Quote: (07-25-2015 06:19 PM)drasticallyspeaking Wrote:
I'm not doing so now - it is a hypothetical based on salary ranges for my field which are at around 100-120k / yr in NYC and assuming I would live in one of the outer boroughs with roommates.
Whether you believe me or not (and whether its true for your particular field or not), by my calculation I can still save more in a year in NYC (and a few other cities in the US) than in a city of 500,000, even after accounting for higher cost of living.
+1. It's really a bit of an issue nationwide I think, that young people aren't making enough across the board to really buy property so rent is consistently high proportionate to salary.
I know that in DC a decent to good studio is $2000+ a month, and a bad one won't be any less than $1500. Many young people I run into on the Hill in DC are making 32K a year as a staffer, and the non-profit types are making less. In NYC everyone is making 60k+ if they aren't working at fast-food restaurants, so the $3k on that studio isn't as bad as 2k on 32k a year.
Even further, I would imagine that in cities that generally have less opportunity for high-paying jobs, such as St. Louis and Oklahoma City, will still charge around $1000 for a decently nice studio. If one is making the standard 40-50k in these parts the ratio that much better.
Let's say one is making 80k a year in NYC and paying 2.5k/month for a studio. That's a pretty low salary for NYC so it'd be a young kid working in consulting or maybe even entry finance. 30k of the salary is going to rent, or 38 percent. I think bonuses and taxes will generally offset when considering all fields, although sometimes the bonuses will be significant.
Then that same consultant is making 50k in Oklahoma City and is paying $1k/month for rent (probably a nicer place, but worse women so I'm sticking with it). That's 24% on rent, which is a bit better. I'd still imagine that there are less 50k jobs in OKC than 40k jobs, which is 30% on rent. Oh, and then you'd need a car most likely in OKC.
NYC food and drink is no more expensive, for me at least, than DC/Boston. I have no experience with West Coast stuff.
As with every place, you can find roommates to make the cost a bit more bearable.