The nice part about Midtown is that it's connected to everything - every subway line except the G and the L go through it, so if you live anywhere along a subwa

The nice part about Midtown is that it's connected to everything - every subway line except the G and the L go through it, so if you live anywhere along a subway line (again, not the G or L), you can get to Midtown. What you say is true though, the "nice" parts of Brooklyn are as expensive as, if not more expensive than Manhattan. Manhattan's cost of living, relative to NYC in general, is plateauing, while Brooklyn is shooting upwards. Rent on the Upper East Side is downright affordable now, and even not-super-cool neighborhoods like Chelsea have stabilized. Compare with Park Slope, where the price ceiling is nowhere to be found, or Williamsburg which is definitely more expensive than all but the most desirable areas of Manhattan. Dumbo too. But, good news is, there are lots of gentrifying-but-not-quite-done-yet neighborhoods in Brooklyn. Bushwick and Prospect Heights come to mind, though I'm sure there are others I'm not remembering.