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I tried finding the info but could not find the exact information so I wanted to post anyway.
So I will be graduating and moving to New York next month.
I do have a job.
Essentially, I would like to confirm with you what should be my budget for rent.
My base salary will be slightly lower than 100k. With bonus, should be around 110-125.
I am not an american and I do not know how much will be taken out of my pay but I think it will be approx 40%. Please do correct me if my assumption is wrong.
For deductions I considered:
- Federal Withholding
- Social Security
- Medicare
- New York Tax
- NY SDI
- City Tax
Did not include:
- Pension (which I will contribute about 13% of base salary)
- Other
Anyway, I think that I will be able to spare a maximum of 2500 per month for rent.
Do you think I could increase it to 2700?
My girlfriend will be staying with me but she doesnt have a job.
I am looking for something close to midtown. Either possible to walk to midtown, or take the subway.
Knowing this, which areas do you think could be interesting?
Will I be able to afford living in Manhattan? Is there anything I missed? Where should I live?
Well, to begin with, you can certainly afford a D.
I'll leave it to other people to calculate what you can afford. But I will mention this:
1. If you're planning on staying in NYC for a while - like a few years - don't start with the maximum you can pay, because your rent will always go up. Don't depend on your bonus.
2. You need to think about how big an apartment you want, whether you can make do with a studio or need a one-bedroom.
3. Because you're not American (do you have a green card or what?) you might need to consider offering a larger security deposit to a landlord.
4. If you're arriving in May or June, you might want to buy some time by starting with a summer sublet, which will give you a chance to explore neighborhoods in a more leisurely way before you sign a year's lease.
5. Keep in mind that in NYC you usually cannot get everything you want in an apartment, so think about what things are important to you--space, quiet, doorman, whatever.
You can certainly afford to live in Manhattan. As already written you need to decide what factors are most important to you and accordingly find the best area to suit your needs.
I tried finding the info but could not find the exact information so I wanted to post anyway.
So I will be graduating and moving to New York next month.
I do have a job.
Essentially, I would like to confirm with you what should be my budget for rent.
My base salary will be slightly lower than 100k. With bonus, should be around 110-125.
I am not an american and I do not know how much will be taken out of my pay but I think it will be approx 40%. Please do correct me if my assumption is wrong.
For deductions I considered:
- Federal Withholding
- Social Security
- Medicare
- New York Tax
- NY SDI
- City Tax
Did not include:
- Pension (which I will contribute about 13% of base salary)
- Other
Anyway, I think that I will be able to spare a maximum of 2500 per month for rent.
Do you think I could increase it to 2700?
My girlfriend will be staying with me but she doesnt have a job.
I am looking for something close to midtown. Either possible to walk to midtown, or take the subway.
Knowing this, which areas do you think could be interesting?
Will I be able to afford living in Manhattan? Is there anything I missed? Where should I live?
Thanks
EDIT: Sorry for the typos
It would be financially prudent to ignore your potential bonus and base your rent only on your base salary.Most landlords don't allow for hypothetical income in their calculations and neither should you.The allocation for rent in most cases,especially at or under 100,000/yr ,should be no more the 25% of gross income.In your case that would be $25,000/yr or $2,100/mo for rent.
Given other costs of life and enjoyment of life in NYC( especially feeding 2 mouths on 1 salary),to pay 2,500 or 2,700 per month in rent ,while possible,will strain your budget and prove to be a big long term financial mistake.
You should be able to find a passable, though not great ,studio apartment in some of the less popular Manhattan neighborhoods below 96th St for 2,100/mo.A 1 br will be possible further uptown, in Harlem or Washington Heights.The world will not be your oyster.
As others have mentioned, you can definitely do it on your budget..I make much less than $100K and live here (with all those BS taxes being taken out too), though it's in Queens. But, it's only a 25 min train ride into the city. And to specifically live in Manhattan, you sure can. I always periodically search around for rentals in the city (I can dream, right?), and you can find a place much lower than Harlem or Washington Heights. It might not be the hipper lower Manhattan parts, but an area that's really up-n-coming is the Upper East Side, specifcally between the hi 60's & low 90's. There's a lot of young people moving in there, and there's a bunch of cool bars and restaurants. The 4-5-6 train runs down Lexington Ave, so try to find something on an ave close to that.
And always remember the motto..if it's too good to be true, it is. Never more evident than when you live up here.
First off, congratulations on making such an excellent salary right out of school!
The traditional guideline -- one many landlords insist on -- is that your gross salary be 40 times your rent, or more. So your $2500 figure is right there; you probably want to go lower, because, as others have said, rent might go up in future years and you don't want to be strapped for cash.
See if you can get by living in an outer neighborhood for $1500 or so. You'll soon have complaints with that neighborhood and will then have a good idea of where you really want to be. And you will have saved some money in the interval!
Listen to what everyone else has said here. Trust me, with a salary like yours, spending 2500-2700 a month on rent will make you feel quite broke even if you can technically afford it.
At this point I am not 100% sure if I will live in Manhattan or a little further.
I found a few nice apartments in midtown around 2300-2500.
Also, the other person will only stay with me for the summer. Actually she is my gf! So we dont need 2 beds. And she has a summer job, so she will be able to contribute maybe 1k a month.
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