NYC area isn't like SF. You can go 40 minutes outside of SF and it's still expensive.

It all depends where you want to live in NYC. Manhattan you'll want to make at least 150k to live alone. If you move outside then you have a lot more options but still be able to commute into the city easily.

I lived in Manhattan for 7 years and SF area for 6. I now live outside of Denver and its by far the best move of my life.

I hear nothing but complaints from people who have to commute into NYC. If you're not in Manhattan or the nicer parts of Brooklyn, you're easily adding 30 min to your door to door commute, plus the variance is huge due to the ever decreasing quality of the public transit.

If you're living in SF you already know what the thresholds are like, mostly. It heavily depends on your life situation. If you're willing to live with roommates and don't have much in the way of expenses, the threshold is significantly lower. The threshold is also significantly different if you're willing to live in one of the outer boroughs.

It's a vague answer but honestly, those factors can swing the threshold almost $100K in either direction.

min 100k if single but don't expect to save anything

+1. Looking around, most of my NYC peers are 25-35 with no kids, and a typical monthly spend is $6-7k. It's a good life, but not glamorous. Some months are substantially more expensive, almost no months are substantially cheaper.

How do you spend 6k a month ?

Uncapped stimulation and convenience. A typical month may look like this -

  - Manhattan rent: $2k-$4k (depends if you are sharing or living alone)
  - Not cooking: $1-1.5k ($5 lattes, $15 salads, $20 meals, x 30 days)
  - Socials & drinking: $1k (~$150 x 4-6 per month)
  - NYC events: $1k (gigs, comedy clubs, festivals)

Young professionals with established careers do not move to NYC to think about how much they could save if they lived in Tennessee instead. The narrow focus is to soak up available opportunities and maximize revenues, instead of minimizing costs. It's a risky gamble.

If one has kids are you kidding? Daycare is about the same as the rent, transportation is cheap but adds up for sure, food (to cook at home, yes we're frugal that way and shop at TJs for about 600 a month) and bills. Yes, some months you manage to save a little bit but other months very quickly dent into the savings.

I agree for kids. The parent mentioned not having kids though.