What is the minimum cost of living in NYC per year?

Question

Thinking of moving to the city without a job.

Answer 1

I moved here without a job a few years ago, and I spent almost all of the $7,000 I had saved before I got my first paycheck. Moving into a place in New York costs a lot more than it does most places, especially if you want to find a place on your own- you'll almost certainly have to use a broker, and they'll charge you 12-15% of the annual rent just for showing you an apartment you found on Craigs List. And that's before the security deposit and first/last month's rent.
There are plenty of cheap neighborhoods, but they are cheap for a reason. I stayed in Bushwick, Brooklyn when I first got here, which is supposed to be very "up and coming". It cost me about $500/month to rent a room in a very sketchy area. I was itching to move away as soon as I got there. I live in a much nicer part of Brooklyn now (Park Slope) and pay about $900 a month with utilities for a small bedroom in a nice apartment. Living expenses vary a lot from neighborhood to neighborhood. My rent now is on the higher end for Brooklyn, but I live in one of the nicest areas outside of Manhattan. To live in a decent neighborhood in Brooklyn or Queens, you should plan on spending at least $700 a month for rent. To live in Manhattan, that will be more like at least $1000. If you're not picky and don't mind the sketch factor/long commute in the rougher neighborhoods, you can pay as little as $500.
As for other expenses, that depends a lot on you. If you cook and don't go out a lot, you'll find that there are plenty of free fun things to do in this city. But going out in New York is very expensive and difficult to avoid if you have any sort of social life.
Plenty of poor people survive in New York, but I doubt that's the experience you'd move here to have. To afford to do fun things and live in a fun neighborhood, you'll want to make at least $40,000 a year- and that's if you don't mind living with roommates in Brooklyn or Queens and you know how to cook and stick to a budget. To live in the heart of a trendy neighborhood like the East Village or the Meat Packing District, double that number.
Good luck! New York is a wonderful place to live in spite of the expense.

Answer 2

If you're moving without a job, you'd better be independently wealthy! NYC is pretty much the only city where you can make $50-$100K a year and be considered "poor".

Rent can easily run you $2000 a month. Then there's utilities - which is another $500 or so. Then, I assume you'd like to eat. And I doubt you'd want to sit home and do nothing every night....

Answer 3

I moved here without a job and only $3,000.

I've been here almost two years now. I started at a part time retail job to make some money, while I looked for something full time. I was making $18,000 and that was enough for rent and food only. I basically didn't have a social life.

Now I'm making mid-40s and I'm surviving comfortably.

Answer 4

Okay..... At least.... AT LEAST $1600.00/ month. And even then it would be very very tight. And it would depend on if you could even find a place to live that is reasonable enough. GET A JOB ASAP

Answer 5

get a job or rich friend that will put up with you

Answer 6

I would say, maybe 15 thousand dollars

Answer 7

$15,000-20,000.