mil, you're not living in those gated mansions on Heathcote.

"We are lawyers! We sue people! Occasionally, we get aggressive and garnish wages, but WE DO NOT ABDUCT!" -Boston Legal-
 

My friend is a phd student at columbia and he seems to live fine on his very crappy little stipend. And I don't think rent for a crappy little morningside heights apt is too much.

You can live comfortably with $50k if you're by yourself, no dependents, live in a studio, and drink rarely.

Shit gets expensive when you want a nicer apartment and want to go to clubs every week.

 

How the heck did you manage to lump Scarsdale and Tarrytown together? Tarrytown isn't exactly known for their mcmansions. The areas you're describing sound like Scarsdale, Bronxville, Chappaqua, and maybe to a lesser extent Pound Ridge and Bedford. When you say "You name it." I think Mt. Vernon, Peekskill, New Rochelle, Portchester, etc etc and then I laugh (although to be fair there's no amount that would make places like that enjoyable for me). I mean, my parents live in northern Westchester (think worse than Bedford but definitely better than a place like Peekskill) and they made do with making $100k combined pretax at their best and it wasn't like they struggled to make ends meet. Now, if they made $175k after tax that would've been ballerific and then some.

And an MTA pass does not cost $500 a month unless you decide to buy a peak ticket onboard in which case they'll jack you up for $20 a pop. At the station I use it's $240 although I believe it scales based on distance. I think a monthly from the end of the Harlem line is like $330 a month.

 

Fact is, Westchester is an expensive place to live (COL calculator I used put it at higher than Manhattan-but we all know they use median numbers and the median house in Scarsdale is much bigger than the median apartment in Manhattan). And yes, when I said "You name it" I meant the higher end of the scale in Westchester, not Mt Vernon and Yonkers.

Let's run the numbers, shall we?

Family of 4, Scarsdale nice house costs about $1.2 mil Mortgage payment at 20% down and 6%: $5,800/mo Property tax: about $30k so $2,500/mo MTA pass (x2): $500 (assuming the pass is round trip and not just one way)/mo Food/toiletries/necessities: $2,500/mo Cars/related expenses: $1,000/mo/carx2=$2,000/mo (gas $100, insurance $200, payments $700) That comes to a whopping $13,300. This doesn't include vacations, savings, incidentals, private school (if you're into that kind of thing). $175k in Scarsdale is not a lot of money no matter how you spin it. For a single person, yeah, I guess it's a lot. You have $1,200 to buy tech toys, get your clothes dry cleaned, save for retirement, save up an emergency fund, finance vacations, and do whatever else you need to do. At two $175k incomes net of tax, there's some breathing room.

I don't want to get into a pissing match with you, but I have an extremely strong aversion to risk and I need at least 20% of what I spend left over in cash (in other words, am willing to spend at most 80% of my net of tax income-this is net of 5-10% 401k contributions btw). Sounds excessively conservative to you guys that thrive on risk but I don't. So at $175k net, I have to make do on $140k. Financial security is part of enjoying living somewhere.

"We are lawyers! We sue people! Occasionally, we get aggressive and garnish wages, but WE DO NOT ABDUCT!" -Boston Legal-
 
Best Response

Consider looking at the surrounding areas (Hoboken, Jersey City, parts of Brooklyn) where your money may go a little further as well. For what I rented a true One Bedroom in Hoboken at, I would have paid at minimum, close to 150%, of what I paid to rent my place in the city. For the record, I hate the term because a bedroom should be considered the definition of a "true bedroom", but a true bedroom means that the room in question has a door separating it from the rest of the residence, no access from other parts of the apartment (ie the partition wall against the living room that still has an opening because it's against the heater and exterior wall so it can't be fully enclosed), a window and a closet. You might find a lot of "One Bedrooms" that are actually studios. Depending on where you look, and I can't speak for rental rates, but figure you're going to pay for a true one bedroom, somewhere in the area of 2300/mo. You might find a studio for 1800-2000. If you're looking at a two bedroom (True 2 Bedroom vs. a Partitioned 2 Bedroom because there is a huge difference.), I would figure you're going to pay about 2750-3000 depending on where you are. You also need to figure out what your commute is going to be. When I lived in Hoboken, my commute was 30 minutes door to door and the Path dropped me off within a 5 minute walk to where I had to go once I got into Manhattan. So consider that as well. You will ultimately pay for location, no matter where you are.

You can do 70/80K and live a decent lifestyle but there is a lot that factors into your costs. You say a "normal life" now, but you don't know what it will be 2-3 months into the job.

 

I have to agree with Frieds on this one. I have friends who have graduated and simply couldn't afford to live in nyc. They lived at home for a year and then found roommates in Hoboken, they're right down the street from the PATH, have great restaurants, and have great views!!

 

a pretty underrated place in nyc is hell's kitchen / midtown west in a walkup apt building. you can find true 2 br's for ~3k/mo and depending on where you're working, can save you a considerable amt of time vs queens/bklyn/ues.

 

I'm in the range you mentioned and you could probably live in NYC for less depending on your student loan situation. I give my friend Sallie Mae about $600 per month and am still able to have a pretty comfortable lifestyle. That being said, I live in Brooklyn (not the hood, very safe neighborhood) and have 2 roommates so my rent is much cheaper than what a studio in Manhattan would be. You might not be ale to save as much as you want, but you'll still be able to put a good amount of money away.

If you don't save, don't go out, and don't have expensive student loans to pay back then you can probably get away with living on 50k. Then again I have a roommate who gets by on 35k without any help from daddy, no clue how he does it.

 

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