That gets into the debate of buying vs renting, and Im honestly not sold on all the benefits of buying. While you are building equity, it’s debatable whether you could make more just nuy putting money into an index fund. Im talking about the down payment, all the maintenace costs and associated costs of owning a home.

But I don’t need to dig into it further. I planning on getting out of NYC eventually to lower my costs and be somewhere with cheaper cost of living. It’s just harder to figure out true cost of living and the amount you earn as a developer then these guides suggest.