Some concrete numbers for the curious: I'd estimate that a single individual with zero skills in NYC could get: 1) A receptionist job for $46k/yr (includes he

Some concrete numbers for the curious: I'd estimate that a single individual with zero skills in NYC could get: 1) A receptionist job for $46k/yr (includes health insurance) [1] 2) A shared $2k/mo 2BR Jersey City apartment [2] They'd have a take-home pay of $2960 - $1000/mo (rent) - $1000/mo in other expenses (fairly high estimate IMO). Annual savings (with a traditional IRA) would be about $13k/yr. It's not much, but the savings rate is almost 30% of gross income, and retirement calculators say you'll retire at 65 a multimillionaire. Surprisingly, a daily Starbucks or avocado toast (or forgetting the tax-deductible IRA contribution) really does eat into the savings numbers. And forget about having kids until you get a career upgrade. The major risk is an increase in rent without an increase in wages. Let's investigate: From 2012-2024, rent in Queens (not sure about JC) rose 45% ('only' 3.14% APY) [3]. Over the same period, national wages grew 47% (3.3% APY) [4]. That's good, since our individual earns 3x more wages than they pay rent. Wage growth was even higher among nonmanagers, so I don't think the growth was captured by the 1%. [5] Overall, it looks OK to me, though the margins are thin, and you need to share an apartment. Hard to make it work for a family. I'd be curious to see some others run the numbers. [1] https://www.indeed.com/jobs?q=receptionist+-hour+-experience&l=new+york%2C+ny&from=searchOnDesktopSerp&vjk=25716d924b5b518e https://www.indeed.com/jobs?q=receptionist+-hour+-experience... [2] https://streeteasy.com/building/3657-kennedy-boulevard-jersey_city/-2r?from_map=1 https://streeteasy.com/building/3657-kennedy-boulevard-jerse... [3] StreetEasy Rent Index: https://streeteasy.com/blog/data-dashboard https://streeteasy.com/blog/data-dashboard , chose Queens as it was most comparable in price to JC [4] https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/CEU0500000003 https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/CEU0500000003 [5] https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/AHETPI https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/AHETPI