How much money should I spend on rent in NYC?

1st year MF associate moving to NYC from a regional office post-covid, trying to figure out where I'm going to live in the city. If my all in comp is in the $300-350k range what's reasonable to spend on rent? $4-5k? More? I'm coming from a relatively low COL area so I'm used to things like laundry in unit, all appliances, walk-in closets, etc. and the only places that seem to have all those are very expensive. 

7 Comments
 

I feel like $3.5K - $4K is a good sweet spot, but that's if you want to live far below your means. By all means, ball out if you want to. 

 
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If you want all of that, you are looking at ~$4k minimum in the nicer/more desirable areas. I would say $5k should get you what you want, but keep in mind that probably won’t be comparable to what you had in a low COL area. The buildings in nyc are generally older and true “luxury” buildings are hard to come by. The more popular areas are expensive and so you don’t find many of the standard amenities you find in cities with lots of new construction. As an a example, when I was in a 1 bedroom it was ~550 sq ft, still didn’t have a washer/dryer but was ~$5.5k in a nicer area (did have nice outdoor space, great appliances, etc), but many times you are making a tradeoff (location, washer/dryer, amenities, outdoor space, etc), it is hard to “find it all”

One thing for you to consider is how much of your comp is base vs bonus and how sure you feel about the bonus. I think at $5k you should feel pretty comfortable (as long as you don’t have any large debts, help out family, etc). And as long as your W-2s show consistent income (at around $250k) you should have no problem qualifying per the nyc rules. 

 

This place looks cool - private outdoor space is real nice to have in NYC. Also, W/D in unit is a must. I’m a big fan of this location in the East Village. Lots of good places to go out and eat.

$4,425 / 3br - Dream Apartment! Duplex w/ private roofdeck & balcony, W/D, spacious! (East Village)

https://newyork.craigslist.org/mnh/apa/d/new-york-dream-apartment-duple…

Also, you could make one BR your bedroom, home office in another room and  in the third BR either a guest bedroom or a whole room as a walk in closet if you have so many clothes.

"If you always put limits on everything you do, physical or anything else, it will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them." - Bruce Lee
 

Yo what the fuck thats a 3 bed for that much??? Two beds ive been looking at for like 4k are not even close to as nice as that. Clearly I need to look at places on craigslist.

Dayman?
 

I wouldn’t trust Craigslist. Maybe that post is legit, but it doesn’t show up on StreetEasy (that’s always a flag), appears to be much nicer than all other units in a similar area (even though I wouldn’t call Avenue A a desirable location, it should still be comparable to the other stuff), and while no real obvious signs of a scam does have weird wording around needing to ask a few questions of prospective tenants (and if you google that number it doesn’t return any hits). 

 

Illum delectus id libero qui ut. Corrupti ipsa sit culpa laborum sint. Dolores nobis alias nihil.

"If you always put limits on everything you do, physical or anything else, it will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them." - Bruce Lee

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