What's the minimum salary needed to live in Manhattan comfortably?

[ringmastery]

$75k/yr? $100k/yr?

Is it possible to live there on less than $50k a year?

The rents I've seen are outrageous. The only thing more outrageous are the apartment prices. $500k buys you a studio.

[JanMichael]

1. Look at this site and you tell me. Housing Wage is a good barometer.

http://www.nlihc.org/oor2003/

Aw shucks, I'll get it. http://www.nlihc.org/oor2003/data.php?getstate=on&getmsa=on&msa%5B%5D=newyork&state%5B%5D=NY

That's for the NYC MSA, not just Manhattan.

"The Housing Wage in New York is $18.87. This is the amount a full time (40 hours per week) worker must earn per hour in order to afford a two-bedroom unit at the area's Fair Market rent. This is 366% of the minimum wage ($5.15 per hour). Between 2002 and 2003 the two bedroom housing wage increased by 3.48%."

The Area Median Income is $58,459.

[scarlet_owl]

3. I saw something about homeless folks in NYC,

and they had this one guy talking about how he rented a part of an underground stairwell for what my husband and I pay in rent here in Champaign each month! He pays $500 a month to be homeless in New York.

[soleft]

4. That's assuming you have no debts kids or other sig expenses

I just had to sell my car because I could no longer afford to have a car and live in NY. The good news is you don't really need a car in NY - at least, I'm hoping.

[JanMichael]

6. True but since that's an unknown the basis is the Rent Wage.

One could always do the math on hourly debt payment and add that to the standard wage.

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

24. Nah, you don't ... it is the ultimate luxury though.

But quite a PITA to keep.

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

23. Also, remember that lots and lots of people are in

rent controlled and stabilized apartments or live with roommates, which lowers the actual cost of housing.

This number is bogus.

[Red_Storm]

2. You can live very close to Manhattan.................

In parts of Brooklyn and Queens and pay at least half the amount of rent that you would pay in the city..........Is it possible to live in Manhattan on less than 50k a year ? Sure , it's possible but it could make life tough in a lot of ways...........

[tridim]

5. I was easily able to commute from Queens

on $42k/yr. Rent was $700 for a fair sized one bedroom. All of my coworkers who lived in Manhattan lived in micro-studios with roommates. No way I could do that.

[Red_Storm]

7. that's always another option..........

living with one or a few roomates but don't know if you'd be down with that.........

[ikojo]

8. This may sound like a stupid question...but are there

many Jews in Queens? What about synagogues? Since I don't have a car I'd want something within easy bus or walking distance. When I think of Jewish New York I tend to think of Manhattan and Brooklyn. Is Brooklyn affordable?

I'd LOVE to live in NYC and if Queens is more affordable that sounds like an option.

[ringmastery]

9. this might help

http://www.geocities.com/mplaut2/ujafed1.html

The Bronx has approximately 45,000 Jews, and Staten Island has 42,000 Jews. Brooklyn had the largest Jewish population at 456,000, followed by Manhattan with 243,000. Since there were 171,000 Jewish households in Brooklyn and 155,000 in Manhattan, Brooklyn households are clearly much larger. In Queens there were 186,000 Jews and 87,000 households. In Nassau County there were 221,000 Jews and in Westchester 129,000. Suffolk County had 90,000.

[ikojo]

10. Thanks a lot for the link.

Wow! There are more HOUSEHOLDS of Jews in Queens than the number of Jews in all of St Louis county (60,000). How they go about figuring this out I don't know.

[Red_Storm]

12. There are many Jewish neighborhoods.......

in Queens and Brooklyn.......... Are Queens and Brooklyn affordable? well, it depends how much money you can afford to pay in rent.......but there are many areas in Queens and Brooklyn that are close to the city ... and you do not need a car to live in NYC (plenty of buses, trains and taxis) and in most areas in the outer boroughs.........

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

22. Yes, lots of Jews in Queens

for sure

[sleipnir]

11. Yeah, you can make it with $30,000 a year w/credit cards

If you don't mind running up about 4k in credit card debt, you can have a good time in NYC (Queens/B'klyn) for at least 3 years. Just remember, you'll have to pay that 4k back sometime. Lots of friends of mine have done this, they figure the experience is worth the interest charges and the hassle of having to pay back the money.

I only make about $33,000 a year and I do rather well here...but I just moved a month ago...and I'm not afraid to run up a little credit card debt, ie, 1 or 2k...

[Jerseycoa]

13. Comfortably

$100,000

:wow:

[XanaDUer]

14. Yes, you can do it with 25 grand/yr, IF

you have a rent-controlled apartment.

We did, gigantic four rooms with French windows between each room, one floor up. The kitchen was almost as big as the apartment I now have. The ceilings were so high you had to extend a broom and your arm to touch it.

We were lucky.

[ringmastery]

15. how do you get a rent-controlled apartment?

[tjdee]

17. Luck?

I'm interested to know this too, but I think that's going to be the answer.

[sleipnir]

18. Yeah, real tough..

You have to wait for someone to move out or die (seriously) and then the landlord is allowed to raise the rent to market value, and they must rent it out again, but it's subject to the rent control increases each year. Or you share with some one and when they move out, you control the apartment due to NYC squatter laws (yes, it's true.)

[XanaDUer]

21. Heh, heh

having smart-ass peasant grandparents who get an apartment in NYC in the 1930's, and getting into it with them.

Also, having balls helps if the landlord wants you out. The ability to get through the massive maze of NYC housing authority.

Okay, the landlord wants you out of your gigantic , 350/mo Manhattan apartment, right? He can make three teensy apartments out of it, and charge $2500/mo. to some poor slob from the Midwest.

They send a detective to see what is going on, and he meets you in the hall and tries to give you a hard time. You look at him and say, "Go F*** your mother, I don't have to talk to you" and keep moving along.

Also, having an attorney relative helps. If a family member is disabled , all the better. And having total recall (and being a paralegal) of all the NY housing laws also helps , in case you have to quote chapter and verse to a recalcitrant landlord who tells the super to not send heat to your apartment in winter.

This is why , if you can make it in New York, New York, you can make it anywhere. Just like the song says.

God I miss it.

[private_ryan]

27. you have to kill someone who is renting one of them

and then start killing the thousands who are waiting for them. I heard it's next to imposible, no one moves out.

[tjdee]

16. A friend of mine lives in Manhattan for $550/mo. in a studio.

By himself.

He knows he is one lucky SOB. I'm imagining its rent controlled, but I didn't want to be nosy, LOL!

[BurtWorm]

19. If he told you he paid $550/mo., he wouldn't have a problem

telling you whether or not it's rent-controlled. Everyone talks about whether their apartment is rent-controlled, stabilized, Mitchell-Lama, or what have you. People who have rent control are only too pleased to tell you. (We're rent stabilized. We pay less than $700 for a 1-bedroom my wife has lived in since the 1970s on West End Avenue. It's a little small for three people and two cats, but we get by.)

[BurtWorm]

20. When I first moved to NY, I got by on $17,500!

I can hardly believe it. I had roommates and very modest needs. I lived a block away from here on 98th Street and Bewteen West End and Riverside Drive.

[Jerseycoa]

25. In 1970s

I had a 5500 sq. ft. loft in SoHo for $500. Imagine?

[Rabrrrrrr]

26. I was able to do it, but I"m lucky with a rent stabalized apartment

And I didn't need to bring in a roommate or anything do it.

But the price of being able to do that is being willing to live in a shitty neighborhood, which I do. I have a wonderful huge 3 bedroom apartment, and thankfully in a building with a fantastic landlord, but the surrounding neighborhood, while really quite safe, is otherwise a very difficult place to live because the people can't control their stereos, their littering, and their vandalism.

But, I'm big on space and convenience, and this place is huge, and very convenient. So we put up with the filth and the noise.

I'm in harlem, by the way.

But for $50K a year, one cannot live in midtown or the village or upper west side or any other really cool place, unless one is willing to share with roommates, or live in a very small studio.

So when you say "To live comfortably", it really, truly depends on your definition opf comfortably, and how much you're willing to compromise.

To be truly comfortable, and not have to make compromises, I'd say you'd have to earn at least $100K, since landlords want you to earn at least 40 times your monthly rent, and you aren't gonna get a decent apartment (but remember - I like space) in a decent nieghborhood for under $2,500 a month. But if you're happy with a 700 sq. ft. studio, you can get that in a nice area for $1,500. Or if you luck out and find one of the few rent stabalized apartments in a nice area, maybe for less than $1,000.

Rent in this city is insane.

And please note, I'm talking purely about Manhattan. Brooklyn, Bronx, and Queens have a lot of nice places with much lower rents. But it's just not the same as actually living in "the city", which is manhattan. :-)