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.