i go to new york

Hey guys, is $47,000 p.a. a comfortable amount to live on in NYC? My standards are low but I would rather not continue to live like a grad student.

Doable.

i'm a grad student living on less. it's more than i've ever made here. you'll be totally fine.

excellent, thanks. can I afford to get a 1 bedroom place or will I need a room-mate?

(I'm a grad student now but won't be if I get the job, which is a postdoc at Columbia)

you could probably get a 1br if you don't insist on living in manhattan.

cool. i hate other people so that is good news.

right on.

ya thats like $1300/mo in rent right? you can def get a bk apt for that much if u start looking early/hire a broker

even cheaper in astoria

and do not hire a broker.

lol

actually i bet columbia has some kind of housing service assistance bullshit

they do - ask nabisco!

Thanks guys. I was slightly concerned because 47 is like 10 grand less than most of the other jobs I'm applying for, and they're in buttfuck, not manhattan.

real estate prices should be dropping any minute now, right?

note I will be renting not buying if that makes any difference. i have zero us credit history and, if they did due diligence they would discover a student loan in british pounds which is probably about $700 billion dollars and which I have paid of £0 in five years.

Other than in the most desirable areas, I've found that landlords aren't usually as strict about credit history as they claim to be. If you're renting somewhere that a person with your salary can afford, you're not competing with a lot of people with perfect credit scores.

When we looked a couple of years ago a lot of landlords/agents were just like "Wow you both have real jobs please sign here."

the credit history was more "banks will laugh at me if I try to get a mortgage" than landlords will hate me.

landlords love me!

i think anyone would be laughed at if they tried to get a mortgage at this point! although you may be well within your rights to laugh at the bank, too!!

haha thanking u. i will doubtless be back with more questions when I am in town for interviews in the new year if this works out.

excellent, thanks. can I afford to get a 1 bedroom place

not that you wouldn't be able to find much cheaper, but the average rent for 1-bd apts in manhattan is $2700/mo. is columbia gonna provide you with housing? i vaguely remember them not having too much to go around for grad students, tho i'm sure they've expanded at least a little.

If I get the job then I won't be a grad student, so I'd be pretty much on my own looking for accommodation. This is fine with me because, having lived in university accommodation for more years than not in the last decade, I am through with that. I am happy to commute (reading time) so I'm not too bothered about being in Manhattan. My supervisor lived in Harlem when he was a postdoc there and says that is the place to go, but this was six years ago and I'm not sure I entirely trust him (he is French Canadian, you see).

I was slightly concerned because 47 is like 10 grand less than most of the other jobs I'm applying for

― caek, Monday, September 29, 2008 1:02 AM (12 hours ago)

1/3 of that 47 goes to uncle sam :(

I will tell him, "no taxation without representation". That should go over well.

haha i feel like 47k is SO much money right now :((((((

otm!!!

ya thats like $1300/mo in rent right?

lol. My income is in caek's ballpark and 1300 would fucking kill me.

(I've never used a broker, have lived in Brooklyn since '92, and am paying my first-ever 4-figure rent since July)

World cities and their fucking rents. London, Sydney and now this. It's never easy, is it.

http://newyork.craigslist.org/nfa/

Thanks guys. I was slightly concerned because 47 is like 10 grand less than most of the other jobs I'm applying for, and they're in buttfuck, not manhattan.

new york salaries are often higher than elsewhere because cost of living is higher. i'd view this as, on top of whatever academic/professional factors come into play, paying a premium (on top of cost of living) for the privilege of living in NYC. i'd say it's worth it, depending on where else you're considering. nyc v. bloomington, in - uhhh. nyc v. california - maybe a closer question, tho perhaps not for a londoner. one random factor to consider - our weather's marginally more extreme than yours, and exposed parts of columbia, like college walk, and housing west of broadway, get a lot of wind off the river.

I am happy to commute (reading time) so I'm not too bothered about being in Manhattan. My supervisor lived in Harlem when he was a postdoc there and says that is the place to go

probably right, at least as far as convenience to Columbia (if not necessarily elsewhere) is concerned. the charming-in-parts neighborhood around the school has some nice (old) housing and decent prices (tho a bit of a rodent problem). if you can get columbia housing - and making an effort is probably required given scarcity - that seems very likely your best bet. (you are talking about the main campus, right, not the medical school?)

you can read on a commute if you can get a seat, but our trains are less comfortable (and some of them more poorly-lit) than the tube. this is written in slightly over-dramatic undergrad style, but is worth considering. i'd estimate a commute from another borough would be about 0:45-1:15, depending on how far out you live (or what hour you go). if you live in close-in parts of queens, it could be less.

im w tza and harbl i would really kill to be making 47000 a yr

If you like to cook / bring a lunch to work 47,000 a year is super easy to do.

I TOTALLY LIKE TO COOK

lol max

thanks gabbs, that is gold. Yes, this is at the University, not med school. I'm very keen on the idea of NYC, and presumably Columbia wouldn't set their salaries at levels which are impossible to live on. Other options [*] are around the $60k mark. Some are in cities (Pasadena, Chicago, Austin), but some are more remote (Spokane, Little Rock, Sioux Falls). The Columbia gig is probably top of my list for both professional and location reasons, but has the lowest salary. That's life. None of these salaries are enough for me to save a meaningful amount if I ever return to the UK, so being able to save an $5k per year by living in, e.g. Sioux Falls is not an issue. Climate is potentially a problem, but what are you going to do? I visited Columbia last January and it was cold, but I did OK. I'll be able to get in at 10am rather than 9 if that helps any. That certainly makes a difference for getting a seat on the Tube in London. But yeah, those plastic bucket seats on the subway are uncomfortable. The "close-in parts of Queens" is Astoria, right?

[*] note I do not have offers from any of these places and may not get them.

I imagine with $60,000 in Spokane you could live like one of the Lucky Ones. Salaries being lower and costs being higher in NYC is (obviously) both a function of demand, and the reality of a city that sometimes suspiciously resembles a meat-grinder. C'est la vie?

Yeah, I checked spokane craigslist. Seems like I could get a three-bed penthouse with free hand jobs with that kind of money.

on the downside, that move would probably be the end of my research career a postdoc too early.

but the more i rewatch twin peaks the more appealing it seems.

visited Columbia last January and it was cold, but I did OK

it was a warm-ish winter btw, tho that may be the trend. Pasadena's beautiful, tho might be tough without a car (which 10k/cost of living could help with), but if NY is best professionally that seems an easy choice.

The "close-in parts of Queens" is Astoria, right?

i thot definitely LIC, maybe Astoria, tho it's still probably better than Brooklyn. not the best to ask in any event.

Spokane, Little Rock, Sioux Falls

i would not go. Twin Peaks is very far from Spokane.

not the best to ask in any event.

Understatement of the day.

Pasadena/LA is probably second on the list. I haven't spent a lot of time in NYC. The month or so I've accumulated in Cali, I loved. I don't mind needing a car. I wouldn't have one in NYC, right? It's like London in that sense.

JW, how long would it take you to commute to Columbia?

yes, Mr. Williams of East Williamsburg, NY and Bumfuck, RI.

u could live in sobro

i like the name

I don't know anyone who knows anything about the bronx though, which i took to mean it is not worth investigating.

seriously tho, pasadena is pretty nice but new york beats it hands down even if ur more crunched for $$--if you were actually living in LA it might be a little difft but my experience was that it was far enough away from cool shit that it wasnt really worth it--nightlife sucks, too... you wouldnt necessarily need a car depending on how bike-y you are, plus the gold line goes right through old town. i think tremendoid lives in pas actually you might ask him.

but if it were me id go for nyc.