Best place for a single female runner to live in NYC?

My bedroom. Just kidding I live in Jersey, you want no part of this state.

Making 100k you can definitely afford a place but a 1br in manhattan will likely set you back close to 3k a month, maybe a bit less if you go bare bones walk up. Affordable but you certainly won't be saving much money after taxes, rent and living expenses.

Running in the park is safe, though if you run at 6am you will be running in the dark at some points of the year. Stay on the road in the lower part of the park and you should be fine though, most muggers don't come out that early. Be a bit more careful in the northern area of the park at night. I only had one scary moment in 2 years of running at night and in the early AM and it was near the 102nd st transverse.

Connecticut

Decent 1BRs in a good neighborhood will go for nearly $1mill, so you probably just want to rent. If you're under 30, I'd look exclusively in Brooklyn. Manhattan is still wonderful but not as happening as it's neighbor to the east. Expect 1BR rent to be around 2 grand, 1500 at the least. Brooklyn hoods for you to check out: Park Slope, Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn Heights, Williamsburg, Greenpoint and Red Hook. Stay to the west of Prospect Park. Manhattan has lots of great hoods but if you're single look in Brooklyn.

Runners need to be close to Central Park, one of the best urban running areas in the country and the scene of many races.

Upper East side (70s-90s) will get you the most bang for your buck, and is a safe neighborhood. Rentals and sale prices have come down a LOT in tha past year. You can get a nice 1Br these days for closer to $2k than $3K.

Upper West side is charming, and a bit more expensive due to the many brownstones near the park.

Join the New York Road Runners and tear up the running scene while making new friends.

I would say Upper West Side. You can afford a pretty a nice alcove studio, possibly with outdoor space, but I wouldn't bother with a one bedroom.

Really, you can live in any neighborhood. I live downtown and just take the subway to the park or run along the east or west side.

Don't buy - manhattan and brooklyn prices still have a ways to fall and you will need a minimum of 20% down plus liquid assets equal to 12 months of monthly charges if you buy a co-op. Condo's have their own downsides, including increased difficulty getting a mortgage for new developments, and other risks.

You will have fun. Good luck.

svetlana wrote:

Runners need to be close to Central Park

Right, what would runners do without having to limit themselves to an overcrowded road loop and 2-mile dirt path around the reservoir??

Do what I did and look for an apartment in the Riverdale area in Northwest Bronx. It has a nice upscale non-urban feel, is 40 minutes away from midtown by subway, and most importantly it's right next to Van Cortlandt Park which also connects to the Westchester County trail system. You can run for hours on all-natural surfaces, both flat and hilly. Oh and housing is only about half as expensive as on UES/UWS while the local residents are not douchy or stuck up and will not tell you where you "need to be."

A lot of good answers. I would say uptown near the park is ideal. Upper East is cheaper in general, Upper West has more charm, in my opinion. I live downtown, and while it's not the best for running, you have access to the East River park and the Hudson river path. Downside: it's flat and crowded on the weekend (especially the west side).

If I have to go for a run late in the park, I usually meet with other runners. There are plenty of clubs and people are generally very friendly.

Brooklyn is great, but you'll be dependent on subways and perhaps too far from your job? I've been considering moving there myself to buy a place. Prices went down and it's (a little) more reasonable now. Not sure about the running though. You could check with the Prospect Park Track Club.

Best place? Nowhere.

I moved to NYC in February (I live in a closet on the UWS, very close to CP) and it has absolutely killed my motivation to run.

Where should I run today? Central Park or along the Hudson? After asking myself that SAME question everyday for the past 5 months, I'm finding myself taking more and more days off. Running has become boring thanks to the limited running areas.

The Bronx

Come to L.A., home of the 15-time World Champion Los Angeles Lakers.

Connecticut

In the trunk of my car

Mostly good answers. IMO your safety on a 6 AM run is a non-issue unless you actively seek out the absolute worst possible neighborhoods and do laps of the projects. Anywhere you're realistically gonna look in Manhattan will be among the very safest urban acreage in the nation, and Brooklyn nabes you'd likely consider aren't too far behind. This ain't Philly.

The running's fine in Brooklyn's Prospect Park, comparable to (but half the size of) Central Park. A lot less crowded, which you might consider either good or bad. The two clubs which train in Brooklyn aren't really competitive with the Central Park based clubs if that's a factor. Especially if you work downtown, the commute from Brooklyn's not bad at all. I get from Fort Greene to the City Hall area in 20 minutes by either train or bike.

Definitely rent at first. Take some time to explore the city, see where you might enjoy living, before plunking down a thousand bucks per square foot!

If you want safe, it's a good bet to stay away from high dot densities (I just saw this map a couple days ago, it's pretty cool):

http://projects.nytimes.com/crime/homicides/map

I'm from the upper west side, I like the area. Upper east side is nice too. But you can live further north on the west side before it gets too sketchy, none of my friends live north of 100th street on the east side but several of them do on the west side. And the Hudson river can be nice to run along too.

You should move to Park Slope or Windsor Terrace near Prospect Park in Brooklyn. Prospect Park has a great running community, and Park Slope, although a bit yuppie, is really a quaint, charming, friendly, hip community. Expensive for Brooklyn, but much more reasonable than any equivalent in Manhattan. Also, easy 10-15 subway ride to the city. Prospect Park is, in my opinion, superior to Central Park because its much more chill -- on a beautiful summer day you will run through Prospect Park, passing Rastafarians, Orthordox Jews, Well Bred WASPS pushing baby strollers strollers, Irish working class, and realize the beauty that is the great democratic experience of New York.

http://nymag.com/realestate/articles/neighborhoods/parkslope.htm

http://www.prospectpark.org/

Definitely the UES. I've lived there for three years, and I've never had any safety issues. Granted, I'm a male, but I was even surprised by how nice things were. Even if you go over to the park and run on the southern portions of the main road, early in the morning before it's light out, there's already hundreds of runners out there. I probably wouldn't venture over by myself if I was a girl, but if you have someone to run with you'd be fine.

Three years ago, when the market was a lot tougher for renters, I was able to afford a nice (but small) studio while making only $60k. I'm actually in the process of moving to a real nice 1BR since I make a lot more and want to take advantage of the rents that have come down. Now is a good time to be looking - lots of no fee apartments and many management companies, in addition to lower rents overall, are offering a month free.

Depending on how much time you have, try getting a place outside of the city that will still be close enough to commute. It'll be an investment of an extra hour or so per day, but you can keep busy while mobile, and what you'll save on rent will help a lot. Much safer, much better running options, much roomier once you get out of the city, etc. Everything is much better out of the city if you're willing to make that time sacrifice.

where will you be working? the upper east side is fairly safe but it may be a tough commute unless you work near the 4, 5, 6 trains. Some young people really like having a Manhattan address but Queens and Brooklyn can be not only more affordable but an easier commute.