Thursday, September 13, 2007

Money Illusion

City light, and sounds, act like powerful magnets. Many of the youth want to move to NYC as soon as they graduate from college and find a job. And why not? The city is dynamic, full of life, never sleeps and yet offers better wages. It is because everything is so much more expensive in the city, thats why not.

Housing costs in the city and its environs are much more likely to take a much bigger bite of ones income as to make the differential in pay favouring the city disappear. The following shows the actual latest census data on this subject.

Proportion of Renters spending at least half their
income on rent, by County.

Bronx 32.9%

Kings County 30.0

Queens 28.0

Suffolk 33.9

Westchester 23.5


Once you are ready to make your move don't forget that spending 50-60% of your income on rent does not leave you with much for anything else. But hey, we all have different priorities.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Yes, just about everyone wants to live and work in the city at some point in their lives. To me it would not be worth the 50-60% share of my earnings. If living in Westchester will only be 23.5% of income,that is a large difference that could be spent on going to events or dinner of my choice in the city and still not be broke. I could still enjoy country living, have a car, probably a bigger and better apartment but avoid the crowds and the noise and when I'm ready to go into the city I'm only about an hour away and can get there on cheap, safe transportation. So for me MB doesn't = MC.