My first job in NYC as a junior engineer a decade ago was 110k plus equity. I rented a single long hallway-like room basement studio in Chelsea for 2k/month. G

My first job in NYC as a junior engineer a decade ago was 110k plus equity. I rented a single long hallway-like room basement studio in Chelsea for 2k/month. Good neighborhood if you are a gay man or like art galleries. Recently got the elevated railway turned park going through it as an added benefit. My girlfriend had a nicer basement studio in the East Village for $2.5k/month. Nice for the younger NYU crowd that likes to go out to bars and clubs like Webster Hall. Basements are the worst. Your view is bad, your lighting is bad, you smell the garbage all night on garbage days, piled up on the street, and you have bug attacks like ants and termites all summer - that's why they are cheap. A friend with a studio above ground near City Hall Park in a doorman building with a pool in the basement is paying $5k/month. I know someone paying $8k for a really nice 1 bedroom on a high floor with glass walls in the theatre district. We were all on the subway in Manhattan, though. The really poor people have to bus over from NJ, or live an hour subway ride away like north of central park like Washington Heights. Those people are just suffering with a long, poor commute to save money, though.