I did mean Manhattan, sorry, I should have clarified. Even still though, let's assume you're paying somewhere around $900/month, that's a pretty tight budget f

I did mean Manhattan, sorry, I should have clarified. Even still though, let's assume you're paying somewhere around $900/month, that's a pretty tight budget for someone making $15/hour, especially if the employer isn't giving you enough shifts to qualify for "full time". My brother in law worked at Taco Bell when he was living in NYC, and they never gave him more than 29 hours, because they were afraid of having to pay real benefits. Fortunately for him he was able to stay with us and I have a yuppie engineering job and a spare bedroom, but I can't imagine what people who have kids working at $15/hour actually do.