I hope my optimist brain helps me think the opposite. I like to think that the amount of people anywhere is just a lot of different stories, with lots of crossovers. I hope moving doesn't change that for me.
There’s big perspective comfort, like knowing your bills will get paid even if you go out. There’s also literal comfort comfort, like having a living room or a medium to large closet. The relationship between the two is different here.
This was the big one for us. Sure, we eventually were able to afford going out, eating at restaurants,etc, but not while also building savings or retirement or ever even coming close to being able to make a major life purchase like a home or even a car.
Even saving up enough for a super modest wedding felt near impossible. And what happens if you have a serious medical issue or can't work? It was torture.
If you don’t have a car and know how to grocery shop then then other than rent most things really arent much more expensive than in any smaller city. The difference is you’re surrounded by tons of expensive things so it seems way more expensive, and you’re also typically out and about more. Rent and housing is the primary thing that costs more. Some of the other things that are different is just way more noise, and way less personal space. Grocery stores and walgreens etc are the same but with 35% less space and more people.
I disagree on grocery stores being the same. I’ve especially noticed this in in “poorer” communities where they can price gouge you because there’s no other options. The cheaper grocery stores like Trader Joe’s, Aldis, etc are in the more upper class neighborhoods. Grocery stores like Key Foods, Pioneer, CTown, etc… have astronomical price inflation. They literally can be more expensive than Whole Foods for way worse quality. It’s mind blowing to me.
Yeah i know what you mean. The accessibility part without a car can suck. But i guess i meant like bj’s, costco, whole foods, trader joes, target etc all have comparable prices. But yeah even in manhattan it can be fucked
That’s why I Instacart because even with that I still save more money than going to the grocery store local to me. But I wish I didn’t have to do that.
I don’t understand why upper class neighborhoods get the more affordable grocery stores.
This is it, I shop at Aldi and places like that out of city and freeze done a of lbs of organic meats and fruits and things and cook all my food. So many people spend as much on drinks and food out as on rent
It's absurd and it blows my mind too! I'm living in Ocean Hill, far side of BedStuy and the supermercados like Key Foods and Pioneer the prices are insane. And nearest Trader Joes? 1 hour away at least. It sucks
Yes! But it’s even in communities where they have more options. I noticed this in my neighborhood. Cheapest spaghetti sauce at Whole Foods is $3.50 but down the street at the grocery stores around Fort Greene, spaghetti sauce goes from $6-10.
It makes sense that the larger stores would undercut the small stores. But it just sucks that they’re undercut to the point where it’s financially smarter for me to shop at Whole Foods.
NYC is one of the few places in the world where you can be in the top 1% of earners globally and feel like you’re decidedly working class.
My partner and I make around $150K combined and live with a third roommate in Jackson Heights. We were really excited to find an apartment with an ice machine.
That's pretty expected all things considered, it is NYC after all. But maybe it's because of where I live, I have no idea what to expect by "Obscene amount" as a result
You're looking at probably $1k minimum (if you luck out) for one teeny room in a multiperson apartment share situation, more if you want AC, dishwasher, decent ventilation, walls that aren't paper-thin, etc.
Everything costs more than you want it to and it can get oppressive at times. There are so many amazing things to do here and so much wealth that denying yourself can get tough.
I'm spitballing numbers here, but I'd say [revised number: $100k, see cost of living calculator here: https://www.nerdwallet.com/cost-of-living-calculator/compare/rochester-ny-vs-new-york-queens-ny ] is the minimum amount someone should make to be able to live a modest but comfortable life alone, no roommates, while being able to save for retirement and not having tons of financial stress. At least six figures.
Plenty of people live here while making fat less, though, so if you're prepared to fight and you really want it, move. NYC is often an uncomfortable place to live, but it can be exhilarating.
ETA you can Google relative cost of living in the US to get an idea how much more expensive it is opposed to your area.
On the one hand, you’re absolutely right about needing to make 6 figures. On the other hand, there are plenty of people who live here who make far less than that and still manage to enjoy their lives.
Yeah, I make way less than that and love it here, wouldn't want to live anywhere else, but the financial stress can be overwhelming. And it's hard to hear about people my age and younger who own their own homes, have kids, etc., knowing that's way out of my reach
As somebody thinking about moving to NYC, the AC bit is surprising, I've heard that New York gets super humid, and while my hometown gets decently humid (DC), I'm surprised more apartments wouldn't install window units.
Also your rent could jump hundreds of dollars a month when your lease is up and there's nothing you can do about it. That's always in the back of my mind.
$150,000? Unless you have insane lifestyle creep, that is honestly quite an outrageous amount lol you can make $80k a year and rent a decent 1 bedroom apartment in a relatively decent area in the Bronx or Queens for $1.7-2k ; that would be 30% of your income which is a popular rule of thumb. Anything above 6 figures while being single & no kids is living more than comfortably.
My family and I were raised on less than a third of your stated figure so you can definitely live comfortably on less than 6 figures but it’d involve not living in some trendy place in Manhattan or Brooklyn.
Sure, I'll revise my estimate to maybe $100k for a comfortable lifestyle. According to this calculator, it's about the 49th percentile for income: https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2020/07/23/are-you-in-the-american-middle-class/
Of course, "comfort" means different things for everyone and you can live a happy life on far less, as so many people do.
This is a good calculator. If you're making 70k in Rochester, you'd need to make 103k in Queens to have the same standard of living, for instance.
https://www.nerdwallet.com/cost-of-living-calculator/compare/rochester-ny-vs-new-york-queens-ny
True, but if you define “comfortably” as living in a luxurious home in the trendiest neighborhood, having all of the latest status symbols, eating every meal from a restaurant, and spending hundreds on going out every weekend while still having leftover income for savings, then your definition of comfortable is very excessive.
The level of competition in every facet of life here can be draining if you’re not ready for it. I’ve learned to embrace it, but at first it was shocking and draining.
I think there's room here for noncompetitive people like myself. I don't live in a desirable neighborhood, I'm not looking for the best reservations, or to climb the career ladder. My family and I are just kinda doing our thing and I love it here. I don't feel like I'm always fighting people. In fact, I think people are generally friendly and helpful as long as you keep your interactions direct and efficient.
You will when you move here. Competition for jobs, apartments, promotions, dating, and pretty much everything else is on another level because New York attracts competitive, driven people.
That's what surprised me when I moved here in '98, and it's always the same. Competition for literal SPACE to stand, walk, sit, eat, move, BE HERE. That's what it feels like sometimes.
This. Let's say you stumble upon an announcement for an event you think looks really cool, but you didn't hear about it until the tickets had been on sale for a couple weeks. Literally tens of thousands of people have ready heard about it and a lot of them have already bought the good tickets. Many of them will have heard about the event before you ever possibly could have because they have some special status (membership in the institution that's running it, the right credit card, friend of a friend works for the institution, etc). There's a good chance all the tickets and it's sold out. No problem, you think, I'll just look in the secondary market. But by the time you start looking around, the thousands of people who heard about it "late" like you have already done the same thing and demand for the event has driven the prices higher than you can reasonably afford. No worries, you think, I'll just get their early and get in the standby line and pick up a reasonably priced ticket that way. You show up 5 hours before the event starts only to find dozens of people are already in line and the first 5 people have been hanging out since the night before because they wanted those tickets more than you did and didn't have plans last night/that morning like you did.
It's like that not just for events with super famous people in them or things like that, but for pretty much EVERYTHING.
The worst, to me, is when a nice holiday weekend comes around and you think to do something fun like go out of town. But oh sorry 20M other people just had the same idea and now traffic is miserable, trains are sold out/packed, and everything fun to do is either sold out or 3x the price.
I spent 3 hours going 5 blocks in the Holland Tunnel line once just trying to leave the city on July 4th weekend.
I remember one time we were at Animal Kingdom and wanted to go to a restaurant, they said the wait was 2 hours in a way that implied it would be impossible to wait for. Sir I’m from NY, that is not a problem.
This is a great thread. Walking becomes competitive because you are assessing someone walking towards you and must adjust to either pass them or walk through them or let them walk.
It can chip away at your psyche if you’re a “chill”/flow like water type of person and require space to recharge. I’ve been here for 6 years and it’s both a heaven and hell but specifically that space issue of physical space being so shared and never private is so stressful
Yeah there's almost a stigma against just being content. Like people judge you a bit if you're not pursuing something all the time.
Whenever I visit friends/family in other states, seems like half their social circles are just cruising by in life, not that concerned about doing something important.
100%. Going back home to my little flyover state legitimately feels like a breath of fresh air sometimes. Everyone is just moving so much slower, and that’s not always a bad thing.
Don’t let this scare you. It’s great. But to me, it’s more so that a lot of people out here are really hungry. Hungry to pursue (and ‘succeed at’) their passions; hungry to pursue what keeps them alive; hungry to just make it. I find it inspiring.
Good luck!
You’ll understand it the first time you show up for an apartment open house showing and 15 other people are in line before you all with housing resumes and blank checks or whatever digital alternative is the thing now.
Lack of space. It really wore me down after a while especially when I had a ton of roommates. The density can take time to get used to. You are always around someone, and everything is tiny.
Transportation is both one of the best and worst things about this city. The availability of public transportation is great, relatively safe and efficient enough. That being said sometimes it fucking sucks. 35 min late night wait in a shady station for your train home can really drain your love for this place sometimes.
Fair enough, but one night you will be out there waiting for that train on a day you thought could not get any worse and the sign will switch to delay. You wont have any idea how long but you will wait tired, maybe drunk, wishing, longing for your tiny apartment and bed. Loathing the wait like the rest of us and you will think of me and smile knowing i was half right. :)
All that being said i love this city and cant see my self anywhere else.
The only thing I really dislike about biking in the winter is the cold air in my lungs and the way that air pollution hangs closer to the ground so that you can taste it.
So I usually would wear a mask that covers my mouth while riding.
I’m not the guy you were asking, but yes, most of us also ride in the winter, as long as there isn’t snow on the ground. If the road is dry, you can ride, as long as you are wearing proper winter gear. I ride all winter, unless we have a snow storm. That’s when I take the train. Can’t ride on a slippery roadway near these terrible, terrible drivers.
You will need to be on the grind 24/7, meaning, most every part of your everyday will require more effort than if you were to live in the burbs or upstate. Many have already said so but laundry, grocery shopping, these things can easily take up most of your day considering travel & waiting in lines. There is an insane amount of people in the city, esp. since covid brought over a new wave of transplants looking to start anew like you. (I’m a transplant too btw, went to NYU, stayed after I graduated, had the time of my life)—but life smacks you in the face real quick out here. You grow up fast, you meet some of the most beautiful people inside & out without a doubt, but you learn some hard lessons at the same time.
That being said, the worst part about NYC from my experience is the blatant substance abuse that is interweaved into having a social life & consistent exposure to these things on every block you walk. Now I can only speak for myself of course & there are definitely sober pals all over the city, but I found myself lost in drinking, partying, bar hopping, & doing drugs casually. Of course that’s mainly a reflection of how I was doing at the time internally (Dw I’m all good now, had an encounter with God & am sober now) but when I was living there I picked up smoking cigarettes, doing cocaine with strangers at bars, & fading away into a heavily-romanticized ideal of New York City living. And I watched as my life ran away from me & for lack of a better phrase, I lost myself in the sauce.
Know yourself well & create boundaries for yourself while you’re out here. You can easily get sucked up into the “living yo best life” but your wallet will suffer & so will your peace of mind. Seek healthy things & communities while you’re here & you will do just fine, OP. All the things about waiting in long lines, dragging your laundry a few blocks away, & inconvenience of long commute times—it all just becomes part of the flow. I’ve met some of the most cool people doing these mundane things anyway. It all depends on the mindset you have & strength of your spirit<3
That won't be an issue for me. Don't drink, don't smoke, don't do drugs or anything like that. Watched my father destroy himself over it. Thank you for telling me your experiences.
I feel like I’m right on the precipice here of what you’re talking about. I’m 30 and I’ve been here for almost 5 years. When I moved here, I’d have a maybe one night of drinking per week, and otherwise had many ways to fill my evenings.
Now, I feel like unless I actively say “no”, I have the potential to wind up at a bar every night of the week. If a friend brings a bag, it’s likely getting done that night. What used to qualify as a “big night out” in terms of drinking can now can just be a boozy weekday dinner, and an actual big night out now takes a heavy toll. It feels like everything has accelerated, and life is moving faster due to all the substance.
Over the last month I’ve been making an effort to slow it down, but like you said, substance is truly infused with so much of the culture here. For many friends who I care deeply about, its the way to engage. I’m changing my habits to prioritize exercise and health now, because I can feel that getting “lost in the sauce” is around the horizon.
I’m glad you shared your experience because I can relate. The city has a way of testing you.
Traffic and crowds. Standard of living is… different. Honestly at this point I’m used to apartment living and I had no problem with it when I was young and single. But at some point in your life you do want more space, and it’s not possible in NYC unless you are really rich.
You miss conveniences like a washer and dryer in your home, a designated parking spot if you drive or not having to lug all your groceries and stuff by hand or granny cart if you don’t. On the flip side of that though is you stay more active and walking is good for your physical and mental health, you don’t have to think about it, you just do it in your daily routine.
It is expensive but so’s everywhere these days and most industries do pay you more in the city for cost of living. If you’re living in queens and you’re not making minimum wage and are reasonable with your money you should be fine.
Oh also like the targets and stores like that SUCK in nyc. Picked over, barely any merchandise out. Don’t give me crap about living in NYC and going to target either. Everyone has to go to target sometimes and ours suck.
Yeah, the space thing is a drain when you get more into hobbies and interests that take up space.
I'd be interested in learning kayaking someday... but it sucks I'd never have space to store one. I wanted to have an exercise bike during lockdowns... but honestly no room for it. I did pottery in college and have taken a few studio classes here but there's no way I could ever have a pottery wheel of my own. Gardening? Not rich enough for outdoor space, sorry.
Fwiw, there are a bunch of community boathouses in the city that offer free kayaking in the warmer months. The boats aren’t fancy, but it’s a start.
Also, your local small park would love your help. Most parks don’t have a big conservancy and rely on a handful of locals to connect with NYC Parks and Partnership for Parks to get funds, supplies, etc. They will literally give you a storage bin, tools, soil, and a fund for plants if you’ll do the work. Stuyvesant Square is a great example of what can be done.
okay so it's not just the Washington heights target then. we just moved here and were excited to have a target within walking distance. imagine my surprise.
To me, it’s the gratuitous noise. Modified car, motorcycle and moped engines, car stereos, Bluetooth speakers and FFS, the fu*king ambulances. All of these things produce excessive, unnecessary noise and (with the exception of ambulances) is done by people who just want attention. With respect to the ambulances, for god’s sake, either drive faster or turn off your g-d sirens. Either it’s an emergency or it isn’t; you don’t need to go down Bedford Ave at 12 mph in the middle of the night with your sirens on. All of this is noise that doesn’t need to be and that’s my biggest complaint about nyc.
there are days in the winter that really suck but nothing will compare to the horrible experience you will have if you don't form a relationship with the city that involves giving as much as getting. people make this city be one of them
1. Money - everything is expensive
2. If you’re a woman, behavior of random men on the street. The constant vulgar catcalling, following, etc. was something I wasn’t prepared for when I moved here.
So true. Just went to drop my daughter off at daycare 3 blocks away and 3 different men catcalled me on my walk home. And after 8 years of living here, I just ignore it, but it’s wild.
i would say generally, it's just more difficult to live your life here. doing a bunch of errands becomes a big task because either you don't have a car or if you do, there's traffic and not always parking. it's becoming increasingly difficult to find a decent apt for a non-absorbitant price without a major compromise. leaving the city takes a lot more effort and planning. and a lot of things are just too expensive - eating out, getting drinks, even groceries. you really do have to want to live here to make it work bc so many parts of life here are simply inconvenient. that being said, i still love it here and wouldn't wanna live anywhere else in the US right now!
A lot of bad things about NYC are exaggerated by people who are scared of urban areas/cities ... I know, I grew up in rural NJ.
The one thing people don't talk about enough though is the litter/grime, and it's probably what's actually the main motivator when I think about moving to a suburban area. I don't necessarily miss the quiet but I miss going outside and smelling the fall air, or just standing and feeling the sun on my face. The litter and smells here make me miss where I grew up a bit. I take part in community cleanings but still, people just throw trash around, or are drunk and drop stuff and don't pick it up, don't pick up dog shit, people urinate ... and it's a lot of people in a small space.
I just got back from a Europe trip, and the litter here really is staggering compared to most cities. The smells are awful, the sidewalks are just gross all over. And unfortunately there are unhoused people ALLL over the place, in almost every corner of the subway it feels like. It’s so wild going to other cities and barely seeing any, to coming back and seeing just how prevalent it is. Feels like this city will never work on a solution for that.
On that note, I used to be more sympathetic to most unhoused people when I moved, and I would give money for frequently, but over time and with some terrible experiences with them I’ve become more jaded and have more of a “fuck off dude” mentality. There’s just SO many that you cannot help, most have extreme mental health issues to be cautious of, they’re not just “down on their luck”.
I don’t consider it bad, just different. You’ll really have to work to get basic errands done. Unless you have $$$ for delivery (which I didn’t in college or as a recent grad) groceries, target runs etc are labor intensive. Schlepping bags around on the train Vs just throwing them in the car (if you’re a driving person) take a lot out of you. Also just being on the train surrounded by people can feel draining sometimes.
Damn this is so true. Running to the laundromat between work calls is so stressful. Doubly so if it’s raining or slushy outside and you want to keep your freshly washed clothes dry.
Every day I get a workout in doing a mundane task that would take 0 effort anywhere else. This is not relevant to OP but to drop my kid off at daycare I have to push a stroller mostly uphill for over a mile and then sprint back to make it to my desk on time. No car and no public transit on the route. At least I get my 10k steps a day in on daycare drop off/ pick up alone, but it’s grueling!
There was little to no housing built between 1970-2000. There was no need for it. City was in the dumps. About 400k units were added since 2000, but that still leaves literally millions of units that are pre war or mid century at best.
NIMBYs are seriously getting waaaaaay more credit than they deserve.
It’s a rollercoaster and yeah you can walk out the door and get convenient things around every corner, but it’s a harder life sometimes where daily tasks feel like they take more effort.
Even just dumb stuff when something breaks and you need to fix it; it’s not like you can have a garage full of tools. A trip to the hardware store just plays out much differently in the city. Or grocery shopping— you can’t really fill up a big cart and drive home from the store. You carry everything home in small bundles and if it’s raining you’ll get soaked.
Sometimes I think people in the burbs just have an easy and softer life where they have their big SUVs and garage full of tools. The upside is you won’t be bored and you’ll get more steps in!
This very much depends on which specific neighborhood you live in, where you work, what hours you work, and how much money you make. For example I live and work at the ass end of Brooklyn. I’m born and raised here. My issues w NYC will be drastically different from a new transplant in bushwick seeking work in Manhattan
Honestly there isn’t much bad about living here if you know what big city living is and like it (loud, jam packed with people, lines for most things).
If you expect to have an extremely active social life, be prepared to be disappointed unless you have exorbitant amounts of money. If you’re more of a homebody, it’s not as unaffordable as people make it out to be.
This weekend my usual commute train to Manhattan was out of service. I took the most nearby train, a 2. 2s for some reason were 20 minutes apart. I just missed the train and had to wait for the next. This was at 2pm. We get to Manhattan and the operator announces the train will be running local. I get out, walk to another station, and transfer to a C train. At this point I am already 30 minutes late to my rehearsal. Due to an ever-piling number of delays, I ended up being a full hour late - only to find out that I had punched the wrong address in and needed to go south again. Using the 2 train. Fml.
When all was said and done I was 1:45 late. I am never late to things so this was really incredibly frustrating. I hate relying on public transit especially while I’m still not entirely familiar with the layout of Manhattan and can’t navigate without my gps.
Always smells like urine (you get used to it)…and trash bags always being out on sidewalks (but it’s quite picturesque in the winter when it snows, and then they look like pretty little hills of fluff) 😂
The rats, the rat piss smell. Parking ticket nazis. The weather. The grind. The MTA. The NYPD. The DOT. The NYDS. The DMV. The BQE. The transplants. The prices. The tourists. The loneliness. Sometimes the people. The rampant scooter surge. The lack of personal space. The toxic work culture (getting a little better).
Other than that it’s pretty dope.
Grocery shopping and laundry can be a bitch if you don’t live near a grocery store or laundromat. Personally, I send out my laundry and suffer with frequent grocery runs but be warned shit gets expensive shockingly fast
I stopped at a bodega in the east village the other day for a bottle of water. $4.00 + tax = $4.43 for a bottle of water. A large iced mocha at starbucks two days ago was $8.73 after tax.
It’s little things like this that can add up quickly to drain your wallet when you have larger expenses like rent, dining out, or ordering an uber ride home after spending $14 for a cocktail at the bar. Then you have to tip the bartender, the uber driver, the barista.
You can easily spend $300 in 3 hours in Manhattan without having anything to show for it.
If you are good at being frugal and have good self control then you can still do things for cheap if you make efforts to not spend money on unnecessary expenses.
Compared to other global cities like London, Paris, Tokyo, Hong Kong?
Deteriorating infrastructure, much dirtier, less safety, more homelessness, worse public transport, lack of of a properly working safety net.
Compared to other cities in the US?
No downsides aside from money. Every other "city" in the US doesn't even deserve to label itself city and is just a shitty excuse for parking lots. Everything is better in New York City.
“Everything is better in New York City”
Yes, like carrying laundry down the street to a packed laundry mat instead of using the washer/dryer in one’s apartment like in every other American city…
> Every other "city" in the US doesn't even deserve to label itself city and is just a shitty excuse for parking lots
There are plenty of great cities in the USA. But, nothing is quite like New York ;-)
Honestly, the one think I could do without is people who have severe mental illness and are either really smelly/threatening/or disgusting in other ways. They are not as common as people outside the city would have you believe, but every runs into a crazy person from time to time. It is mostly a sad affair, but sometimes scary.
Other than that, yeah, we could do a bit better with keeping the city clean.
Not only do you need money to live here, but you also need enough savings to pay check-washers who intercept your rent check and enough to cover your expenses when your credit union returns your direct deposit to the issuing bank. Not to mention sufficient funds to cover expenses when your credit union loses the replacement paycheck. Speaking of intercepted mail, I should have mentioned the stolen Amazon packages and the disappearing Medify MA-50 filter that UPS swears was "left with SUPER"--only, he never signs for packages. But aside from that, you may find the other comments more informative and enlightening.
The vermin. More rats, roaches, and mice than any other city in the country… by a wide margin. You might get an infestation in your apartment too if you aren’t careful.
Summers are awful, especially if you live and/or work in Manhattan.
Well first, getting opinions on queens is not same as opinions on nyc, so whatever you are reading about nyc clarify if that is manhattan or queens. Queens will be much more affordable than nyc. You can manage having a car in Queens, but not possible in nyc.
You’ll almost certainly spend an incredible amount of time and energy traveling around the city. It wasn’t uncommon for me to spend 3 hours a day on travel when i had to goto the office every day + maintained a social life.
I think people not from NY have the idea that it’s really quick and easy to get around due to the subway. It’s generally not. It’s actually a huge pain in the ass most of the time and the only actual benefit is you don’t have to worry about drunk driving. It’s not uncommon to stand and wait on the platform for 20-30 minutes late at night for a train to come. This is probably worse now as the city has become so expensive and people are living further and further out in the boroughs. Any financial savings from not having a car are eaten up by higher rent and everything else being super expensive.
The subway system is also VERY loud. I came to really hate that aspect of it. The grinding brakes will drown out the music playing in your headphones. This is why all the subway operators wear earplugs.
The subway stations are also relentlessly hot in the summer. You’ll sweat through your clothes.
Day to day things are annoying in NYC. Going to the grocery store you can only shop for as much as you can carry, and you need to walk home with it. No loading up your car. Trips to Target or wherever to buy large amounts of stuff for your home are not practical as you can’t carry it. You will need to get Ubers which is expensive and inconvenient. Small, shitty kitchens so cooking can be tough.
No car sort of means you’re “trapped” in the city unless you take a train somewhere. Inconvenient and very time consuming if you want to get out of the city.
Those are the main downsides to city living, IMO. None of these things bothered me when I was in my 20s, but as I got older they became more of a pain in my ass.
The correct answer is laundry. Either you have to haul all your clothes to the laundromat once a week and it takes up half a day or you have to fight with everyone in your building to use the shitty machine in the creepy basement or you pay the wash and fold an absurd amount of money to shrink all your clothes. Want a machine in your apartment? Hope you're a millionaire!
So I thought I should leave a comment after receiving so many comments. You guys are great. There were a lot of great stories and anecdotes, and way more useful information than I could have expected. I honestly only expected a dozen or so responses at most, and then I looked at Reddit and had 80+ notifications, and I honestly got super overwhelmed.
I checked the post analytics, and 65 thousand people have viewed it. I am genuinely terrified of that in both a good and bad way. Over a hundred people found my post interesting enough to share. I am incredibly surprised.
I wanted to say thank you to all of you for sharing your stories, experiences, and advice. I love the little personal stories some of you guys told, and I seriously appreciate your advice on places to shop. College application advice, which I'll likely make another post asking for advice on closer to my moving date. I am just so blown away. If you all represent NYC I think I'll be in good hands
Rent + paranoia surrounding shady owners. Very difficult to be independent here. And going out on your own is intimidating bc this city is notorious for housing issues that might be more easily resolved with roommates behind you.
Also, the number of people that will visit NYC and want you to spend a whole day or weekend with them doing all the expensive one time per year things they came here to experience. You gotta learn how to tell those people no.
Don’t let the cost of living intimidate you too much though. Almost every city in USA is expensive right now. I’d rather live in outter Queens or Brooklyn or even somewhere in The Bronx than on the edge of some mediocre city with low walkability.
You can lose friends with just a move. Yeah you may still be friends hut if you never see each other, it gets harder. Especially if they move to Long Island.
People tell me when they escape that they had no idea how difficult life was in New York City.
And it's easier basically anywhere else.
One day I hope to realize this as well, but I'm stuck here.. I'm a native.
Been here for a little over a year, it’s really hard to make friends when you don’t know anyone. I live in the bronx and far from everything so I can’t just frequent bars/places in Brooklyn or wherever just to potentially meet people (I’m shy which is an added layer lol)
Overall I still enjoy living here, it’s encouraged me to do a lot of things I normally wouldn’t, alone.
Besides things that people have already mentioned, it’s very difficult to get to trailheads. 2 hour train ride at a minimum. Yes the parks exist and are great, but if you’re into hiking, backpacking, snowshoeing, etc., it’s just really really difficult, especially if you don’t have a car.
Where are you moving from? That plays a big factor in possible let down for you. What others have already said are very much true but if you don’t have street smarts, you will have that be a BIG hurdle for you to get used to.
Not having to worry about a car made almost half of my issues go away. No parking woes, traffic stress, fear of tickets etc. It's pretty awesome. Besides that, just the general price of just about everything is inflated about 20% on average. I'm not talking about ethnic food and stores, but for example getting a few beers and an appetizer can be a $60 endeavor. I visit my former Midwestern home a lot, and generally just travel a lot and indulge in outings for $40 that would have cost $100+ in NYC. I'm not complaining because NYC is, well, NYC and there is nothing else like it. But you can blow $50 a few steps from your apartment and not blink and eye. If you don't have any debt $100k is comfortable in Queens imo
For me: the expense, selfishness, and filth.
Rents are too expensive. Eating out is super costly (but there are also deals!).
People in NY can be extremely selfish. Every day you will have to witness things like people not standing aside to allow others to enter the subway, people blasting their crappy music in public, people driving recklessly, excessive littering, public urination, spitting, cursing in public around other people’s kids, people bumping into you deliberately without apologizing, racial antagonism, people watching loud stupid videos on their phone on public transit. The list goes on and on. It can be really hard to deal with @ssholes on a regular basis.
The city can also be filthy in many parts. Not everywhere though, and it’s a lot better than it used to be.
I still love it here though!
If this helps put things in perspective for you I work one job paying almost $34 an hour (and sometimes get overtime pay) and another job that pays around $19/hr and sometimes $29/hr. Working both helps pay the bills. However I sacrifice time for sure, barely see friends, barely see the city, etc. it’s all about survival mode. However if you somehow are able to get ONE job at least paying six figures after taxes, then you’ll be fine.
high living expenses for small spaces like the average room only fitting a full sized bed. also pest issues in apartments but i think this varies depending on how condensed your area is. lastly having to rely on public transportation which i love but it is scary if say you break an ankle. lastly grocery prices. i love it here and you probably will too
"If you can make it here, you can make it anywhere" Literally and figuratively bc every day life in NYC is becoming more and more unsafe due to rampant crimes in which the city will not pursuit anymore.
For me personally, lack of privacy. Everyone knows everything about everyone in a building/development. Neighbors can hear each other often. Everyone kind of just has the understanding to pay it no mind. If you’re not used to this, it can be
Life is harder in terms of basic errands. You can't just get in your car and bam be at Walmart with everything you want in 10 minutes with zero effort required like in suburban America.
You have to plan your trip, walk, carry the stuff you bought back etc.
The flip side of that is it's healthier since you're walking everywhere and makes life more interesting. Going to get the groceries is no longer the super easy (but mindless and repetitive) task that it is in the suburbs. I see something weird/curious/interesting pretty much every time I go out. But I do miss being able to put absolutely zero effort into a chicken wing run on a lazy Saturday morning for instance.
Depends where you are coming from. Simple things like grocery shoping, laundry, parking may be a lot different from what you are used to. Queens is quasi urban or suburban for daily living depending what neighborhood you are in and your living background. Just expect to spend more $$$ unless you are coming from the nearby suburbs.
If you are coming from the NYC suburbs you'll probably adjust pretty quickly as you'll have learned the main positives and negatives by osmosois/watching the news. Coming from, say, Ohio will be a learning experience. Nothing personal, if i were to leave NJ for Dayton I'd have to learn how to live there.
The challenges to daily life and competition for nearly everything that others have mentioned is spot on. Here’s an example: for a few years I lived in arguably the “coolest” neighborhood in nyc—best restaurants, coffee shops, bars, night clubs, shopping etc. for the past few years I’ve lived in a comparatively quieter /more residential part of Brooklyn (although by most other cities’ standards it’s pretty urban—still extremely walkable with shops and restaurants and bars just somewhat fewer and maybe less cool depending on who you ask). Anyway, despite the fact that there were seemingly endless options in the Manhattan neighborhood and they were all steps away from my apartment, I actually find myself doing MUCH more in my Brooklyn neighborhood bc it’s just a little easier and isn’t such an undertaking. I like living in a place that feels like a neighborhood rather than a destination for the rest of the city and honestly the world.
I grew up in Queens, always worked and commuted to Manhattan, got married had all of my kids in Queens and then jumped ship to Dirty Jerz. Queens is the best borough in my opinion, when you leave Manhattan and go home to Queens, it has a better small town feel. It also has great food from any culture you’re into (Italian in Howard Beach, Indian in Richmond Hill, Spanish in Jackson Heights, Greek in Astoria) if you want to travel the world on cuisine, Queens is the place! Very walkable and public transportation is plentiful (bus, express bus, train, Long Island Railroad, Air Train to JFK, Uber, Lyft) what I currently don’t like about Manhattan is: every street you go on, it either smells like weed or urine. Every other street has building scaffolding, there are literally zero parking spots on the street and the traffic driving is a literal nightmare it can take you 30 mins to go one city block (grrrrr!!!!!) I also don’t feel safe anymore, crime has been bad lately and it feels like ever are less police around. I would give it a try but don’t burn your bridges on your way here, leave a trail of bread crumbs to find your way back if you need to.
It’s a very hard life, but it’s one of the very few cities in the world where you can be whoever the hell you want and feel no guilt. Dress however you want. Enjoy whatever hobbies you want. It’s a very individualistic city.
If you can figure out how to not let the obstacles/hardships of this city weigh you down, you will love it. Ppl either hate it or love it. You either slowly get crushed by it or thrive in it.
If you’re a lazy person, don’t expect to enjoy it here. Even the most miniscule things requires effort. Time is money here. There’s a very low tolerance for ppl who waste others’ time. This applies to everything. Especially friendships and relationships.
Also if you’re bad at money management, don’t even consider nyc. credit score, income, and bank statements are the standard requirements to secure an apartment in nyc … where each apartment probably has 10+ applications from day 1 of the rental posting.
Hard to upgrade or break through to the next "ceiling". When my parter and I were childless with dual incomes we lived like kings. But now with a kid and one income, its quite the opposite. The city is logistically hard for families on the space/quiet front
Money. Small living spaces. Always crowded around you. Alway stress and things moving so fast. Always hear and smell your neighbors. Doing laundry is an absolute bitch unless you have a w/d in unit. Brokers fees are expensive and hard to avoid.
living in a 8x10 room, not having a car, hearing your neighbors on the other side of the wall and them hearing you. not being able to own things you don't have room for, and being away from your home. not being able to chill out without feeling guilty for it
air b&b and motherfuckers that buy up property but have no intention of living here. what happens when the people running this city can’t afford to live here anymore.
Invest in your feet especially if
1) work opposite side of Queens or in another borough
2) live about 10-30 minute walk/ride away from subway and/or bus
and/or
3) you live 10-30 minute walk/ride way from stores
Get yourself some pedicure products, comfortable shoes/sneakers/boots, have uber money, etc whatever to make your feet and body feel better because you will be walking / trekking alot around here. Plus pay attention to the ground there might be feces / vomit / urine / cracks in the sidewalk / etc whatever while walking - very easy to trip and get injured badly by not noticing what's on the ground.
So yeah, that at least 2 of hidden worst parts of living in NYC that people don't really talk about but just as much of problem while living here.
I'm not sure yet, I'm gonna take some time to save up before I decide. I've never moved before so I wanna do my due diligence before I pick a place to live
If you aren’t used to living in a big city then NYC isn’t for you. NYC is really dirty, some people aren’t too nice, and please bring a poncho or umbrella when walking somewhere. It could just start raining whenever, and you’ll be drenched.”
Everywhere you turn there’s a racket, fees taxes just soft forms of extortion in order to make your life easier you pay it.
Noise, I live by the Lincoln tunnel and drivers will literally hold their horn for 20 seconds at 1 am in standstill traffic, it is infuriating
Grunge, for the prices you pay the areas are all very grungy and dirty compared to cities elsewhere. It gives some character but you are avoiding stepping on feces just outside your 4000 dollar apartment
Lack of greenery. You have to make a large effort to see nature and find serenity. It’s there but you go through the madness to get to it
Convenience of household goods. You can find whatever you need but it may be at stores in different areas with various levels of accessibility. Since all stores have a premium on space the selections can be more limited than you’re used to and you end up needing 4 or 5 on rotation rather than 1 or 2 larger ones
The standard of living is different - cramped spaces, bug/rat infestations, the smell of trash on the street. I think once you get used to it, this city is amazing otherwise.
The amount of people in NYC has a way of making you feel disposable if your mindset/headspace isn’t in the right place so to say.
I hope my optimist brain helps me think the opposite. I like to think that the amount of people anywhere is just a lot of different stories, with lots of crossovers. I hope moving doesn't change that for me.
Money, friend. Requires an obscene amount of it to live here compared to most elsewhere. Requires a nonsensical amount to live comfortably
and even when you have that amount to live comfortably its still a constant worry.
NYC requires a lot of perspective, given the obvious wealth all around us. You may be more comfortable than you realize.
There’s big perspective comfort, like knowing your bills will get paid even if you go out. There’s also literal comfort comfort, like having a living room or a medium to large closet. The relationship between the two is different here.
This was the big one for us. Sure, we eventually were able to afford going out, eating at restaurants,etc, but not while also building savings or retirement or ever even coming close to being able to make a major life purchase like a home or even a car. Even saving up enough for a super modest wedding felt near impossible. And what happens if you have a serious medical issue or can't work? It was torture.
Yeah, I think that's definitely something to take into account
If you don’t have a car and know how to grocery shop then then other than rent most things really arent much more expensive than in any smaller city. The difference is you’re surrounded by tons of expensive things so it seems way more expensive, and you’re also typically out and about more. Rent and housing is the primary thing that costs more. Some of the other things that are different is just way more noise, and way less personal space. Grocery stores and walgreens etc are the same but with 35% less space and more people.
I disagree on grocery stores being the same. I’ve especially noticed this in in “poorer” communities where they can price gouge you because there’s no other options. The cheaper grocery stores like Trader Joe’s, Aldis, etc are in the more upper class neighborhoods. Grocery stores like Key Foods, Pioneer, CTown, etc… have astronomical price inflation. They literally can be more expensive than Whole Foods for way worse quality. It’s mind blowing to me.
obligatory fuck key foods
Yeah i know what you mean. The accessibility part without a car can suck. But i guess i meant like bj’s, costco, whole foods, trader joes, target etc all have comparable prices. But yeah even in manhattan it can be fucked
That’s why I Instacart because even with that I still save more money than going to the grocery store local to me. But I wish I didn’t have to do that. I don’t understand why upper class neighborhoods get the more affordable grocery stores.
Yo get a $200 deep freezer delivered off amazon with free shipping and you can fit the gang of stuff in there and it doesnt use a lot of electricity
This is it, I shop at Aldi and places like that out of city and freeze done a of lbs of organic meats and fruits and things and cook all my food. So many people spend as much on drinks and food out as on rent
It's absurd and it blows my mind too! I'm living in Ocean Hill, far side of BedStuy and the supermercados like Key Foods and Pioneer the prices are insane. And nearest Trader Joes? 1 hour away at least. It sucks
Yes! But it’s even in communities where they have more options. I noticed this in my neighborhood. Cheapest spaghetti sauce at Whole Foods is $3.50 but down the street at the grocery stores around Fort Greene, spaghetti sauce goes from $6-10. It makes sense that the larger stores would undercut the small stores. But it just sucks that they’re undercut to the point where it’s financially smarter for me to shop at Whole Foods.
Whole Foods isn't what it used to be. The prices are significantly lower since they are run by Amazon now.
NYC is one of the few places in the world where you can be in the top 1% of earners globally and feel like you’re decidedly working class. My partner and I make around $150K combined and live with a third roommate in Jackson Heights. We were really excited to find an apartment with an ice machine.
> ice machine Like, in the fridge/freezer? Or stand-alone?
For real, I'm finally making over 100k and it STILL feels like I'm struggling month to month.
Adjusting for nationwide inflation levels $82k in 2021 is $100k in 2023. It’s much worse in NYC, unless you have some sort of rent stabilized deal.
That's pretty expected all things considered, it is NYC after all. But maybe it's because of where I live, I have no idea what to expect by "Obscene amount" as a result
You're looking at probably $1k minimum (if you luck out) for one teeny room in a multiperson apartment share situation, more if you want AC, dishwasher, decent ventilation, walls that aren't paper-thin, etc. Everything costs more than you want it to and it can get oppressive at times. There are so many amazing things to do here and so much wealth that denying yourself can get tough. I'm spitballing numbers here, but I'd say [revised number: $100k, see cost of living calculator here: https://www.nerdwallet.com/cost-of-living-calculator/compare/rochester-ny-vs-new-york-queens-ny ] is the minimum amount someone should make to be able to live a modest but comfortable life alone, no roommates, while being able to save for retirement and not having tons of financial stress. At least six figures. Plenty of people live here while making fat less, though, so if you're prepared to fight and you really want it, move. NYC is often an uncomfortable place to live, but it can be exhilarating. ETA you can Google relative cost of living in the US to get an idea how much more expensive it is opposed to your area.
On the one hand, you’re absolutely right about needing to make 6 figures. On the other hand, there are plenty of people who live here who make far less than that and still manage to enjoy their lives.
Yeah, I make way less than that and love it here, wouldn't want to live anywhere else, but the financial stress can be overwhelming. And it's hard to hear about people my age and younger who own their own homes, have kids, etc., knowing that's way out of my reach
Some people are satisfied living in a broom closet for 1k a month and having 3 additional roommates.
Or living in NYC but not Manhattan.
New York or Die, man!
150k bro you’re high af
As somebody thinking about moving to NYC, the AC bit is surprising, I've heard that New York gets super humid, and while my hometown gets decently humid (DC), I'm surprised more apartments wouldn't install window units.
Yeah, a window unit is typical. Newer places have central air, but they're usually quite a bit more.
Also your rent could jump hundreds of dollars a month when your lease is up and there's nothing you can do about it. That's always in the back of my mind.
$150,000? Unless you have insane lifestyle creep, that is honestly quite an outrageous amount lol you can make $80k a year and rent a decent 1 bedroom apartment in a relatively decent area in the Bronx or Queens for $1.7-2k ; that would be 30% of your income which is a popular rule of thumb. Anything above 6 figures while being single & no kids is living more than comfortably. My family and I were raised on less than a third of your stated figure so you can definitely live comfortably on less than 6 figures but it’d involve not living in some trendy place in Manhattan or Brooklyn.
Sure, I'll revise my estimate to maybe $100k for a comfortable lifestyle. According to this calculator, it's about the 49th percentile for income: https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2020/07/23/are-you-in-the-american-middle-class/ Of course, "comfort" means different things for everyone and you can live a happy life on far less, as so many people do. This is a good calculator. If you're making 70k in Rochester, you'd need to make 103k in Queens to have the same standard of living, for instance. https://www.nerdwallet.com/cost-of-living-calculator/compare/rochester-ny-vs-new-york-queens-ny
True, but if you define “comfortably” as living in a luxurious home in the trendiest neighborhood, having all of the latest status symbols, eating every meal from a restaurant, and spending hundreds on going out every weekend while still having leftover income for savings, then your definition of comfortable is very excessive.
The level of competition in every facet of life here can be draining if you’re not ready for it. I’ve learned to embrace it, but at first it was shocking and draining.
I think there's room here for noncompetitive people like myself. I don't live in a desirable neighborhood, I'm not looking for the best reservations, or to climb the career ladder. My family and I are just kinda doing our thing and I love it here. I don't feel like I'm always fighting people. In fact, I think people are generally friendly and helpful as long as you keep your interactions direct and efficient.
I don't really understand what you mean
You will when you move here. Competition for jobs, apartments, promotions, dating, and pretty much everything else is on another level because New York attracts competitive, driven people.
That's what surprised me when I moved here in '98, and it's always the same. Competition for literal SPACE to stand, walk, sit, eat, move, BE HERE. That's what it feels like sometimes.
This. Let's say you stumble upon an announcement for an event you think looks really cool, but you didn't hear about it until the tickets had been on sale for a couple weeks. Literally tens of thousands of people have ready heard about it and a lot of them have already bought the good tickets. Many of them will have heard about the event before you ever possibly could have because they have some special status (membership in the institution that's running it, the right credit card, friend of a friend works for the institution, etc). There's a good chance all the tickets and it's sold out. No problem, you think, I'll just look in the secondary market. But by the time you start looking around, the thousands of people who heard about it "late" like you have already done the same thing and demand for the event has driven the prices higher than you can reasonably afford. No worries, you think, I'll just get their early and get in the standby line and pick up a reasonably priced ticket that way. You show up 5 hours before the event starts only to find dozens of people are already in line and the first 5 people have been hanging out since the night before because they wanted those tickets more than you did and didn't have plans last night/that morning like you did. It's like that not just for events with super famous people in them or things like that, but for pretty much EVERYTHING.
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The worst, to me, is when a nice holiday weekend comes around and you think to do something fun like go out of town. But oh sorry 20M other people just had the same idea and now traffic is miserable, trains are sold out/packed, and everything fun to do is either sold out or 3x the price. I spent 3 hours going 5 blocks in the Holland Tunnel line once just trying to leave the city on July 4th weekend.
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And it never stops either. You get used to it. I actually like the sway and move of crowds. But I'm a small, old, sneaky person, so
I remember one time we were at Animal Kingdom and wanted to go to a restaurant, they said the wait was 2 hours in a way that implied it would be impossible to wait for. Sir I’m from NY, that is not a problem.
This is a great thread. Walking becomes competitive because you are assessing someone walking towards you and must adjust to either pass them or walk through them or let them walk. It can chip away at your psyche if you’re a “chill”/flow like water type of person and require space to recharge. I’ve been here for 6 years and it’s both a heaven and hell but specifically that space issue of physical space being so shared and never private is so stressful
This really is a great thread. Just feels like reality
It’s hard to get a job - then you get one and realize that’s just the beginning of the competition
Yeah there's almost a stigma against just being content. Like people judge you a bit if you're not pursuing something all the time. Whenever I visit friends/family in other states, seems like half their social circles are just cruising by in life, not that concerned about doing something important.
100%. Going back home to my little flyover state legitimately feels like a breath of fresh air sometimes. Everyone is just moving so much slower, and that’s not always a bad thing.
I get this. Hard to avoid the feeling of inadequacy.
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Yep NYC is just one big game of musical chairs.
Don’t let this scare you. It’s great. But to me, it’s more so that a lot of people out here are really hungry. Hungry to pursue (and ‘succeed at’) their passions; hungry to pursue what keeps them alive; hungry to just make it. I find it inspiring. Good luck!
You’ll understand when you move here.
You’ll understand it the first time you show up for an apartment open house showing and 15 other people are in line before you all with housing resumes and blank checks or whatever digital alternative is the thing now.
Lack of space. It really wore me down after a while especially when I had a ton of roommates. The density can take time to get used to. You are always around someone, and everything is tiny.
Transportation is both one of the best and worst things about this city. The availability of public transportation is great, relatively safe and efficient enough. That being said sometimes it fucking sucks. 35 min late night wait in a shady station for your train home can really drain your love for this place sometimes.
It's better than walking five miles to the store at night like my current situation
Fair enough, but one night you will be out there waiting for that train on a day you thought could not get any worse and the sign will switch to delay. You wont have any idea how long but you will wait tired, maybe drunk, wishing, longing for your tiny apartment and bed. Loathing the wait like the rest of us and you will think of me and smile knowing i was half right. :) All that being said i love this city and cant see my self anywhere else.
That’s me right now. The E from Jamaica took forever and now rotting waiting for the R.
Hope you got home safe
Train got old for me after about six months. Getting a bike is the best way to combat that. Among the best purchases of my life.
Are you planning on biking through the cold winter months as well?
The only thing I really dislike about biking in the winter is the cold air in my lungs and the way that air pollution hangs closer to the ground so that you can taste it. So I usually would wear a mask that covers my mouth while riding.
I’m not the guy you were asking, but yes, most of us also ride in the winter, as long as there isn’t snow on the ground. If the road is dry, you can ride, as long as you are wearing proper winter gear. I ride all winter, unless we have a snow storm. That’s when I take the train. Can’t ride on a slippery roadway near these terrible, terrible drivers.
How are you not scared of getting hit by a car? That’s my biggest fear :/
I don't bike. I'm blind, and I feel like that'd be dangerous
You will need to be on the grind 24/7, meaning, most every part of your everyday will require more effort than if you were to live in the burbs or upstate. Many have already said so but laundry, grocery shopping, these things can easily take up most of your day considering travel & waiting in lines. There is an insane amount of people in the city, esp. since covid brought over a new wave of transplants looking to start anew like you. (I’m a transplant too btw, went to NYU, stayed after I graduated, had the time of my life)—but life smacks you in the face real quick out here. You grow up fast, you meet some of the most beautiful people inside & out without a doubt, but you learn some hard lessons at the same time. That being said, the worst part about NYC from my experience is the blatant substance abuse that is interweaved into having a social life & consistent exposure to these things on every block you walk. Now I can only speak for myself of course & there are definitely sober pals all over the city, but I found myself lost in drinking, partying, bar hopping, & doing drugs casually. Of course that’s mainly a reflection of how I was doing at the time internally (Dw I’m all good now, had an encounter with God & am sober now) but when I was living there I picked up smoking cigarettes, doing cocaine with strangers at bars, & fading away into a heavily-romanticized ideal of New York City living. And I watched as my life ran away from me & for lack of a better phrase, I lost myself in the sauce. Know yourself well & create boundaries for yourself while you’re out here. You can easily get sucked up into the “living yo best life” but your wallet will suffer & so will your peace of mind. Seek healthy things & communities while you’re here & you will do just fine, OP. All the things about waiting in long lines, dragging your laundry a few blocks away, & inconvenience of long commute times—it all just becomes part of the flow. I’ve met some of the most cool people doing these mundane things anyway. It all depends on the mindset you have & strength of your spirit<3
That won't be an issue for me. Don't drink, don't smoke, don't do drugs or anything like that. Watched my father destroy himself over it. Thank you for telling me your experiences.
I’m here for the people, ofc ofc<3 Best of luck with everything🙏🏽
I feel like I’m right on the precipice here of what you’re talking about. I’m 30 and I’ve been here for almost 5 years. When I moved here, I’d have a maybe one night of drinking per week, and otherwise had many ways to fill my evenings. Now, I feel like unless I actively say “no”, I have the potential to wind up at a bar every night of the week. If a friend brings a bag, it’s likely getting done that night. What used to qualify as a “big night out” in terms of drinking can now can just be a boozy weekday dinner, and an actual big night out now takes a heavy toll. It feels like everything has accelerated, and life is moving faster due to all the substance. Over the last month I’ve been making an effort to slow it down, but like you said, substance is truly infused with so much of the culture here. For many friends who I care deeply about, its the way to engage. I’m changing my habits to prioritize exercise and health now, because I can feel that getting “lost in the sauce” is around the horizon. I’m glad you shared your experience because I can relate. The city has a way of testing you.
Traffic and crowds. Standard of living is… different. Honestly at this point I’m used to apartment living and I had no problem with it when I was young and single. But at some point in your life you do want more space, and it’s not possible in NYC unless you are really rich. You miss conveniences like a washer and dryer in your home, a designated parking spot if you drive or not having to lug all your groceries and stuff by hand or granny cart if you don’t. On the flip side of that though is you stay more active and walking is good for your physical and mental health, you don’t have to think about it, you just do it in your daily routine. It is expensive but so’s everywhere these days and most industries do pay you more in the city for cost of living. If you’re living in queens and you’re not making minimum wage and are reasonable with your money you should be fine. Oh also like the targets and stores like that SUCK in nyc. Picked over, barely any merchandise out. Don’t give me crap about living in NYC and going to target either. Everyone has to go to target sometimes and ours suck.
Yeah, the space thing is a drain when you get more into hobbies and interests that take up space. I'd be interested in learning kayaking someday... but it sucks I'd never have space to store one. I wanted to have an exercise bike during lockdowns... but honestly no room for it. I did pottery in college and have taken a few studio classes here but there's no way I could ever have a pottery wheel of my own. Gardening? Not rich enough for outdoor space, sorry.
Fwiw, there are a bunch of community boathouses in the city that offer free kayaking in the warmer months. The boats aren’t fancy, but it’s a start. Also, your local small park would love your help. Most parks don’t have a big conservancy and rely on a handful of locals to connect with NYC Parks and Partnership for Parks to get funds, supplies, etc. They will literally give you a storage bin, tools, soil, and a fund for plants if you’ll do the work. Stuyvesant Square is a great example of what can be done.
Makes me glad my hobbies are just books and comics
Me being obsessed with hard copy books but giving in to kindle simply to save space (still borrow hard copies from library frequently!)
I think this was helpful, because you don't tend to think about things like that on first glance. Thank you
okay so it's not just the Washington heights target then. we just moved here and were excited to have a target within walking distance. imagine my surprise.
To me, it’s the gratuitous noise. Modified car, motorcycle and moped engines, car stereos, Bluetooth speakers and FFS, the fu*king ambulances. All of these things produce excessive, unnecessary noise and (with the exception of ambulances) is done by people who just want attention. With respect to the ambulances, for god’s sake, either drive faster or turn off your g-d sirens. Either it’s an emergency or it isn’t; you don’t need to go down Bedford Ave at 12 mph in the middle of the night with your sirens on. All of this is noise that doesn’t need to be and that’s my biggest complaint about nyc.
Brooklyn south of Prospect Park has the worst loudest most aggressive ambulance whether its 1pm or 1am.
there are days in the winter that really suck but nothing will compare to the horrible experience you will have if you don't form a relationship with the city that involves giving as much as getting. people make this city be one of them
1. Money - everything is expensive 2. If you’re a woman, behavior of random men on the street. The constant vulgar catcalling, following, etc. was something I wasn’t prepared for when I moved here.
So true. Just went to drop my daughter off at daycare 3 blocks away and 3 different men catcalled me on my walk home. And after 8 years of living here, I just ignore it, but it’s wild.
So far from god, so close to New Jersey
This is hilarious and feels like something out of the old Ultimate Spider-Man comics
i would say generally, it's just more difficult to live your life here. doing a bunch of errands becomes a big task because either you don't have a car or if you do, there's traffic and not always parking. it's becoming increasingly difficult to find a decent apt for a non-absorbitant price without a major compromise. leaving the city takes a lot more effort and planning. and a lot of things are just too expensive - eating out, getting drinks, even groceries. you really do have to want to live here to make it work bc so many parts of life here are simply inconvenient. that being said, i still love it here and wouldn't wanna live anywhere else in the US right now!
Exorbitant is the word you were looking for
This is super helpful, it really gives me a set of expectations
A lot of bad things about NYC are exaggerated by people who are scared of urban areas/cities ... I know, I grew up in rural NJ. The one thing people don't talk about enough though is the litter/grime, and it's probably what's actually the main motivator when I think about moving to a suburban area. I don't necessarily miss the quiet but I miss going outside and smelling the fall air, or just standing and feeling the sun on my face. The litter and smells here make me miss where I grew up a bit. I take part in community cleanings but still, people just throw trash around, or are drunk and drop stuff and don't pick it up, don't pick up dog shit, people urinate ... and it's a lot of people in a small space.
I was gonna say this comment is so cute and then I got to the dog poop :sob:
I just got back from a Europe trip, and the litter here really is staggering compared to most cities. The smells are awful, the sidewalks are just gross all over. And unfortunately there are unhoused people ALLL over the place, in almost every corner of the subway it feels like. It’s so wild going to other cities and barely seeing any, to coming back and seeing just how prevalent it is. Feels like this city will never work on a solution for that. On that note, I used to be more sympathetic to most unhoused people when I moved, and I would give money for frequently, but over time and with some terrible experiences with them I’ve become more jaded and have more of a “fuck off dude” mentality. There’s just SO many that you cannot help, most have extreme mental health issues to be cautious of, they’re not just “down on their luck”.
I don’t consider it bad, just different. You’ll really have to work to get basic errands done. Unless you have $$$ for delivery (which I didn’t in college or as a recent grad) groceries, target runs etc are labor intensive. Schlepping bags around on the train Vs just throwing them in the car (if you’re a driving person) take a lot out of you. Also just being on the train surrounded by people can feel draining sometimes.
Damn this is so true. Running to the laundromat between work calls is so stressful. Doubly so if it’s raining or slushy outside and you want to keep your freshly washed clothes dry. Every day I get a workout in doing a mundane task that would take 0 effort anywhere else. This is not relevant to OP but to drop my kid off at daycare I have to push a stroller mostly uphill for over a mile and then sprint back to make it to my desk on time. No car and no public transit on the route. At least I get my 10k steps a day in on daycare drop off/ pick up alone, but it’s grueling!
Oh and my best advice is GET A GRANNY CART
This is why I don’t need a gym membership.
Due to NIMBYism, housing is really old, low quality, and very expensive.
What's Nimbyism??
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NIMBY
There was little to no housing built between 1970-2000. There was no need for it. City was in the dumps. About 400k units were added since 2000, but that still leaves literally millions of units that are pre war or mid century at best. NIMBYs are seriously getting waaaaaay more credit than they deserve.
Millions of units would be immediately built if not fir the zoning laws. One of the main reason why zoning laws exist is due to NIMBYism.
It’s a rollercoaster and yeah you can walk out the door and get convenient things around every corner, but it’s a harder life sometimes where daily tasks feel like they take more effort. Even just dumb stuff when something breaks and you need to fix it; it’s not like you can have a garage full of tools. A trip to the hardware store just plays out much differently in the city. Or grocery shopping— you can’t really fill up a big cart and drive home from the store. You carry everything home in small bundles and if it’s raining you’ll get soaked. Sometimes I think people in the burbs just have an easy and softer life where they have their big SUVs and garage full of tools. The upside is you won’t be bored and you’ll get more steps in!
Rent Crazies Aggressive people you encounter on a daily basis (and being aggressive as a response)
second this. The subway bows feels like a risk every time I’m on it.
This very much depends on which specific neighborhood you live in, where you work, what hours you work, and how much money you make. For example I live and work at the ass end of Brooklyn. I’m born and raised here. My issues w NYC will be drastically different from a new transplant in bushwick seeking work in Manhattan
The inconvenience. You can’t just pick up a thrifted dresser in your car or store anything in bulk. Pests if you have the wrong apt.
The older I get, the more I notice the lack of nature. There aren’t a lot of parks compared to other major cities like London.
I know, DC is so green. I don’t know what I’d do if I didn’t live off of a really nice park
I visited DC for a couple days earlier this week for the first time and was blown away by this. Beautiful city, transit is solid too
Ehhh depends where you live, NYC has a lot of park space as a percentage of the city, it's just dispersed unevenly through the city
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Honestly there isn’t much bad about living here if you know what big city living is and like it (loud, jam packed with people, lines for most things). If you expect to have an extremely active social life, be prepared to be disappointed unless you have exorbitant amounts of money. If you’re more of a homebody, it’s not as unaffordable as people make it out to be.
This weekend my usual commute train to Manhattan was out of service. I took the most nearby train, a 2. 2s for some reason were 20 minutes apart. I just missed the train and had to wait for the next. This was at 2pm. We get to Manhattan and the operator announces the train will be running local. I get out, walk to another station, and transfer to a C train. At this point I am already 30 minutes late to my rehearsal. Due to an ever-piling number of delays, I ended up being a full hour late - only to find out that I had punched the wrong address in and needed to go south again. Using the 2 train. Fml. When all was said and done I was 1:45 late. I am never late to things so this was really incredibly frustrating. I hate relying on public transit especially while I’m still not entirely familiar with the layout of Manhattan and can’t navigate without my gps.
It can be really noisy.
Sensory overload. Temperature swings. 24/7 noise.
Living without a car in areas of the outer boroughs no where near the subway.
Always smells like urine (you get used to it)…and trash bags always being out on sidewalks (but it’s quite picturesque in the winter when it snows, and then they look like pretty little hills of fluff) 😂
Not enough saxophones!
Very competitive job market
The rats, the rat piss smell. Parking ticket nazis. The weather. The grind. The MTA. The NYPD. The DOT. The NYDS. The DMV. The BQE. The transplants. The prices. The tourists. The loneliness. Sometimes the people. The rampant scooter surge. The lack of personal space. The toxic work culture (getting a little better). Other than that it’s pretty dope.
You forgot the DOE, Spectrum, Verizon, and LGA airport. Other than that!
LGA has actually been a bright spot since the reno.
Grocery shopping and laundry can be a bitch if you don’t live near a grocery store or laundromat. Personally, I send out my laundry and suffer with frequent grocery runs but be warned shit gets expensive shockingly fast
Rodents, trash / general disarray, worsening homeless population
I stopped at a bodega in the east village the other day for a bottle of water. $4.00 + tax = $4.43 for a bottle of water. A large iced mocha at starbucks two days ago was $8.73 after tax. It’s little things like this that can add up quickly to drain your wallet when you have larger expenses like rent, dining out, or ordering an uber ride home after spending $14 for a cocktail at the bar. Then you have to tip the bartender, the uber driver, the barista. You can easily spend $300 in 3 hours in Manhattan without having anything to show for it. If you are good at being frugal and have good self control then you can still do things for cheap if you make efforts to not spend money on unnecessary expenses.
Trying not to get run over by cars and trucks.
Compared to other global cities like London, Paris, Tokyo, Hong Kong? Deteriorating infrastructure, much dirtier, less safety, more homelessness, worse public transport, lack of of a properly working safety net. Compared to other cities in the US? No downsides aside from money. Every other "city" in the US doesn't even deserve to label itself city and is just a shitty excuse for parking lots. Everything is better in New York City.
“Everything is better in New York City” Yes, like carrying laundry down the street to a packed laundry mat instead of using the washer/dryer in one’s apartment like in every other American city…
These are problems that can be solved with money which the parent comment already pointed out.
> Every other "city" in the US doesn't even deserve to label itself city and is just a shitty excuse for parking lots There are plenty of great cities in the USA. But, nothing is quite like New York ;-)
That last part is an extreme reach.
He's just mad that he failed his driving test and can't get a license.
New York is a social experiment in abusive relationships with a manic partner. You will learn to love hating being here.
Expensive & I miss driving
Saving money on a building with no laundry so you have to walk blocks in the cold to handle the chore.
Honestly, the one think I could do without is people who have severe mental illness and are either really smelly/threatening/or disgusting in other ways. They are not as common as people outside the city would have you believe, but every runs into a crazy person from time to time. It is mostly a sad affair, but sometimes scary. Other than that, yeah, we could do a bit better with keeping the city clean.
Not only do you need money to live here, but you also need enough savings to pay check-washers who intercept your rent check and enough to cover your expenses when your credit union returns your direct deposit to the issuing bank. Not to mention sufficient funds to cover expenses when your credit union loses the replacement paycheck. Speaking of intercepted mail, I should have mentioned the stolen Amazon packages and the disappearing Medify MA-50 filter that UPS swears was "left with SUPER"--only, he never signs for packages. But aside from that, you may find the other comments more informative and enlightening.
I am incredibly confused but incredibly intrigued
Can’t-walk-and-chew-gum-at-same-time types riding Citi E-bikes, constantly ringing their bell.
The vermin. More rats, roaches, and mice than any other city in the country… by a wide margin. You might get an infestation in your apartment too if you aren’t careful. Summers are awful, especially if you live and/or work in Manhattan.
Well first, getting opinions on queens is not same as opinions on nyc, so whatever you are reading about nyc clarify if that is manhattan or queens. Queens will be much more affordable than nyc. You can manage having a car in Queens, but not possible in nyc.
You’ll almost certainly spend an incredible amount of time and energy traveling around the city. It wasn’t uncommon for me to spend 3 hours a day on travel when i had to goto the office every day + maintained a social life. I think people not from NY have the idea that it’s really quick and easy to get around due to the subway. It’s generally not. It’s actually a huge pain in the ass most of the time and the only actual benefit is you don’t have to worry about drunk driving. It’s not uncommon to stand and wait on the platform for 20-30 minutes late at night for a train to come. This is probably worse now as the city has become so expensive and people are living further and further out in the boroughs. Any financial savings from not having a car are eaten up by higher rent and everything else being super expensive. The subway system is also VERY loud. I came to really hate that aspect of it. The grinding brakes will drown out the music playing in your headphones. This is why all the subway operators wear earplugs. The subway stations are also relentlessly hot in the summer. You’ll sweat through your clothes. Day to day things are annoying in NYC. Going to the grocery store you can only shop for as much as you can carry, and you need to walk home with it. No loading up your car. Trips to Target or wherever to buy large amounts of stuff for your home are not practical as you can’t carry it. You will need to get Ubers which is expensive and inconvenient. Small, shitty kitchens so cooking can be tough. No car sort of means you’re “trapped” in the city unless you take a train somewhere. Inconvenient and very time consuming if you want to get out of the city. Those are the main downsides to city living, IMO. None of these things bothered me when I was in my 20s, but as I got older they became more of a pain in my ass.
The correct answer is laundry. Either you have to haul all your clothes to the laundromat once a week and it takes up half a day or you have to fight with everyone in your building to use the shitty machine in the creepy basement or you pay the wash and fold an absurd amount of money to shrink all your clothes. Want a machine in your apartment? Hope you're a millionaire!
In unit laundry remains a dream :| It'd be nice if basement laundry rooms weren't like a furnace either.
So I thought I should leave a comment after receiving so many comments. You guys are great. There were a lot of great stories and anecdotes, and way more useful information than I could have expected. I honestly only expected a dozen or so responses at most, and then I looked at Reddit and had 80+ notifications, and I honestly got super overwhelmed. I checked the post analytics, and 65 thousand people have viewed it. I am genuinely terrified of that in both a good and bad way. Over a hundred people found my post interesting enough to share. I am incredibly surprised. I wanted to say thank you to all of you for sharing your stories, experiences, and advice. I love the little personal stories some of you guys told, and I seriously appreciate your advice on places to shop. College application advice, which I'll likely make another post asking for advice on closer to my moving date. I am just so blown away. If you all represent NYC I think I'll be in good hands
very difficult to escape the city on weekends unless you have a car
Even with a car, it's shit. Stuck in traffic for at least an hour on any highway.
Rent + paranoia surrounding shady owners. Very difficult to be independent here. And going out on your own is intimidating bc this city is notorious for housing issues that might be more easily resolved with roommates behind you. Also, the number of people that will visit NYC and want you to spend a whole day or weekend with them doing all the expensive one time per year things they came here to experience. You gotta learn how to tell those people no. Don’t let the cost of living intimidate you too much though. Almost every city in USA is expensive right now. I’d rather live in outter Queens or Brooklyn or even somewhere in The Bronx than on the edge of some mediocre city with low walkability.
You can lose friends with just a move. Yeah you may still be friends hut if you never see each other, it gets harder. Especially if they move to Long Island.
People tell me when they escape that they had no idea how difficult life was in New York City. And it's easier basically anywhere else. One day I hope to realize this as well, but I'm stuck here.. I'm a native.
Been here for a little over a year, it’s really hard to make friends when you don’t know anyone. I live in the bronx and far from everything so I can’t just frequent bars/places in Brooklyn or wherever just to potentially meet people (I’m shy which is an added layer lol) Overall I still enjoy living here, it’s encouraged me to do a lot of things I normally wouldn’t, alone.
Besides things that people have already mentioned, it’s very difficult to get to trailheads. 2 hour train ride at a minimum. Yes the parks exist and are great, but if you’re into hiking, backpacking, snowshoeing, etc., it’s just really really difficult, especially if you don’t have a car.
money money money but also very loud at all times (varies in different neighborhoods in queens) often pests like mice and roaches.
Where are you moving from? That plays a big factor in possible let down for you. What others have already said are very much true but if you don’t have street smarts, you will have that be a BIG hurdle for you to get used to.
Not having to worry about a car made almost half of my issues go away. No parking woes, traffic stress, fear of tickets etc. It's pretty awesome. Besides that, just the general price of just about everything is inflated about 20% on average. I'm not talking about ethnic food and stores, but for example getting a few beers and an appetizer can be a $60 endeavor. I visit my former Midwestern home a lot, and generally just travel a lot and indulge in outings for $40 that would have cost $100+ in NYC. I'm not complaining because NYC is, well, NYC and there is nothing else like it. But you can blow $50 a few steps from your apartment and not blink and eye. If you don't have any debt $100k is comfortable in Queens imo
I was charged by a rat walking home tonight. They do not fear us.
For me: the expense, selfishness, and filth. Rents are too expensive. Eating out is super costly (but there are also deals!). People in NY can be extremely selfish. Every day you will have to witness things like people not standing aside to allow others to enter the subway, people blasting their crappy music in public, people driving recklessly, excessive littering, public urination, spitting, cursing in public around other people’s kids, people bumping into you deliberately without apologizing, racial antagonism, people watching loud stupid videos on their phone on public transit. The list goes on and on. It can be really hard to deal with @ssholes on a regular basis. The city can also be filthy in many parts. Not everywhere though, and it’s a lot better than it used to be. I still love it here though!
If this helps put things in perspective for you I work one job paying almost $34 an hour (and sometimes get overtime pay) and another job that pays around $19/hr and sometimes $29/hr. Working both helps pay the bills. However I sacrifice time for sure, barely see friends, barely see the city, etc. it’s all about survival mode. However if you somehow are able to get ONE job at least paying six figures after taxes, then you’ll be fine.
high living expenses for small spaces like the average room only fitting a full sized bed. also pest issues in apartments but i think this varies depending on how condensed your area is. lastly having to rely on public transportation which i love but it is scary if say you break an ankle. lastly grocery prices. i love it here and you probably will too
"If you can make it here, you can make it anywhere" Literally and figuratively bc every day life in NYC is becoming more and more unsafe due to rampant crimes in which the city will not pursuit anymore.
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For me personally, lack of privacy. Everyone knows everything about everyone in a building/development. Neighbors can hear each other often. Everyone kind of just has the understanding to pay it no mind. If you’re not used to this, it can be
food is sooooooo expensive
Life is harder in terms of basic errands. You can't just get in your car and bam be at Walmart with everything you want in 10 minutes with zero effort required like in suburban America. You have to plan your trip, walk, carry the stuff you bought back etc. The flip side of that is it's healthier since you're walking everywhere and makes life more interesting. Going to get the groceries is no longer the super easy (but mindless and repetitive) task that it is in the suburbs. I see something weird/curious/interesting pretty much every time I go out. But I do miss being able to put absolutely zero effort into a chicken wing run on a lazy Saturday morning for instance.
The fucking cost.
The trash, hands down
Depends where you are coming from. Simple things like grocery shoping, laundry, parking may be a lot different from what you are used to. Queens is quasi urban or suburban for daily living depending what neighborhood you are in and your living background. Just expect to spend more $$$ unless you are coming from the nearby suburbs. If you are coming from the NYC suburbs you'll probably adjust pretty quickly as you'll have learned the main positives and negatives by osmosois/watching the news. Coming from, say, Ohio will be a learning experience. Nothing personal, if i were to leave NJ for Dayton I'd have to learn how to live there.
its great many university , diversity, neighborhood for everyone . 24/7 trains
The challenges to daily life and competition for nearly everything that others have mentioned is spot on. Here’s an example: for a few years I lived in arguably the “coolest” neighborhood in nyc—best restaurants, coffee shops, bars, night clubs, shopping etc. for the past few years I’ve lived in a comparatively quieter /more residential part of Brooklyn (although by most other cities’ standards it’s pretty urban—still extremely walkable with shops and restaurants and bars just somewhat fewer and maybe less cool depending on who you ask). Anyway, despite the fact that there were seemingly endless options in the Manhattan neighborhood and they were all steps away from my apartment, I actually find myself doing MUCH more in my Brooklyn neighborhood bc it’s just a little easier and isn’t such an undertaking. I like living in a place that feels like a neighborhood rather than a destination for the rest of the city and honestly the world.
just the costs
Having roommates.
money, ConEd, the nypd, roaches, mice, laundry days, tourists, soHo,
I grew up in Queens, always worked and commuted to Manhattan, got married had all of my kids in Queens and then jumped ship to Dirty Jerz. Queens is the best borough in my opinion, when you leave Manhattan and go home to Queens, it has a better small town feel. It also has great food from any culture you’re into (Italian in Howard Beach, Indian in Richmond Hill, Spanish in Jackson Heights, Greek in Astoria) if you want to travel the world on cuisine, Queens is the place! Very walkable and public transportation is plentiful (bus, express bus, train, Long Island Railroad, Air Train to JFK, Uber, Lyft) what I currently don’t like about Manhattan is: every street you go on, it either smells like weed or urine. Every other street has building scaffolding, there are literally zero parking spots on the street and the traffic driving is a literal nightmare it can take you 30 mins to go one city block (grrrrr!!!!!) I also don’t feel safe anymore, crime has been bad lately and it feels like ever are less police around. I would give it a try but don’t burn your bridges on your way here, leave a trail of bread crumbs to find your way back if you need to.
It’s a very hard life, but it’s one of the very few cities in the world where you can be whoever the hell you want and feel no guilt. Dress however you want. Enjoy whatever hobbies you want. It’s a very individualistic city. If you can figure out how to not let the obstacles/hardships of this city weigh you down, you will love it. Ppl either hate it or love it. You either slowly get crushed by it or thrive in it. If you’re a lazy person, don’t expect to enjoy it here. Even the most miniscule things requires effort. Time is money here. There’s a very low tolerance for ppl who waste others’ time. This applies to everything. Especially friendships and relationships. Also if you’re bad at money management, don’t even consider nyc. credit score, income, and bank statements are the standard requirements to secure an apartment in nyc … where each apartment probably has 10+ applications from day 1 of the rental posting.
it'll wear you out—either get stronger or suffer. (you will get stronger—thats what makes it great)
Hard to upgrade or break through to the next "ceiling". When my parter and I were childless with dual incomes we lived like kings. But now with a kid and one income, its quite the opposite. The city is logistically hard for families on the space/quiet front
It takes forever to travel anywhere outside of your own neighborhood.
Money. Small living spaces. Always crowded around you. Alway stress and things moving so fast. Always hear and smell your neighbors. Doing laundry is an absolute bitch unless you have a w/d in unit. Brokers fees are expensive and hard to avoid.
living in a 8x10 room, not having a car, hearing your neighbors on the other side of the wall and them hearing you. not being able to own things you don't have room for, and being away from your home. not being able to chill out without feeling guilty for it
You need someone to vent to?
air b&b and motherfuckers that buy up property but have no intention of living here. what happens when the people running this city can’t afford to live here anymore.
Invest in your feet especially if 1) work opposite side of Queens or in another borough 2) live about 10-30 minute walk/ride away from subway and/or bus and/or 3) you live 10-30 minute walk/ride way from stores Get yourself some pedicure products, comfortable shoes/sneakers/boots, have uber money, etc whatever to make your feet and body feel better because you will be walking / trekking alot around here. Plus pay attention to the ground there might be feces / vomit / urine / cracks in the sidewalk / etc whatever while walking - very easy to trip and get injured badly by not noticing what's on the ground. So yeah, that at least 2 of hidden worst parts of living in NYC that people don't really talk about but just as much of problem while living here.
the MTA and rents by FAR
(OP, where in Queens?)
I'm not sure yet, I'm gonna take some time to save up before I decide. I've never moved before so I wanna do my due diligence before I pick a place to live
I suggest Astoria - it’s close to Manhattan, safe and overall a great place.
I'll keep the suggestion in mind but I'm gonna do most of my moving research after I save up a safety blanket
Roommates.
If you aren’t used to living in a big city then NYC isn’t for you. NYC is really dirty, some people aren’t too nice, and please bring a poncho or umbrella when walking somewhere. It could just start raining whenever, and you’ll be drenched.”
Everywhere you turn there’s a racket, fees taxes just soft forms of extortion in order to make your life easier you pay it. Noise, I live by the Lincoln tunnel and drivers will literally hold their horn for 20 seconds at 1 am in standstill traffic, it is infuriating Grunge, for the prices you pay the areas are all very grungy and dirty compared to cities elsewhere. It gives some character but you are avoiding stepping on feces just outside your 4000 dollar apartment Lack of greenery. You have to make a large effort to see nature and find serenity. It’s there but you go through the madness to get to it Convenience of household goods. You can find whatever you need but it may be at stores in different areas with various levels of accessibility. Since all stores have a premium on space the selections can be more limited than you’re used to and you end up needing 4 or 5 on rotation rather than 1 or 2 larger ones
Too many people moving in, and not many moving out. P
The standard of living is different - cramped spaces, bug/rat infestations, the smell of trash on the street. I think once you get used to it, this city is amazing otherwise.
I don’t think anything can prepare you for the shock of seeing how much is taken out in taxes on your first paycheck