2 part question apartments/wages (New York, York: for sale, real estate, rental)

[alexpdx]

I'm not moving to NY until after the following happens: A new president is elected and the mortgage fiasco dies away, so I'm looking at a few years.
My questions are: When I look at real estate for sale in New York it's usually an apartment or "flat." Being a resident in the Northwest where apartments are rented, this confuses me. What is the definition of an apartment in New York?
Also, some warn that the cost of living is unbearable and others say that it's relative: That, yes, New York is expensive but the wages are much higher than the national average so in the end it is a fairly livable city. What's your opinions on this?

Thank you

[Viralmd]

An apartment is an apartment is an apartment. I don't know what you're not sure about. There are rental apartments, apartments in condominiums and apartments in co-ops.

And, yes, it's expensive. No, the geographical variation in salaries does NOT make up for the cost of living.

[Henna]

I agree with Viralmd.

[nyjz1298]

Wages are not much higher. A job that pays 80 elsewhere pays make 100 here. They're higher, but not to sustain housing that's 3x the national average. A lot of blue collar New Yorkers own homes in Brooklyn and Queens, but they got in pre 1997. In the last ten years, housing has tripled, and obviously wages have not. There's a mass exodus happening because of this. This is one of the only places were you can make a $100k a year and still not able to afford an actual house.