This is so laughable. The median salary in NYC is $50,000 per household. This includes tons of people who work in Manhattan (I've met more people who work in Manhattan and live in other boroughs than otherwise - the daily commute numbers back that up.) As another poster mentioned, even just Manhattanites make $70,000 a year for the household. I personally know many people living in Manhattan making far less.
$150k is most definitely upper middle class. I grew up in Queens my whole life and until I started working professionally, never met someone who made more than $150,000 a year.
You were almost there, but your last sentence is ridiculous. The median household income for families with children in NYC was $50,800 in 2014. Even for Manhattan alone that figure is $99,000.
It is certainly "doable" to raise a family on $125,000 a year or less in NYC as evidenced by the fact that millions of people are doing so.
The median income for the US is higher than the median income you provided for NYC, therefore it seems reasonable to assume your numbers are incorrect.
I then provided rent prices for an expensive neighborhood of NYC to illustrate how a $100k+ income can disappear on rent alone. A $100k salary is not a lot in NYC.
Even with rents of $4000 a month, $250k is a fantastic salary. The median average family income in NYC, btw, is $50,000, and the average rent is similar to SF.
The median household income in NYC is $70,663. We're talking about Manhattan mainly for this job, so let's double that. That's still less than the 150k salary, and this is a single person, not a household.
I promise you, you're not going to be homeless at 150k.
Two people can live incredibly comfortably for $60,000 a year total. Just live in a studio in cheaper Manhattan or a one bedroom in queens. The median family income for nyc is about 54000.
These salaries for NY look high to me, and there’s almost no variation based on experience. Whereas in my experience hiring here, entry level is $60-80k and seniors command around $150k.
Now, that’s for startups. Banks will pay twice that.
I’m wondering what the medians look like - the means being displayed may be distorted by the finance and Google outliers.
Edited to add: $60k is a middle class salary for a single person in NYC. (Though people who are unaccustomed to small apartment living / the idea of singles having roommates / the idea that middle class means having to compromise on some expenses will complain otherwise.) I wouldn’t want to try to raise a family of 4 here on that income, though.
$130k is definitely upper middle class for a single person, but a family of 4 on that income is going to have to live way outside the hip areas of the outer boroughs in order to be able to afford housing.
Generalized statistics are quite reasonably applied to NYC. The NYC average wage (37k) is only about 10k more than the national median, 28k.
Yes, the wealthiest people in the world live in NYC, but the average New Yorker is not substantially wealthier than the average American, by any measure. He is, in fact, poorer, thanks to cost of living. There are census tracts in NYC where the median income is under $10,000.
In NYC the median rent is like 4200. MetroCard, gas, electric, internet take you to 4600, that's before you've eaten anything. Cocktails cost 15 bucks, beers 9, appetizers 20 dollars and entrees 30-40. Coffee costs 6-7 plus tip, taxis anywhere cost a fortune now and Ubers as well. 250k with fed, state, city tax, 401k and health deductions leave you with 5500-5600 every two weeks.(edited)
But god forbid you do anything in life but eat and pay rent. Most people buy clothes, furniture and go on vacation.
I'm sorry you feel poor. There's recent Bloomberg article titled, why 300k feels like 100k, outlining the insane cost of living of cities like NY and SF.
No need for 'trust fund kid' attacks, which by the way are based on incorrect information. Do you live in NYC?
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