Is NYC worth it?

Well what do you enjoy? What are you looking for in a city or town? “Worth it” depends on what you value. For me, yes, for others, maybe not. Can help give a better answer if you ask some more specifics. 

One thing to bear in mind is the hidden cost of living in Texas or Florida - having a car. You have to pay for the car itself, gas, insurance, parking (possibly at your office and apartment), maintenance, repairs, etc which can easily add up to over $1000 a month.

Is it worth it, in your 20s, Single, then
Ab-so-fucking-lutely!

Given your question, you have never lived there. Keep in mind, not having previous experience in the city makes living there attractive from a resume standpoint. In almost all other respects, it is not worth it given how much it has changed since COVID hit (socially and financially).

Conclusion, you’re going to move there if you have the opportunity so here are my rules to the city:
1) live there for 1-3 years then gtfo.
2) don’t pretend to be a “New Yorker”, it’s repulsive to both new yorkers and non new yorkers.
3) Don’t pretend like you actually work hard, you work in an air conditioned building so it’s not that bad relative to people who actually make the city run.
4) Keep your head about you with women, don’t seriously date transplants.
5) if it’s less than $20, don’t worry about it.
6) the secret to the city: be a winner, don’t be an ass. Have found that native manhattanites are generally much nicer (or just less rude) to people than the tourists and the transplants. Usually you don’t expect a native born, you might think they’re soft relative to your experience. They learned that being nice retains your character and keeps you close to your values. Do the same and you will retain your inner compass and character. Forget that you will be lost faster than it takes you to read this post.

Just honest advice here. Good luck, have fun.

I’ve been to 23 countries and hundreds of cities around the world and NYC is by far the best city in the world. I lived there for 4 years and then had to move, but shall return one day.

Living in New York City is living in Rome at the height of the Roman Empire.

I am hoping to move back in the future to NYC.  There is nothing else like the city in the world.

Depends on your personality, personally speaking, I don't like any big cities or cities in general since the people tend to never smile, are always in a hurry, tend to be rude, don't even say hello to their neighbours, etc. But if you like going out and dating then it can be very good OP. 

I am just waiting to earn enough money so that I can go buy some land in the middle of nowhere (at least 3 hours away from any other human being) with a wood cabin and live isolated from society till I die, but hey to each his own. 

Florida and TX are jokes compared to NYC for finance jobs. Also these states tend to have hidden costs Florida has insane flood insurance for instance that doesn't get talked about. Also stuff like medical care and schools are far worse there.

You mentioned immigrants unless you are Hispanic NYC will have better communities for immigrants. My cousins live in Houston and there are tons of Indians there but the quality of goods in NYC metro area far outpace the Indian stuff in Houston.

I can't stand the hype over the sunbelt.  I have not seen every city in that region but the ones I have been to were pretty miserable.  The sunbelt cities I have been to usually have a few cool things to do in the center and then after that it's just the same endless suburbs copy pasted with McDonalds, Walmart, giant parking lots, and insane heat coming from the asphalt.  Packed full of people but you can't go for a walk because everything is made for cars.

If I wanted to live in a lower cost of living area I would get a remote job move to a small rural town in upstate NY or New England.  Hopefully remote jobs still exist in 5-10 years.

You have to realise that your situation in NY may be different from what you've been advised here. You can't draw conclusions from advice, you have to go there and build up your experience of living in this city. You may or may not get lucky. I know a guy who moved to NY with a lot of savings and big ambitions, but after two months he left there for his hometown with no money at all. Make your own conclusions, be smart, watch others and don't make their mistakes.

I would 100% recommend to start off your career in NYC. Whether it makes sense to stay long-term is a different story and depends on multiple factors. 

I can relate to the immigrant mentality - I moved to NYC after college with basically no money (other than some pocket change from summer minimum wage jobs that I had to fork over as security deposit for my first apt). I had a FT banking job lined up, but the high COL was definitely really stressful and daunting at first. What I learned was the $$$ you give up to pay taxes, rent, etc. ends up being pennies in the long run if you play your cards right. 

Couple thoughts on the upsides/downsides:

1) People/Network (professional, personal, romantic) is unparalleled and can't really be replicated. NYC tends to attract ambitious people in every field. (not just finance/consulting/law) - the best in food/hospitality, bartenders, fashion, art, etc. This is very valuable in making you a more worldly person (coming from someone who grew up in a suburb with very little "culture"), but also makes your standards for what you expect out of people/life quite high (this is both an upside and downside). Quality of the dating pool is generally (IMO) way higher as well, as long as you find someone with similar values (this is what I did - from what I've seen in other cities, would have been more difficult (but not impossible) to find someone of similar caliber unless I went back to business school at HBS/GSB lol). 

2) Work your tail off and get some exposure early - the best way to learn any business is by doing. If you believe it takes 10,000 hours to master something, then that means if you work 9-5, 40 hours a week, it'll take you five years to get to a basic competency. If you work 60, 70, 80 hours a week, you'll get there in 2-3 years. Embrace the suck because in your early 20's you honestly shouldn't have many obligations anyway, so get what you can out of your time in NYC (this comes into play in my next point). 

3) Figure out if you want to stay long term - for many people on certain career tracks (law partner, banking, it makes sense to stay even after you get married or start a family. If you have a partner who can stay at home, or family close by that can help, that pays huge dividends (or if you want to be a power couple and pay a nanny/private school etc.) That said, it's not for everyone (myself included). That said, NYC will always be there. The fact that I can visit whenever I want and still feel like I know the city like the back of my hand is really great.

4) If you end up not wanting to stay, you can move to another market, and you should still be leaps and bounds ahead of your peers. Since I left NYC (now split my time between West Coast and Sunbelt), I noticed that thanks to my experience, there has been minimal drop off in my ability to 1) initially command higher responsibility/title/comp than some of my peers (most started in smaller markets), 2) present more fluently/professionally due to the additional time on task mentioned in #2 above (this is key for promotions), 3) leverage a wider network (I can just pick up the phone and call an old buddy). Obviously this is less of a differentiator in other big cities (LA, SF, Chicago, etc.) but if you trade down to smaller firms or boutiques this still comes into play.

All that said, in this season of my life (in my 30s now) I absolutely love being in TX/CA for lifestyle/tax/family reasons, but I wouldn't trade my experience in NYC for anything. I know lots of people are still on the WFH trend, "why would you pay all that rent/taxes to do something you can technically do from anywhere" but I think that is pretty short-sighted for all the reasons mentioned above.