7 ms·
I know you're being sarcastic, but as someone who lived in NYC and California there is not even a comparison on how better is NYC when it comes to the amount of
by whoisjuan 8y ago
I know you're being sarcastic, but as someone who lived in NYC and California there is not even a comparison on how better is NYC when it comes to the amount of options you get to flexibly spend your money and smartly extend your paycheck. All this while still living in one of the boroughs.
I lived for a year in Manhattan with a $50K salary. I wasn't living like a king at all and definitely not saving money, but still managed to have a lifestyle that I would consider comfortable and healthy. This was 2015.
Now, compare that to San Francisco. $50K it's basically one level above homelessness.
- projectramo 8y agoWell, if it’s not too personal: what was your rent, where, and for how much space in the two cities?
- whoisjuan 8y agoMy rent in NYC was $1500 with utilities included. I was renting one bedroom in a 2 bedrooms apartment in 75th street. Only downside is that it was a semi-basement (Those apartments with tiny windows that are the same height of the street level---Probably a huge fire hazard). The plus was that I lived three blocks away from Central Park. Some people said that I was lucky to find that place, but in my search I saw similar places that ranged between 1400 without utilities to 2000 in Upper East, some areas of Midtown and East Village. I even saw one guy renting a room for 700 in Upper West. So yes, I was probably lucky to find that place, but not extremely lucky.
- thatfrenchguy 8y agoWith roommates you can definitely have 1500 of rent in SF in « desirable » neighborhoods.
- Touche 8y agoThe average Manhanttan apartment is ~3.5k a month. I'd say you likely got lucky if you lived comfortable on a 50k salary.
- huebnerob 8y agoPeople always forget that Manhattan goes all the way up into the 200s of streets. You can live in Manhattan on pretty much any budget imaginable. Whether you should is another question. The East Village also goes all the way out to Avenue D, and the West Side, to 12th Avenue. These are transit deserts relative to the rest of the island, and priced accordingly.
- rcpt 8y agoRight. Yet all of SF is a transit desert relative to Manhattan and is still priced about the same.
- NikolaeVarius 8y agoI never know why people trot these prices out. Literally nobody I know actually pays 3.5k a month for rent, and a majority of my friends are in the software field in one way or another. The most that anyone pays is like 1.8k
- ericd 8y agoIf you want to live without roommates (you have a family, or you just like living alone), you're probably paying more than 1,800/mo.
- throwaway427 8y agoAnd/or you have a lease started after 2016/17.
- Alex3917 8y ago1,800 will get you a nice 2BR if you're willing to accept a 45 min commute. Even in nicer neighborhoods, e.g. a 2BR in Riverdale is 2,000 - 2,400.
- dajohnson89 8y agoThe Riverdale is not manhattan...but yes you're correct.
- aylmao 8y agoAs someone who currently lives in NYC, I personally prefer it to San Francisco, but I wouldn't call it better without comparison. A lot of the cheap rent is a longer commute away-- like is the case with SF. In the case of Google, they have shuttles in California, and I would personally take a shuttle over the subway any day. I'm not living in the cheapest apartment I could find (tried that before and regretted it twice, both because it wasn't that cheap, and because it was horrible), and as far as I've researched I'd pay about the same as I would in San Francisco.
- akhilcacharya 8y agoI'm pretty sure they have shuttles in NYC too. I live in Boston and my company has shuttles to the suburbs as well. All of the Big4 do.
- tetromino_ 8y agoNo, Google does not have shuttles in NYC. There is no need for them (the Port Authority building literally stands on top of a subway station) and it would be nearly impossible to run them (even if you ignore the traffic, there isn't any space next to the building to legally park a shuttle).
- akhilcacharya 8y agoInteresting. Even my old internship had shuttle buses in NYC.
- jchendy 8y ago> I would personally take a shuttle over the subway any day. If you're crossing any bridges or tunnels, a 15 minute train ride could easily be 45 minutes in a shuttle or car.
- habosa 8y agoTook that shuttle for 2 years. It's nice but ... it's still a bus. There's no nice way to be on a bus for 3hr a day. I'd much prefer the subway, which is much faster.
- habosa 8y agoSF really has no low end on anything. There's no $1 pizza slice when you really need a cheap meal and there's nowhere cheap to live without a punishing commute. The high end of NY is also much higher than SF. NY is where the first $100M apartment is. NY is as expensive on average but it's an average of a much wider and range.
- log_n 8y agoThere's an In-N-Out on the north side of SF and Chinatown has a ton of cheap eating options. You can eat for cheap in either city.
- Eire_Banshee 8y agoJust one in-n-out?
- habosa 8y agoYeah SF has only one In-N-Out and it's more expensive and crowded than any other location I've seen. SF strongly limits fast food (which I find annoying). My suburb home town had more McDonald's locations than SF does.
- Klonoar 8y ago"on the north side of SF" is really "over in Fisherman's Wharf", which is a notorious tourist trap that's not convenient to get to in the slightest. It can't be compared to a pizza slice joint or falafel or what have you. Chinatown, yes.
- thatfrenchguy 8y agoThere’s this thing, called a grocery store. I’ve even heard there is multiple of those in the city !
- Alex3917 8y ago> NY is where the first $100M apartment is. Most things being sold for more than 20M are probably being sold for money laundering purposes. A more fair comparison would be looking at only apartments that people actually live in full time; a pied-à-terre isn’t really part of basic living expenses.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]