How long you spend in the subway is entirely based on where you live in relation to Manhattan and where your office in Manhattan is. If you live in Brooklyn or

How long you spend in the subway is entirely based on where you live in relation to Manhattan and where your office in Manhattan is. If you live in Brooklyn or Queens, you don't have many options outside of the subway. If you live farther out in Long Island, upstate NY, CT, or NJ you would take the train which often (but not always, it depends on which train you take) has considerably more elbow room. And if you take a train from those places, you can transfer to a subway and get to almost anywhere in Manhattan within 30 min. Yes this is a long commute, but while $2k will barely cover rent of a tiny studio with a roommate in Manhattan, $2k elsewhere can cover the rent + utilities for a 3 bedroom apartment but with a 90 min commute each direction. I think its fair to say that COL is inversely related to your distance to Manhattan