The Price 20-Somethings Pay to Live in the City

My summary and thoughts: Living in NYC is amazingly expensive. When you're lower on the totem pole of the working world, your income doesn't reflect this greater expense on a percentage basis. Sometimes its worth it in the long term for additional opportunities and later career progress, but for millions it likely turns out to be a net loss compared to living somewhere more reasonable.<p>Its very possible to have an unpaid internship (whereas you might get paid minimally for the same internship in other cities) that lasts for months , where the employer has no intention of providing the possibility of fulltime employment at the end. This is exceedingly common in the recording industry. Everyone wants an intern, but no one cares to pay the best ones a fulltime wage afterward. Your living expenses may easily be 2-4x higher than where you came from.

(responding to cletus about New Jersey)<p>There is a cluster effect to our social lives that is just as important as the clustering effect that puts the epi-center of certain industries in particular geographic spots (for instance, the movie industry is centered in LA, the software startup industry is centered in the Valley, etc). To be specific: a lot of the parties that I want to go to are in Brooklyn, but none of them are in New Jersey. If I go to a party in Brooklyn, and then at 3 AM I am heading home, then for me getting home is just a 15-20 minute taxi ride. Whereas if I live in New Jersey, getting home from Brooklyn is at least an hour of trains and buses and walking.<p>This point would be moot if there were an equal number of parties in New Jersey that I wanted to go to (and therefore getting home to Brooklyn, from New Jersey, would also be a big ordeal) but there are none. I've never been invited to a party in New Jersey that I wanted to go to. Even when I lived in New Jersey, all the social events that I wanted to go to were either in Manhattan or Brooklyn. So, for me, it makes a lot more sense to live in Brooklyn.<p>I could maybe see living in New Jersey if the rents were dramatically lower, but they are not. I have a little studio apartment in Brooklyn that I pay $1,100 a month for, and in New Jersey I might pay $900 for an apartment of the same size. The extra $200 a month is just not worth it to me, not when the real cost involves being an hour further away from the social life that I want to have.<p>Not that I'm a 20-something, but I assume the logic is the same for them as it is for me.

Living in NYC isn't too bad compared to other big cities, unless you only think of NYC as Manhattan. The other boroughs offer cheaper (and safe) rent as long as you are willing to search a bit.

So I guess the rent is too damn high?

Was it just me or was the author's continual use of "Mr. Cavin Quezada" incredibility annoying? Please switch it up some....Mr. Quezada......Cavin...... anything would be better than repeating "Mr. Cavin Quezada."<p>1) "Mr. Cavin Quezada, who works as an unpaid intern...."<p>2) "Before this I was living in a loft in Bushwick,” said Mr. Cavin Quezada....<p>3) "Mr. Cavin Quezada often works until 2 a.m......"<p>4) "...I’ve given her enough details for her to worry,” Mr. Cavin Quezada said.<p>5) Mr. Cavin Quezada’s situation mirrors the way....

Sorry, but I stopped reading at "his mom pays his rent".

those prices seem kinda low<p>my sister is moving to nyc at the end of the month, and all the places she found were 2-3K/mo...she'll most likely go with this one place that's $1,250/mo with a roommate for a 2bdr apartment.<p>Granted she is set on living in Manhattan(Midtown) near her job, so it's a lot more expensive there.<p>But that's why her job pays her 15-20K more compared to what she'd get outside the city

What I'm curious about is why no mention is made of living across the Hudson (ie New Jersey).<p>I know New Yorkers like to look down on NJ and I guess the Times is complicit in that but the PATH trains make the commutes to Midtown and Downtown much shorter than the outer boroughs.<p>Plus NJ has lower taxes. And no "Amazon tax" (at least not yet).<p>So perhaps this article should be titled "the price 20somethings pay not to appear uncool", for which I have very litte sympathy.

<i>"... he pays $500 a month and has a 10-by-6-foot bedroom. But as for the neighborhood, he is less enthusiastic. ..."</i><p>Given the demand and patchy supply, is there any service that caters to this market allowing renters to choose a place to match size, price &#38; location?

"In Bushwick, I never really felt threatened. Now, the sounds around are more aggressive. I’ll see 20 guys ride by on motorcycles"<p>The whole article is hilarious, but this is especially funny. Sometimes I see 20 people ride by in cars. Hide!

&#62; “We had a mouse,” she acknowledged. “But if you live on the Lower East Side, you’ll always have a mouse.”<p>I live on Lower East Side, and I've never had a mouse. Having a cat helps ;)

Obvious news is obvious. It's all economics.