It was shocking for me when I graduated from college and moved to NYC. Sure, it's cool to get a job paying six figures in NYC out of college. But once you've p

It was shocking for me when I graduated from college and moved to NYC. Sure, it's cool to get a job paying six figures in NYC out of college. But once you've paid your: - rent (first and last up front, ofc) - broker fees (often > 1 month's rent!) - state taxes - city taxes - federal taxes - social security - massively inflated city grocery prices - student loan dues ...you realize that you basically only exist to launder money between corporations. It especially sucks when you're just trying to start out with a net worth of less than zero and you're still paying this massive tax rate. And before anyone mentions student loan interest deductions and federal tax deductions for state and local: they make very little difference, in my experience. Maybe others have figured out how to make that system work for them, especially before the Trump SALT deduction cap. NYC is a cool city, of course -- probably the best city in the US -- but I'm not sure it's worth the 50% tax rate for decidedly middle class earners. At this point I'd have to make north of $400k/year to justify moving back to NYC because of those insane taxes.