15 facts about New York City that will make you think twice about whether you can afford to live there
The estimated cost of annual necessities for a single person is $43,519 — or $3,627 a month.
For a family of four, expect to pay about $98,722 a year for necessities — that's $8,227 per month.
Annual necessities for a four-person family — two adults, two children — include costs of housing, food, child care, transportation, healthcare, other necessities, and taxes. They do not include savings or discretionary spending.
Source: Economic Policy Institute's 2015 Family Budget Calculator
The median home price is a whopping $410,400.
Compare that to the median home price in the US: $188,900.
Source: National Association of Realtors
Meaning a typical monthly mortgage payment would come to $2,117.
That's assuming interest rates for a common 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage.
Source: HSH.com
To afford to buy a median-priced home, you'd need to earn about $91,000 a year.
To put that into perspective, the median household income in the US is $52,250.
Source: HSH.com, via Business Insider
The food is amazing, but it'll cost you — groceries in New York cost between 28% and 39% more than the national average, depending on where you live. Eating out is even less affordable: 50% and 67% higher the national averages, respectively.
Source: SmartAsset
New York taxes are among the highest in the US — a four person family should expect to pay about $1,277 per month.
The average parking rate in downtown Manhattan is $533 per month, which is more than twice the rate in other expensive cities like Los Angeles and Honolulu.
Source: SmartAsset
If you choose public transportation over a car, a monthly transit pass will cost you $116.50 per month (or $2.75 for a single subway ride) — while that's much more reasonable than parking, it's still about 75% greater than the national average.
Source: SmartAsset
A trip to the movies will cost you about $14, well above the national average ticket price of $10.
Source: SmartAsset
If you like to hit the town, expect to pay about $82, the average cost of a night out in NYC.
This includes an event ticket, transportation, and food and drink costs.
Source: Eventbrite
That $82 baseline can quickly skyrocket with a few cocktails — you can pretty much count on your drink price falling in between the $12 to $17 range.
Source: Grub Street
To stay in shape, expect to pay about $90 a month for a gym membership, the highest cost you'll see in the country. The next highest cost of a gym membership can be found in Washington DC for $70 a month.
Source: GOBankingRates
And if you're striving to be in the top 1% of NYC residents, your salary would have to reach at least $608,584 a year.
Source: The New York Times
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