Thread: Live/Work/Eat/Play in NY

Need a couple of information about the topic in question. Living, working, eating and playing in NY. Basically the playing part is covered, but I would like to get a couple of ideas from you guys, working could be said is taken care of also, but the main issue is understanding what amount of money is needed to sustain an individual on a monthly basis living there.

What are the best neighbourhoods to rent an apartment, what are the prices, how do the utilities stack up also, what broadband services are available, how much is the daily fare for the subway and all the usual costs people encounter living there.

Yeah, the point is thinking of moving there in the future. Nothing set in stone yet but it's a thought running through my mind all the time.

Great thread. I would've aimed for NYC as well, but after nearly 25 years of having to live in Germany and its shitty climate, I'd need at least 2-3 years of sunny Cali weather to get me back on track.
Anyway, I'm really looking forward to some of the answers and especially about the monthly living costs, maybe even compared to other cities.

New York is very expensive obviously.

As far as neighborhoods go, tell me what your looking for, the areas are pretty segregated not necessarily racially but different neighborhoods have different types of crowds.

Verizon and optimum are the major broadband suppliers...

Depending on where you like and what type of apartment, I would say that in manhattan, rent would be roughly 2-3k a month not including utilities for a VERY small apartment. What you think an average sized apartment would be in a more trendy area will cost up to 5k and up a month. In the less trendy areas or if you are considering Brooklyn, you can get a place with much much lower rent.

The subway fares are I think 2.50 each swipe. Honestly I'm not sure how much the monthly rates are, when I had a monthly unlimited it cost me about 90$ for the month with unlimited rides.

Pretty much everything costs alot here. I drove mostly over the past few years which might have been dumb. If you smoke, a pack of cigarettes will run you close to 15$ a pack. A 6 pack of heinekins are around 12$ each.

The food is actually reasonable in most respects as long as you stay out of the high end places, but the food is also the best in the world.

Main stereotype for us Europeans, in my opinion, would be the crime and the occurrence of the same. Almost everyone I talk to (from here) have that "You gonna get stabbed/mugged/robbed/shot" mentality towards NYC in the first sentence. But to me, the main problem is the living costs and all that I said in the first post.

Just read the above mentioned post. What do you mean by segregated? I always thought NYC was kinda the mix of numerous races/people/religions/cultures and I know there are places like Little Italy, Chinatown and so on, but for example what would be a good place for a young adult to live at? Regarding apartment and living costs? You also got to take into consideration that I personally don't have a great sense of what would for example living in Brooklyn or Queens mean. First and foremost regarding size, in my view I can compare each of the mentioned to some larger European city. Would that be correct? Regarding size, population, job opportunities and such?

I can't stress how safe new York is now, I never felt in danger at any time and I've been all over the city. Crime is wayyyyy down and it's not something to really be paranoid about.

Originally Posted by Njave

Main stereotype for us Europeans, in my opinion, would be the crime and the occurrence of the same. Almost everyone I talk to (from here) have that "You gonna get stabbed/mugged/robbed/shot" mentality towards NYC in the first sentence.

Um, with even a drop of common sense you shou'dn't have a problem here. Of course, there are places you may not want to be at certain times, but if anything...NYC has become "Disneyfied" I actually liked it grittier.

Well Brooklyn is basically a part of NYC but it's a separate borough, separated by the river. Living here obviously you won't be in the center of the city, although it's very urban. When I meant segregated I mean besides the Italian and Chinese areas and other ethnic neighborhoods, there are hippy neighborhoods, young professional hoods, WASP areas, yuppie neighborhoods, etc.

So if you want a trendy spot with young professionals, I would go with soho, TriBeCa, Chelsea.

Originally Posted by cusiginzo

Well Brooklyn is basically a part of NYC but it's a separate borough, separated by the river. Living here obviously you won't be in the center of the city, although it's very urban. When I meant segregated I mean besides the Italian and Chinese areas and other ethnic neighborhoods, there are hippy neighborhoods, young professional hoods, WASP areas, yuppie neighborhoods, etc.

So if you want a trendy spot with young professionals, I would go with soho, TriBeCa, Chelsea.

That's what I needed! A piece of information where you can rent a condo for a good price, work and live in a nighbourhood where you can find people of the same preferences. So I was right about the whole crime thing. That is certainly great news! The most important thing that I've head from people living over there is that you generally follow the rules. No matter how small or unimportant they may seem to be.

One more thing, this comes to the play part, if you wanted to go to a gym (weight lifting, sauna, relaxation) what are the prices? Not some fancy ones, but where people come to work and not talk, the (if that is the right word) normal ones.

As mentioned, you should be safe as long as you use common sense, there are still alot of bad areas like east ny, bed stuy, etc ... But places like Harlem are actually pricey/trendy now. I would say Battery Park city is the best value, roughly $2 - 2.5k a month for a 1 bedroom (high rise, doorman, etc), or Hells Kitchen (walk-ups in old brick buildings). I think Williamsburgh or Long Island City are also worth looking into. If your more on a budget, there are plenty of apartments about 30 min away from the city that go for about $1.2k a month.

There are way too many gyms in different neighborhoods, but check out NYSC or Equinox.

lived in upper west and mid town. mid town is great and there are modern bldgs by west end that wont cost u an arm..

jersey city is a good alternative if u have a car AND take PATH train to lower manhattan