3.64/5
2,815 reviews
Photo by CapDfrawy via Unsplash

Cost of Living in New York City, NY

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nyc

london

brooklyn

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New York City gives off a strong 'main character' energy — it's a city where many feel inspired to pursue big goals, enjoy vibrant nightlife, and meet interesting people. Locals and visitors alike describe New Yorkers as surprisingly friendly and welcoming, and there's always something new to explore every time you come back. Diverse neighborhoods like Park Slope, Harlem, Brooklyn Heights, and the Upper East Side each offer unique benefits. Museum Mile, endless eateries, free concerts, and Broadway shows make the city rich with activities.

Transportation is generally viewed positively thanks to a wide subway and bus network, plus Uber availability. However, some reviewers feel the subway system is worn out and in need of modernization. Safety can vary by area and time, but some recent visitors found NYC safer than in previous years.

The biggest downside is the cost. Living in desirable neighborhoods is financially demanding, with rents and daily expenses reaching unsustainable levels for many. Dropping $200 on dinner is considered normal, and work-life balance suffers as people hustle just to afford the basics. In summary: NYC is exciting, energizing, and full of opportunity — but expect to pay a high price for the experience.

AI-generated summary of reviews
7 months ago

New York is cool. I’ve visited multiple times to see my family throughout my life, and recently came back from my first post-COVID trip there. Yes, it’s very expensive — but there is no city on earth that’s more captivating in my opinion. I used to think that New Yorkers were smug by claiming that NYC was better than everywhere else, but now I totally get it lol.

My personal favourite neighbourhood is the Upper East Side, which is where you’ll find the coveted Museum Mile. But I also like Harlem and Brooklyn. Truthfully, the best thing you can do is just wander around with stops in local eateries along the way.

As another reviewer mentioned, there’s a lot of main character energy in NYC. Personally, I love that — and I always feel energised when I’m here. It makes me want to go out and achieve my biggest dreams, and the New York skyline is captivating.

In terms of safety, I actually found NYC safer when visiting than I have prior to COVID. I may have just been lucky, and I was only there for a week, but that’s my opinion/experience. YMMV, of course. Some subway stations made me feel on edge, but my experience was fine for the most part. (I still think the subway needs a huge revamp, though, as it’s definitely looking quite tired 😄).

I would love to come back here and live for 3-12 months. Anything more than that would probably be too much for me personally, but at least visiting is something that you must do at least once. And even if you come here 20+ times, there’ll always be something interesting that you haven’t seen/experienced before.

2 years ago

Welcome to the city of main characters. New Yorkers can be incredibly friendly, we're quick to invite you into our places and plans and most of us enjoy a revolving circle of not-so-close friends and a little core group of people. New York makes it easy to do the best work of your life and have fun all night in between. Everything is a tap away. Nightlife can be fun, but the real underground parties have all progressively moved out to no-mans-land in Ridgewood and Bushwick (semi-convenient only to those already in Brooklyn). Most comfortable pockets of the city have devolved to cater to a growing class of international people with unfathomable levels of wealth and prestigious young professional ivy-league Americans doing their 2 years before they get filtered out or realize it's not sustainable. Downtown Manhattan and North Brooklyn are the most desirable places to be, but good luck – a reasonably located 1 bedroom apartment with the living standards of any nice European easily city runs $4.5-6k. It's not hard to drop $200 on dinner and drinks for two, and probably every single night since you won't any have time to cook after working to pay for it all. I've watched $12k+ per month go down the drain over my NYC tenure, but that's the price to be in New York.

2 years ago

I've lived in New York City - Brooklyn - for over 20 years. For visiting tourists, the best neighborhood to stay in is NOT Bushwick. Park Slope, Prospect Heights, Ft. Green or Brooklyn Heights is preferable. Plenty of good transportation in those areas - subway, buses or Uber. Easy access to beaches in Long Island and New Jersey. There's plenty to do in NYC. Great restaurants, Broadway plays (!), and in the summer you frequently can catch a free concert.

5 years ago

Having spent a total of two weeks in London on two separate occasions and having lived in NYC for two years, both are among my favorite cities in the world.

Londoners are quite internationally and ethnically diverse, and seemingly better educated and more intellectual than New Yorkers in aggregate. The city very clean with a stunning mix of modern and historic architecture, and arguably has Europe's best public transit in terms of signage, availability, cleanliness and general efficiency. Meanwhile, New York is almost universally filthy and has embarrassingly decrepit public transit everywhere and drab brown brick buildings anywhere outside the hip parts of Manhattan/Brooklyn. London also has far more green space than NYC, with clean and beautiful parks throughout the city. The level of destitution that one can witness in NYC simply doesn't exist in London (or the rest of western Europe).

People are a bit nicer in London. It's easier to make friends in NYC and its nightlife is the world's best, but close friendships can be elusive in both cities due to their sheer size and the fact that most people who have lived there for any significant period of time are already saturated with social contacts. For what it's worth, I will admit that Manhattanites and Brooklynites tend to be far better looking than their central London counterparts, and I prefer the additional sunshine in NYC year-round despite the more extreme temperatures. London also lacks beaches, whereas NYC's Coney Island is an incomparably massive and eclectic beach party all summer while Brighton Beach and Far Rockaway are cleaner and family-friendlier alternatives.

6 years ago

New York feels like home - a really expensive home that is, but home!

6 years ago

Best city in the world! You can certainly live the Nomad life in NYC for a lot less than 5k a month! I've been doing it since December 2018 for around $2500/mo. AirBnB is the way to go!

7 years ago

One of the most well known cities, few will be surprised by what they see and experience. Very high cost of living can make it tough for many nomads. A lot of things to see and do but most of that costs money. Can feel overwhelming and oppressively business oriented (ie, full of very serious yuppies and places catering to them), especially in Manhattan south of Harlem. Ton of single people, which is good on paper but means everyone you date will get distracted by another person, or multiple, unless you are extremely exceptional, before you have a chance to meet again, never ends. Weather sucks hard from July to August and January to March/April. It's an okay city if you're a biker and varies a lot. Some areas are quite protected, others have no bike lanes. In general, it can be dangerous if you want to commute by bike, it's not Amsterdam. Friendliness of the people varies a lot. I think income/wealth, where they grew up, where they live within NYC, their job, etc. can often give you an idea of what to expect. Service at stores is usually pretty unhelpful and unfriendly but, again, it varies, even within the same store. Internet is fast for the most part. Great selection of food, just a bit pricey besides some of the cheaper pizza slices. Transportation system is good, no need for a car. However, the subway lines are notorious for having issues during rush hour and are usually jam packed. Also, the stations look decrepit and are way out of date. It's pretty safe. Street scams are more prevalent in tourist areas, pick-pocketing and random phone snatching isn't really anything most people worry about. Can be very noisy depending on where you live. You may wake up to extremely loud construction every morning.

7 years ago

✅ Friendly people

✅ Lots to do

✅ Great food and nightlife

✅ Good transportation

✅ Inspiring atmosphere

✅ Pretty safe

✅ Fast internet

✅ Lots of fun stuff to do

✅ Good air quality on average

✅ Nomads.com members liked going here

✅ Many Nomads.com members here all year round

✅ Very easy to do business

✅ High quality of education

✅ Great hospitals

✅ Roads are very safe

✅ Great freedom of speech

✅ Democratic

✅ Everyone speaks English

✅ Very safe for women

✅ Very family friendly

✅ Very friendly to LGBTQ+

✅ Not many people smoke tobacco

✅ (Medical) marijuana MAY be legal, unenforced or decriminalized (always double check this)

❌ Very expensive

❌ Hard to find affordable housing

❌ Subway can be run-down

❌ Extremely expensive

❌ Cold now

❌ Gets cold in the winter

❌ Feels crowded

❌ Difficult to make friends

❌ High alcohol consumption

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

Feels (median)

-2°C / 28°F freezing

7°C / 45°F cold

13°C / 55°F cool

20°C / 68°F mild

24°C / 75°F warm

28°C / 82°F warm

24°C / 75°F warm

20°C / 68°F mild

10°C / 50°F cold

5°C / 41°F cold

Real (median)

1°C / 33°F
very cold

9°C / 47°F
cold

13°C / 55°F
cool

19°C / 66°F
mild

24°C / 75°F
warm

26°C / 79°F
warm

24°C / 74°F
warm

20°C / 67°F
mild

10°C / 50°F
cold

5°C / 41°F
very cold

Humidity

nice
62%

nice
70%

nice
46%

nice
57%

nice
52%

nice
69%

nice
73%

nice
71%

nice
68%

nice
71%

nice
58%

nice
61%

Most common

☀️ Clear

☔️ Rain

☀️ Clear

Rain

dry
25mm

dry
42mm

dry
39mm

dry
30mm

dry
40mm

dry
32mm

rainy
100mm

rainy
111mm

rainy
90mm

rainy
87mm

dry
8mm

Cloud

pockets
26%

pockets
39%

pockets
21%

pockets
35%

pockets
31%

pockets
27%

pockets
36%

pockets
27%

pockets
38%

pockets
19%

pockets
30%

Air quality

clean
42 US AQI

clean
38 US AQI

clean
28 US AQI

clean
27 US AQI

clean
30 US AQI

clean
36 US AQI

clean
33 US AQI

clean
22 US AQI

clean
21 US AQI

clean
27 US AQI

clean
37 US AQI

Sun

safe
2 UVI

seek shade
3 UVI

seek shade
4 UVI

seek shade
5 UVI

avoid sun
7 UVI

avoid sun
8 UVI

avoid sun
7 UVI

avoid sun
6 UVI

seek shade
4 UVI

safe
2 UVI

Remote workers

12,150 people

8,136 people

9,984 people

11,800 people

12,444 people

11,400 people

11,644 people

11,807 people

13,756 people

14,270 people

13,255 people

10,414 people

Green is good. Red is bad. Values shown are the medians of all daily highs in a month based on past few years, not necessarily current numbers. Remote worker count is estimated based on the total amount of trips logged by Nomads.com members.

If you'd like to filter destinations based on their climate, try Nomads.com's Climate Finder

Based on New York City's cost of living, here's selected remote jobs that would cover your costs:

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$5,139 / mo

53 Mbps

Portugal

Members who will be here soon

Members who have been here

Values shown are estimated visits by traveling remote workers based on the total amount of trips logged by Nomads.com members. Visits to a place are only counted once per year per user, even if they visit more in that year. Visits are also normalized by overall trips added per month on the site, so if site usage goes up or down it does not affect trends. Not all digital nomads are on Nomads.com, and not all Nomads.com members log their trips. So the data is only indicative.

The chart below shows visitors by nationality normalized for population size. This means we take all trips logged on Nomads.com, check which country of origin the user is from, then divide that total visit count by the country of origin's population. If we didn't, it'd just show the big countries like US, Brazil and India always on top. Instead, this shows which nationalities worldwide proportionally visit more or less, which is more useful.

🎒 Nomad Score™	3.64/5 (Rank #37) 2815 reviews
❤️ Liked by members	👍19 liked it 👎3 disliked it
👍 Quality of life score	Good
👶 Family score	Good
🎒 Community score	Okay
🤯 Overcrowding score	0% is nomad here
💵 Cost	😳 Extremely expensive: $7,054 / mo
📡 Internet	🙂 Good: 48 Mbps (avg)
😝 Fun	Great
⛅️ Temperature (now)	🥶 Freezing : -2°C28°F (feels -5°C23°F)
💦 Humidity (now)	😊 Comfy: 66%
❄️ % of buildings with AC	😍 Very high: 90%
💨 Air quality (annual)	🌱 Great: 27 US AQI
👌 Safety	Okay
👩 Safe for women	Good
🌈 Safe for LGBTQ+	Great
🤮 Food safety*	Great
👮‍♀️ Lack of crime*	Okay
🤝 Lack of racism*	Good
🎓 Education level*	High
⚡️ Power grid	Great
🌊 Vulnerability to climate change	Good
💰 Income level*	Very high: $4,817 / mo
🙊 English speaking*	Great
😤 People density	🤨 Busy: 10k ppl/km² (1 per 10x10m)
🚶 Walkability	Great
🚦 Traffic safety*	Okay
✈️ Airline scores*	Good
🧳 Lost luggage*	Okay
🏥 Hospitals	Great
😄 Happiness*	Bad
🍸 Nightlife	Great
📶 Free WiFi in city	Great
🖥 Places to work from	Great
❄️ A/C or heating	Okay
😁 Friendly to foreigners	Great
🗯 Freedom of speech*	Good
🎅 Startup Score	Good

🌍 Continent	North America
🚩 Country	United States
🗓️ Average trip length	10 days
📡 Internet speed (avg)	48 Mbps
⛅️ Weather (now)	🌥 -2°C 28°F + 😊 Comfy (66%) = feels -5°C 23°F
💨 Air quality (annual avg)	👍 27 US AQI
🔌 Power	115V 60Hz
🚕 Best taxi app*	Uber
🚑 Travel medical insurance	Safetywing
💸 Tipping	Yes, 15%
💳 Cashless	💳 Yes, cards OK almost everywhere
💻 Best coworking space	Spacious
💻 Best alt. coworking space	The Farm
☕️ Best coffee place	Nostrand
☕️ Best alt. coffee place	Modca
🏪 Best 24/7 coffee place	Veselka
🚰 Tap water	👌 Yes, safe to drink
♻️ Return rate	👍15% of visitors return
📸 Visitors per year	13,100,000 visitors
📸 Tourists now	251,061 tourists
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Population	8,400,000 people
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 GDP per capita*	$57,808 / year
😤 Population density	🤨 busy: 10x10m (100m²) per person
👫 Gender ratio (population)	👨 42% 👱‍♀️ 58%
👫 Gender ratio (young adults)	👨 52% 👱‍♀️ 48%
👫 Gender ratio (nomads)	👨 80% 👱‍♀️ 20%
🏞 Foreign land ownership allowed	Yes
⛪️ Religious government	Non-religious
💻 Online electronics shop	Amazon
🏠 Apartment listings	Craigslist
✈️ Best short-haul air carrier	Frontier
✈️ Best int'l air carrier	Delta

💵 Cost of living for nomad	$7,054 / month
💵 Cost of living for expat	$4,947 / month
💵 Cost of living for family	$12,187 / month
💵 Cost of living for local	$3,482 / month
🏨 Hotel (median price)	$4,526 / month
🏡 Airbnb (median price)	$3,704 / month
🏠 1br studio rent in center	$3,145 / month
🏠 Median home price	$750,000
🏨 Hotel (median price)	$212 / night
🏠 Airbnb (median price)	$121 / night
🏢 Coworking hot desk	$305 / month
🍛 Dinner	$32
🥤 Coca-Cola (0.3L)	$4
🍺 Beer in cafe (0.5L)	$6
☕️ Coffee in cafe	$5
💰 Estimated tax on $50,000	$12,352
💰 Estimated tax on $100,000	$30,278
💰 Estimated tax on $250,000	$71,127