Personal experience: how much is life in New York

Manhattan and Brooklyn rentals, late subway rides and cocktails at the rooftop bar of a skyscraper.

The most populated city in the USA is often mistakenly called the most expensive. But, as it turned out, in this indicator New York is inferior to San Francisco, where for a comfortable life you need to earn about 123 thousand dollars a year. In New York, it’s quite possible to manage with a hundred thousand dollars, which should be enough for the most necessary, as well as for entertainment and small savings.

Edition The Village spoke with Katya Gimro, who moved with her husband to Brooklyn, about how much the locals spend on renting housing, moving around the city, groceries and leisure.

Move

My husband and I moved to the United States a year and a half ago, and before that we had never even been to New York: I did not want to go from Moscow to rest in another metropolis. I travel a lot, but have never lived abroad. Still, being a tourist and moving to the country for quite some time are completely different things, and I really wanted this experience. In Russia, we had no problems, we were engaged in video production, I was the editor-in-chief in a commercial magazine, so I got used to working remotely for a long time. I was not afraid of moving, because I knew that it was not for life — you could always return to Moscow — and nothing would change radically.

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Initially, I thought that we would go to California, I was there several times, and I have many friends and acquaintances there. But when we talked with a lawyer who helped with the visa application, she advised me to choose New York, and said: “You saw this city in all the films!” I heard different things from friends and acquaintances: someone loved the city from the first look, and someone hated, and I was worried only because I could "not converge in character" with New York. Probably, I had a difficult period only in the first week, before I moved away from the jet lag, I didn’t understand where to buy groceries or what to do when your metro card doesn’t work.

I have a visa of the O1 category - that is, for people with outstanding abilities in the field of business, science or art. This visa is issued for three years and makes it possible to work in the United States. With the help of a lawyer, I opened a company here: I myself am both an employer and an employee, I pay taxes in America. We shoot non-commercial videos, we go to the shooting ourselves, bring the equipment, mount. You will have to pay from 6 to 10 thousand dollars to get a visa and lawyer services.

When my husband and I moved, we had savings, and they still remained. In New York, I live quite rationally - I correlate the price of things with the money I get for projects. Sometimes I want to buy something expensive, and then I think if it is worth the effort that I spent on work.

Income of citizens

The minimum wage in the city is 13,5 dollars per hour, they get so much for work that does not require special qualifications. A little more than 2 thousand dollars can come out per month. Of course, there are generally free internships, and places where they pay 500 dollars a month, but these are some kind of side jobs and unskilled labor.

On average, they earn 5 thousand dollars here. My acquaintances are designers, models, quite successful, but none of them live luxuriously due to high prices. From 10 thousand dollars - a quite high salary. By the way, for this it is not necessary to work in the world of finance or conduct your own business. For example, a waiter or a bartender in a well-known institution, along with a tip, may well earn so much in a month.

Accomodation

Renting an apartment in Manhattan - from 2 500 dollars

Mortgage rate - from 3%

In Moscow, we are accustomed to the fact that by the 30 years you must definitely get your own apartment so as not to live with your parents. In New York, by contrast, no one bothers about real estate. Probably, only 5% of residents buy apartments here, and so almost everyone rents and completely quietly resells their homes on AirBnb. Moreover, these are people with different incomes and employed in different fields. Property in New York is simple, but at the same time they try to save on utility bills. If in Moscow people think little about how to pay less for electricity, then here they follow this and always turn off the lights.

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Housing in New York is much worse than in Moscow. If for 2 thousands of dollars in Moscow you can rent a good apartment in the city center, then in New York even a room will cost from 1 500 dollars. In Manhattan, the price of renting an apartment starts from 2 500 dollars. But it will be a small and modest apartment, where it’s barely possible to place all your belongings. Most likely, you will have to rent some other storage room in order to transport there what you do not use. In order to legally rent an apartment, in most cases it is required to confirm your income and collect the necessary documents. But many people are looking for housing through friends and acquaintances and live with them.

We were lucky with housing: through friends we found a couple who wanted to rent part of their area to someone else. We live in Brooklyn, it's 25 minutes by subway to Downtown. Our housing, along with electricity costs 4 thousands of dollars, there is a huge kitchen and a spacious courtyard. We divide the room into two families, but these are two floors, we have our own bathroom, and we rarely intersect due to different work schedules. In general, in Brooklyn you can rent an apartment for 2 500 – 3 000 dollars, for which you would have to give 5 thousand for Manhattan.

A modest apartment costs from 350 thousand dollars. For half a million, it’s quite possible to find an apartment in Brownstone, a stone house built around the beginning of the 20th century. Now these houses are being repaired, and they are considered premium housing. For a million dollars, they sell an entire Brownstone house in Brooklyn after renovation. Green card holders can take a local mortgage, rates on it start at 3%.

Food

Food for a family of two - 600 dollars per month

When I first went to the local Whole Foods, I thought that the money we had accumulated was not enough for anything. This is a store focused on healthy eating and products labeled "organic." But the Costco store helps us a lot. Wholesale lots are sold there - you cannot buy a kilogram of rice, only five. But they also sell products from the organic segment, kombuch, sometimes the same brands as in Whole Foods, but they cost almost half the price.

About 600 dollars are spent per month for family products. At the same time, we do not sit on the same rice, we buy steaks and shrimps. In New York, we began to cook and eat more at home. It’s just that in Moscow you won’t buy cheap classy asparagus, and here for 4 dollars you can buy a package of excellent fresh asparagus, for 3 dollars you have a huge pack of chia seeds, seafood, cheeses. A package of milk here costs about 1,14 dollars, a kilogram of tomatoes about 5 dollars, a kilogram of apples - about 4 dollars, 12 eggs - 4,80 dollars.

Transport

Unlimited Metro Pass - 121 Dollar

A taxi ride is approximately 25 dollars per 10 kilometers

An unlimited monthly metro ticket in New York costs 121 dollars, a week you can ride the metro and buses for 59,5 dollars. The metro network is large and branched, but everything is very illogical and uncomfortable. For example, the Internet only works at stations. You just have time to get to the station, load the page - and then the train starts moving, and you can’t see anything. Only recently at the stations began to put a scoreboard, which shows the time when the next train will arrive. This is in Moscow, he arrives every 30 seconds, and then you have to run after the trains, because you can wait for the next and 15 minutes.

The world famous New York taxi is expensive. Over ten kilometers of the path will have to pay about 25 dollars. You can drive from Midtown to Brooklyn for about 70 dollars. Taxi drivers must always leave a tip. Since we just live in Brooklyn, most of the time I walk. Unlike transport, your legs will never let you down, it’s more convenient and reliable, and sometimes faster. And besides, walking is good for your health. Sometimes it’s easier for me to walk 40 minutes than to find out if this metro station will close, whether the train will come or not. Sometimes the same 40 minutes you can just wait for the train.

Entertainment

Cocktail at the bar - Xnumx dollars

Camping holidays - 20 dollars per day

You can eat fast food for about 9 dollars, take a business lunch in a cafe for 16 dollars, while there are restaurants where dinner comes to 300 dollars. But many locals know how to save money, they will find out when and where the "happy hours" take place. For example, during happy hour, oysters are sold for a dollar, and with a few glasses of wine you can keep in 50 dollars for dinner. There are many bars, especially rooftops - establishments located on the roofs of skyscrapers. For a cocktail on average there will have to pay 17 dollars, but according to the rules, you must leave a tip.

You can go to the theater for about 300 dollars (for good seats), to the movies for 30 dollars, and drink a cup of coffee for 5 dollars. There are a lot of free entertainment, mainly in parks. There, they not only walk, feed pigeons, run and do yoga, but also hold free concerts. Sometimes museums and galleries have free admission to exhibitions.

Many of the city's leisure activities are related to sports and a healthy lifestyle. We ride bicycles ourselves, there are even bicycle paths here even outside the city. We can also take a train ticket to Hamptons for 20 dollars and rent surfboards there. There are many campsites around New York. It will cost 20 dollars a day, but there is everything you need there - toilets, a hot shower, a platform for a tent.