Its much more of a hassle concern than it is a realistic inability to climb multiple flights of stairs. Manhattan would be a really, really terrible/uncomfortable place to live if you couldn't physically navigate at least a few flights of stairs at once between subway stations, split-level stores and restaurants, residential buildings, etc, etc.

Just thinking anecdotally, myself and many of my neighbors in NYC are probably dealing with a dozen or more flights or stairs up and down on a daily basis (two flights down out of the apartment building, half a flight up to the street level from the sunken entrance, another 2 flights back down into the subway station, 2 flights up on the other end of the train ride, a flight in the grocery store, two flights at the gym, etc, etc, etc). Escalators are often present, but many people walk up those anyways. I'd feel comfortable saying people living here are generally in far, far better stair-climbing-shape than most of the country.

I've lived in one before. It is definitely a significant inconvenience.

Some examples:

- I biked to work. Carrying my bike up 5 stories of narrow stairs, bumping into everything, every evening was not a fun way to end my day.

- Moving any heavy/bulky object will make even paid movers cry.

- It makes coming and going feel like a sizable task.

That said, I still preferred it over a lower floor, because it meant no noise from above and less street noise.

There is a huge difference between walking several flights of stairs over the day and having to walk 5 flights of stairs in a stretch every time you want to go up to your appartment. I live on the 3rd floor, and I am very happy that I have an elevator. I try to use the stairs as often as possible. But some time back the elevator was down for 5 weeks and I for sure started planning each trip out of my appartment.

This all depends of course on the overall state of your fitness, and how heavy you are. Ideally, one never would use an elevator and hence be very fit and less overweight. And this doesn't count in any kind of medical condition which limit or even prohibit you from taking many (or any) stairs.

For all the practical benefits both elevators and cars have brought to the modern human, they certainly have a big drawback on the average fitness. I try to use stairs as much as possible, and on an average day I certainly klimb 12 flights, but would no longer consider an appartment in the 3rd floor without an elevator for when it is needed.

> most people, including myself, take the stairs when we move between floors for meeting, cafeteria, etc.

How common is this? I never see people take the stairs when there's an elevator. I always take the elevator even if it's just one floor and I have to wait a while.

I never take the elevator for one floor, unless I'm with people who'd moan if we took the stairs. The stairs are much quicker, and I'm impatient.

This is by far the easiest way to build some exercise into your daily routine. I have a hard time grasping why people stand on escalators, as well.

The problem with escalators is, that the steps are usually higher than those of stairs, as they are not optimized for walking. If you are very tall, this makes little difference, but for not so tall people, using the steps of an escalator is a bit uncomfortable. As a consequence, I usually step them only on very short escalators or when I am in quite of a hurry.

In the early 1980s, I would routinely walk up the escalators, including stopped ones, on the deepest Washington Metro stations. In the 2010s, I take the elevator two floors. I walk several miles per day, I run varying distances each weekend, but something in one knee doesn't like stairs these days.

Maybe it's a default cultural thing at your company. Possibly taking the steps is a "nudge" to suggest. Taking an elevator for one floor would seem almost weird where I work unless there were some physical issue.

Lots of people do it for the steps. I take the stairs pretty much anytime I know where they are. I guess I'd think about it for more than a few stories.

The stairs in your office likely are a lot less steep than the ones in those apartment buildings.

Also, if you had heating, somebody had to lug up coal, and parents (about everybody was one, at the time, and the mothers were pregnant quite often) would have to lug up small children.

And it isn’t “5 flights of stairs a day”. Chances are the toilet was at least one stair away, too.

I'd say that the difference between lots of stairs and and no stairs is enough to cause a difference in price for rent. I'd say that this is the market working as intended. Or, if you believe that it is not a big deal, you can abuse the market inefficiency ;)