How bad is the upper east side commute?

So I am thinking to live in the upper east side, because I might have to live by myself for the first several months, so I wanna save at least some $. However, I keep hearing that the commute is awful. Can someone shed some light? I will be working on around Wall St./Broad St.

13 Comments
 

My friend worked at Goldman, had to move downtown after a year, as he wanted every free minute he could get for himself.

Let's put it this way, if you work in IB you'll probably pull in $130k+ this year. Let's say living downtown will cost you an extra $5k/year vs. the UES. Believe me when I say, a few years out you won't miss the $5k, it's very little in the grand scheme.

 

the upper east side is cheaper than downtown? I thought that was the most expensive neighbourhood in terms of real estate in manhattan.

 

Upper East Side is great and quite expensive - if you aren't living in a dump. It does have plenty of crappy places to live as well as some of the most sought-after real estate in the city. To answer your question, it won't be that bad, but if you're working downtown and (presumably) you're starting fresh, you might want to consider some place a little closer to the office.

 

UES may have some expensive real estate, but in the overall rental market it is much cheaper than downtown. Especially for the younger crowd that is looking for 1-2 bedroom apts--the only people I know who live UWS or UES are Columbia students and people who are trying to save money, because you're going to pay a huge premium to live in SoHo, the Village, etc.

 

is expensive if you live in the real UES. that is, west of 3rd avenue between 60th and 79th street. the other places, Yorkville and spanish harlem where most of the kids live (higher than 90th st. or 1st ave) are cheaper but also farther away from the 6 train.

the 6 train blows by the way. especailly during rush hour. like you are going to need to get a running start to push your way onto that thing. if you work downtown, live downtown. financial district is cheap (comparably of course to the rest of new york). as is the hells kitchen area which will still be easier to get downtown since the subways on the west side are much better

 

I live in a different state, or will live in a different state soon, and the commute to Wall & Broad is hella better from there than from UES. If you were going to work in Midtown, different story.

UES isn't anywhere near cheap enough to make it worth the commute to Downtown.

 

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