<p>I worked it out with my daughter a while back to figure out how much she would need to make to live in NYC after graduation. I think the number came to around 80-100 for herself. </p>
<p>We lived in NYC for 15 years before we move to NJ. I was paying $400/week for a nanny 10 years ago, now it's more like 800/week. Private school cost is 30,000/year/child. I do not know that many people in Manhattan that send their kids to public schools. Housing cost is probably 6000-10000/mon (rent or mortgage plus maintenance). Of course, if you throw in lessons for kids...Just private school, rent, nanny would cost you close to 250-300,000 before tax money (OP did say comfortably). Surprisingly I though the food cost (going out) was a lot better in the city than in NJ. There were a lot of more good, reasonably priced restaurants in NYC than out in the burbs.</p>
<p>My D lives in Brooklyn and is finishing her two year Teach For America work. She lived for one year on the West side of Manhattan and then moved to Brooklyn. She teaches in The Bronx. She earns about $43,000. We have not helped financially except for plane tickets home. Her rent is $1,100 to share a large 4 bedroom flat on a great street/neighborhood. She paid $930 in Manhattan to share a 2 bedroom but her room was tiny and the apartment was crowded. She loves being there but is not seeing it as a permanent home. (we hope she comes back to the PNW!)
Her main expenses are food, food, food. With commuting she has long day (5:45-6:00) and works on prep in the evening.</p>
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Oh, I don't know about that. I'm a lawyer who's worked in midtown Manhattan, on the East Side, ever since I graduated from law school in 1979, and I bring lunch to work and eat it at my desk almost every day!</p>
<p>The monthly rent I paid for a one-bedroom apartment in a new building at 72nd and 3rd in 1979: $688. The rent that one would probably have to pay for a similar apartment in that area now: maybe $3000, or even more?</p>
<p>There's the Upper East Side, and the Upper East Side. You're not usually going to find recent college graduates (unless they're wealthy) living in the 60's and 70's and even the '80's, between Fifth and, say, Lexington. Further east, and further north, up in Yorkville or what used to be the Czech and Hungarian neighborhoods in the '70's, yes. Sharing an apartment with a roommate or roommates, often. Sometimes, though, the location isn't so convenient for people who live as far east as First or York. It can be a very long walk on a cold day, or carrying a heavy bag, to the subway on Lexington! </p>
<p>But I'm no expert anymore. I grew up on 67th and Lexington, where my father still lives, but I haven't lived in New York City since 1987, when I got married and moved to New Jersey. I'd love to move back within the next couple of years, after my son is settled in college, but am not sure I can afford it. I certainly couldn't afford to live on the Upper East Side anymore! I probably would need $200-$300K per annum, and the ability to spend, say, a million dollars on an apartment. And I'm sorry to say I don't have either!</p>
<p>Donna
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Miranda Hobbes didn't bag her lunch.</p>
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read it from beginning to end before forwarding it to my daughter, who graduates from northwestern in a month, after which she plans on going to nyc, where she was offered a paid internship with the magazine she interned with this past spring, for TEN DOLLARS and hour!!!
r we biting our lower lips and trying to shut up?
yep.
but she thinks she will wait tables or something to supplement until an actual job can be procured.
so she graduates with honors from medil, one of the top journalism schools in the country, so she can go starve.
well, u r only young once, right?
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Well, if this makes you feel any better. My parents' good friend has a daughter who graduated from Yale 2 years ago (Poli Sci major.) She moved to NYC, worked odds & ends jobs, couldn't handle it, moved back to SF and worked as a temp somewhere. It's a precautionary tale for me for the past 2 years. She was one of the brightest girl growing up.</p>
<p>There are definitely places in NYC that are cheaper than the Upper Either Side. I live in Brooklyn Heights (also pretty expensive), but the outer parts of the outer boroughs are for sure less expensive. And, public trans is fabulous here. Don't aim so high the first time around. Plan to rent and then buy when you get more established. BTW, the big housing problems that are happening in the rest of the country seem to be a little less noticeable here, so I wouldn't count on finding cheap digs to purchase. Look in Queens, Staten Island, the Bronx and further into Brooklyn and you should be fine on a starting salary. I would look through CraigsList.</p>
<p>A friend of ours lived in an apt. in Astoria for many years and found it safe and affordable. Know it has gentrified in recent years, but there are still good places to be.</p>
<p>Urban gentrification works well for new graduates. A year ago, my S shared a newly renovated 3 BR on 125th St in Harlem for $900/mo, a few blocks from the Apollo theater, a half mile from Bill Clinton's offices, and steps from a very convenient express subway stop. He was in Times Square in l0 minutes flat.</p>