I am thinking about moving to Manhattan. How much do you think I need to make to survive?

Question

I want to live in the city but I don't mind having a roommate (or two). I would leave my car at home. I am single and have no pets. The reason I ask is because I am appying for jobs in NY and I don't know what salary I could live by on. For what I want to do a lot of jobs only want to pay $35,000. I don't know if I could survive on that in New York.

Answer 1

You definitely could survive on that in New York. It all depends on where you live and what you eat, etc.

If you have roommates (and on that income, expect 2 or more, depending on the neighborhood), you will have to deal with little privacy... but you'll gain a life in the city.

You can travel by foot or subway if you live far... There are plenty of places to live... but a lot of people choose to live in Brooklyn as it is cheaper.. and commute into Manhattan for their jobs...

I have a lot of advice on the topic as I've lived in Brooklyn before and worked in Manhattan while getting paid $16 an hour... IT CAN BE DONE!

Before I met my ex, He was bringing home about how much you're looking at. He managed to rent a room for about $500 a month in an artist loft. Had no issues there! Able to feed and clothe himself and play gigs and all that... led a pretty good life I'd say.

You'll be fine!

Feel free to e-mail me as well, I have tons of information.

Answer 2

I definitely don't think you can do it on less than $60,000. If you live with a roommate, expect to pay at least $1,000 a month in rent in Manhattan. If you live in Brooklyn or Queens, you may be able to live off of less.

It also depends upon what your other obligations are - do you have a lot of expenses? student loans? doctor's bills, etc? Make a budget, but also take into account that everything is more expensive in NY - everything from the yogurt you buy at the grocery store to rent to clothes to dinners and drinks out. A drink at a bar can easily cost you $10.

Answer 3

You can survive, but it would be a little lean for a a while. In manhattan you will most likely need 2 roommates and you need to share a 1 bedroom...shoudl be around 2500. You could get smaller, and thereby a little cheaper, but you save your self 500 in rent, but lose over 800in rent help. Therefore, if you found a 2500 apartment, and you split it 3 ways. your rent is a little over 800 a month, plus utilities and food...if you find a much smaller 1 bedroom, the rent goes to 1800, but then your share shoots to 900 and you get less room. Like I said, 35000 will get you by, but wont get you much else. As a side note, If you ever decide to bring your car, garage space is 300-1000 a month.

Answer 4

It's possible to survive on 35K but you'll really have to watch your expenditures. You may opt to live in one of the boroughs e.g. Brooklyn, it's better there now than, say, 10 years ago. You can find apartments there that cost about half for the same type of accommodations in Manhattan. The cost of living in NY is around twice that of most places in the US. It's an expensive city, but if you're very creative with your resources and willing to live on little more than just the basic necessities, you'll be okay.

Answer 5

It would be very difficult to live on 35k in NYC. You could probably pull it off in Hoboken, Jersey City, Queens or the Bronx.

Answer 6

You need to make minimum $70K to live in NYC. More if you don't have roommates. Most rents are in the neighborhood of $1500+ a month for studios - depending on where you are.

NYC is the only place where you can gross $100K and be considered poor.

Answer 7

Sell your car!

You don't need one in NYC. Even if you didn't use it, you would still have to pay for your insurance.
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