

Could I survive and save some money earning 65k in NY? - berserkpi

I'm a very austere guy by the way.
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T-hawk
I did this, on a 40k salary, in 2003. I had a $1k/month studio apartment in
Hoboken NJ and commuted on the Path subway to lower Manhattan. I kept spending
very low: never went to restaurants, never traveled, no relationship, no cell
phone, cheapest available DSL internet at $30/month. For food I'd sometimes
actually get ramen, but more often other cheap groceries like store brand
cereals, pancake mix, PB&J. I had about $400/month disposable income and saved
about $300 of it.

Adjusting from 2003 to today, the apartment might cost $1500 now, but a 65k
salary is still better off than I was then.

By the way, one of the best places to live in New York is actually New Jersey.
If your office is in Manhattan anywhere close to the Path stations, you've got
a 30 minute commute from Hoboken or the downtown areas of Jersey City out to
Journal Square. Housing is decently affordable there, and as a bonus you dodge
the NYC commuter income tax.

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jyu
Cheap rents in NJ is not true anymore. Hoboken and Jersey City rents are
pretty comparable to cheaper parts of Manhattan. Same story in Williamsburg.

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coreymaass
I've previously earned as much as $110,000, and spent it without effort. Cabs.
Big nights out. Clothes. Fancy restaurants. A nicer apartment than I needed.

Now I've been living on less than $2000/month for a six months. I had a nice
apartment in South Slope (roommates, $700/month, 40 minutes to Soho), and have
recently moved to Queens (with my girlfriend, $600/month, 30 minutes to Time's
Square). My girlfriend had previously been paying $1200/month by herself, on a
salary of $65,000, maxing out her retirement, and socking away a couple grand
a month.

We never take cabs. We drink at home. We go out to great restaurants ($50 or
less for two people), but not up-scale ones. We cook a lot at home. She takes
lunches. We work really hard not to buy more crap we don't need.

I've lived here for 12 years. I started out in Harlem and loved it. Over time,
the more I paid for my life here, the less I liked it. The old, gritty New
York is getting harder to find, and it's getting easier to never see it. Once
I started living cheaper, suddenly I found myself in the New York I'd been
missing for years. It's full of surprises, real people, history, and depth. In
my opinion, the best way to really live in New York, appreciate it for what it
is, and get the most out of it, is to try to spend as little money as
possible. The best things in life are free?

~~~
jyu
I used to spend $7k / mo living in Manhattan. Now I have a live in gf, and we
spend ~$3k/mo living in the same place in Manhattan. The extra $1k/mo from
coreymass is probably from the difference in rent.

Pretty similar lifestyle change: no cabs, drink out 1-2x / wk, go to great
restaurants 1-2x / wk, and cook at home a lot. We like going out to gritty New
York to explore on weekends, and enjoy the fast commutes to work during the
weekdays.

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Bramble
If you don't mind living in the outerboroughs, taking the subway every day,
and having roommates, this should be easy.

When I was 18 - 22 (2007 - 2010), I saved over 10k making about 30k-40k a year
in 4 years in NYC. I was also paying off about 6k in student loans at the
time, going out drinking about once a week, splurging on clothing every once
in a while, and eating out a lot.

I lived in Queens (Astoria and Sunnyside, in my case, though I could have
found cheaper if I was okay with a sketchier area) for about $900 a month with
roommates and commuted by train. I had an expensive (NYSC) gym membership, a
cell phone, and a social life. I enjoyed what NYC had to offer.

To be honest, every time I hear someone say that NYC is too expensive for them
and they can barely make ends meet, I look at their lifestyle and see
immediate room for improvement: They refuse to live outside of Manhattan, they
go out 3-4X a week compared to my 1, they insist on going to the most
expensive, trendy places that were recently featured in XYZ magazine, whereas
I enjoy eating out at the neighborhood Thai place and grabbing drinks from my
neighborhood bar. They insist that they "need" to buy new clothes every few
weeks for some reason, whereas I would splurge once every few months.

I could have saved a lot more during those 4 years if I were eating ramen
every night, sure, but I put life enjoyment above my monetary nest egg. Even
now, as a working student, I will not stoop to eating PB&J and Ramen as my
only sources of nutrition. I live outside of NYC now, live on 15k, and still
don't feel that I lack for anything. I think a lot of people don't keep track
of their spending as well as they purport.

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dfc
I think you should clarify that you mean New York City and maybe even indicate
what borough you would live to live in. New York is a big state and $65k is a
nice salary in Utica, NY.

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westicle
This seems like a strange question to a foreigner like me.

Presumably there are fast food restaurants and menial jobs in New York City.
Ergo there are people living on minimum wage in the city, or near enough to
commute. Therefore, provided $65k is equal to or greater than minimum wage,
you can presumably survive on that level of income. Your savings would be
dictated by how much $65k exceeds the minimum wage.

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eduardordm
I did that to pay for my tuition. I only had the salary from my employer in my
home country, immigration services didn't let me get a part time work.

This is how I did it:

Place to sleep: Queens village. Take the F train all the way to the last
station than a bus (Q43) for another 5-10 minutes (hillside av). That area
(queens village/jamaica) has the cheapest rents I could find at the time
(2006). The commute to Manhattan would take around 1:20. The bus transfer is
free. A lot of reading.

Plan before you leave home so you don't waste money on transportation

Eat: pizza, standing. Some 99c stores do have some fake microwave meals (taste
like rubber) . Do never pay for drinks. Drink water. Try not to spend more
than 6 dollars on a meal.

Internet: Asked for a neighbor to share with me (paying a bit)

Take care of you teeth and health in general!!! Dentists are evil greedy
bastards. Just kidding... (no I'm not)

PS: Those living conditions made me quit my studies.

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nycs
some people will tell you no, but if you live in brooklyn, possibly with
roommates, you definitely can.

i make around that, live by myself in brooklyn, go out and do stuff (maybe not
super extravagant stuff) once or twice on the weekends, put 10% of my salary
to my 401k, and put roughly $1k into my savings account every month. it works
for me.

(also you will need to make your own food every day or buy the cheapest fast
food like i do. i am not a picky eater and i do go out to restaurants time to
time, but realistically most of your income will be spent on rent and food, so
don't get take out every night)

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mingpan
If you rent cheaply (sufficiently far uptown or certain parts of the outer
boroughs) and live cheaply (this excludes a lot of dining/entertainment
options but leaves plenty more), you will be fine on that salary.

I'm from Queens, and as much as certain people from Manhattan will make fun of
it, many parts of Queens are decently priced and decently accessible.

If you really want to live in midtown/downtown Manhattan, then it will be
quite tricky. Just rent would eat up a lot of your take-home income. You would
probably need to find roommates or something.

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codegeek
Sure you can do it. I did it with 40K salary even though a decade ago. If you
are single, one possible scenario

\- Housing cost: $800-$1200 for shared housing/apartment in queens etc.

\- Subway: $110/mo

\- Grocery: $400/mo (100/wk average)

\- No car (this is huge)

\- cell phone/internet: $200/mo

\- Entertainment: $200/mo ($50/week)

Total: $1700-$2100 /mo

On a 65K salary, you are looking at income of: $5416/mo gross. $3791/mo
net.(30% tax roughly.)

cashflow in = $3791

cashflow out = $2100

You are in good shape.

~~~
berserkpi
Nice answer mister, thank you very much.

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merinid
Bureau of Labor Statistics: median salaray for NYC are is $50,820. Median more
so reliable for that sampling size of people. Put it in perspective. What's in
it other than money? A cooler experience? A new opportunity. Shoot for so much
more than money.

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dear
For your reference:

[http://gawker.com/5952575/extreme-cheapskates-woman-
serves-f...](http://gawker.com/5952575/extreme-cheapskates-woman-serves-
friends-trash+picked-dinner-triumphs-as-an-individual)

She lives in NYC.

~~~
berserkpi
Well, if your point was to remember me that everything is possible... you made
it greatly.

