Roaming Gnome wrote:
Please explain to me from your experiences why a guy in his 20s would (Or would not) prefer to live in NYC over smaller major cities in the USA.
Soaring Housing Costs Driving Educated People From Big Cities
http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2014/04/04/soaring-housing-costs-driving-educated-people-from-big-cities/?mod=e2fbRoaming Gnome wrote:
Please explain to me from your experiences why a guy in his 20s would (Or would not) prefer to live in NYC over smaller major cities in the USA.
It's always better to live in an inflated economy. When I go on vacation to NYC, it hits my wallet hard. When someone from NYC comes to vacation where I live (also popular), he thinks everything is cheap. I might spend a week's earnings on a weekend in NYC, but he's going to spend three day's earnings on a weekend here.
As long as you are saving a percentage of your income instead of a dollar amount, you will come out ahead in the long run (assuming equal salaries when compared to cost of living).
Do it
I live in Manhattan. As a 20-something resident I have a lot of thoughts on living in New York, but in short, don't move here. The pro's and con's, most of which have been covered, are apparent. Weather, cost, people, career opportunities are all as advertised. NYC has amazing opportunities, but virtually all of them are replaceable.
Nearby: Others have mentioned beaches, mountains, nearby cities. Non-existent. It is extremely expensive to get out of the city and takes a lot of effort. A trip to the Catskills is difficult, let alone ADK. New York revolves around money. The “beach” is the Hamptons and it’s a $4,000 summer time share. The airport is a $50 dollar cab ride or an hour train. Factor in that a 9-5 workday in NY is more like 8-7, + a late night or two, + a few happy hours, + exercising to stay sane, by Friday you have no time/motivation to leave the city.
Nightlife: I'll try to be objective, if you like clubs or exclusive events, nyc is great. But for the vast majority of people, nyc has more expensive options that all cities have. You will never convince me that any growing, young city that has more than a few hundred thousand people doesn't have the same dining/nightlife/concert opportunities as new york.
People: There are pretty, smart, interesting people everywhere. If a selling point for moving to New York is banging models, NYC is the place for you.
Cost: You’ll spend 1,200-1,800/month on housing guaranteed. And overspend on every other item you buy. You can be frugal, but there is a lot of pressure to do “cool”, expensive things. Housing, transportation, etc are unavoidable.
Running: Bad. Along the water and Central Park/Prospect Park off-peak are nice. But that’s basically it in the 5 boroughs.
tl;dr: All my friends live in New York, I am paid well, and I have a great time here because of my social network and finances. If I could work somewhere else, near friends, I’d do it in a heartbeat. NYC is an incredible place, but nothing compensates for how expensive and unhealthy the lifestyle here is, and that is only perpetuated by the 20-somethings who move here for a job they don’t like, overpay for an apartment they don’t like, to eat nice food, drink $8 beers, and be around similar people….and bang models
hardo 4 life wrote:
I am from a suburb of the city so I am bit biased.
I have always loved the architecture, the big buildings, I liked seeing my dad put on a suit and go to work in a tall building everyday, just got used to it and when I was old enough I wanted to do the same.
Now that I am in mid-20s it is a blast living here. If you are fairly smart there are a ton of good jobs in finance, law, medicine, business etc.
I will start out with the cons:
Rent is ridiculously expensive here, I am embarrassed to tell my parents because it is more than their mortgage. Also everything is very small. There are ways to do it (some other poster said Queens which is fine) but any convenient commute in Brooklyn or Manhattan you will pay a ton.
Weather is terrible (I went to college in the South)
Don't save a ton because of rent (have been better recently now I have no more student loans)
People can be very rude
There was another thread like this once and some guy said "A lot of nice guys from Ohio get their a$$ kicked here" 100% spot on. That might just be adult life but certainly true thus far.
Suburbs are very expensive hard to be a homeowner
But I would much rather live here than any other cities you listed,
Pros
There are a ton of educated / attractive girls here who are very career oriented
Intellectual climate is great here
Nightlife is insane, there are some bars and clubs that you just don't get anywhere else, everyone loves to party
People don't settle down too early
Incredible art / architecture (I love everything from the high rises to the grimey east village spots)
Opportunities to increase your earnings much better here than in those other cities. If you are from Cincinnati, unless you inherit a lot of money you won't get make a ton / you will not around as many ambitious people.
I will say I think the buying a house at 40 in Connecticut and having a 90 min commute to work seems completely miserable.
In my ideal world I stay single here until about 35, settle down with an apartment in the city for work and a house in the South to raise my family and I either 1) work from a satellite office in the South or 2) am I own boss and have an apartment here for presentations and conference but run my business from there. Think it would be hard to raise small children here but would want to keep some ties for work and I would also want my kids to see that people actually go to Harvard / Yale / Princeton if they are smart and work hard.
No one in the South wants you around, so just stay up there. You can move here, but you'll never be accepted.
I went to Princeton.
tse wrote:
….and bang models
come on dude.. this is letsrun
MGMT?
I disagree that New Yorkers are rude. Curt yes, rude no. For a start half the population were born outside the city. Of course there there is the "ghetto attitude", as people from those areas readily admit but you get used to it.
The Weather is no worse than most cities in the North-East, it depends what you like. It's hot and humid in the summer and cold in the Winter. I hate the heat but don't mind the cold. I run in shorts year round.
There are great places to run. Central Park is full of cute women. There's long traffic free routes.
There are trails in the city and beyond. Beautiful rural trails are easily accessible by train.
It's also a very safe city. Even places with reputation for violent crime like Bedford Sty are becoming safe. West and South Harlem are now white.
There are 4 public tracks within easy reach of Manhattan and a couple of free swimming pools.
end of the all right do right wrote:
One must assume you're a runner if you're posting this question on letsrun. There are great running opportunities in NYC as compared to the other cities. Portland beats NYC for potential medalist but if you're not on the NOP radar you can join literally thousands of people running in Central Park every day. There are also perhaps a dozen viable running clubs where the social hierarchy referred to in other posts doesn't come into play.
This is true. In the summer on a nice day there are 1000+ people in central park at 7 in the morning and at 8 at night. I doubt there is anywhere else in the world like this. I know I'm always amazed by it.
XY wrote:
MGMT?
no
Chill with the ny bashing. "Nearby: Others have mentioned beaches, mountains, nearby cities. Non-existent. It is extremely expensive to get out of the city and takes a lot of effort. A trip to the Catskills is difficult, let alone ADK. New York revolves around money. The “beach” is the Hamptons and it’s a $4,000 summer time share. The airport is a $50 dollar cab ride or an hour train. Factor in that a 9-5 workday in NY is more like 8-7, + a late night or two, + a few happy hours, + exercising to stay sane, by Friday you have no time/motivation to leave the city." There are plenty of other fine beaches within 45 minutes of the city. Jones beach, long beach, Atlantic beach, Bradley beach etc. And these aren't crappy Coney Island beaches but they aren't uptight areas like the hamptons either. As for skiing, there are some ok mountains that you can go to for a day trip but if you want good skiing go to Vermont for the weekend. And I can't speak to your tough schedule, "Running: Bad. Along the water and Central Park/Prospect Park off-peak are nice. But that’s basically it in the 5 boroughs." Van cortlandt?
Do you know how far VCP is from the closest neighborhoods mid-20's guy would live? Over an hour.
I think people are forgetting the original question, which was about "Over smaller cities". If you're going to bash or argue against living in NYC, you should also provide a better alternative.
heyyo wrote:
I think people are forgetting the original question, which was about "Over smaller cities". If you're going to bash or argue against living in NYC, you should also provide a better alternative.
Boston if you can hack the winters. It's got everything people like about NYC without the extreme crowds + easy to get out of the city.
I know it's not for everyone, but I like it more than New York.
heyyo wrote:
I think people are forgetting the original question, which was about "Over smaller cities". If you're going to bash or argue against living in NYC, you should also provide a better alternative.
Like I said, if you don't have an overwhelming reason to move here for friends, family, or your career, most large cities have the amenities of New York without the size, cost, and culture constraints. It's impossible to recommend a place without knowing his priorities.
you would want to move there if you are an attention hungry extroverted terd.
srs, you could not pay me to move there. an hour just to move a very small distance in the town? no thanks. what if there is a disaster, a la 9/11? i would be too claustrophobic in NYC. 12-1800/mo for a cracker jack box appt? i pay close to that and live in a 3000 sq ft house by myself. running by yourself? forget about it. trails galore around my house, but probably not in NYC.
tse wrote:
Do you know how far VCP is from the closest neighborhoods mid-20's guy would live? Over an hour.
And...?
NYC invented the singles bar and the social scene that goes with it.
Nobody thinks moving to Kyle North Dakota is a cool thing to do.
The waitresses at my corner pub are prettier than the beauty queens from Vacuum Georgia, smarter and make more money too.
No one in Fandango New Mexico lives next-door to a model who scored a Vogue cover. My block in NYC has two along with an actress who was nominated for an Academy Award.
A number of years ago I lived in a building that also housed two SI Swimsuit cover-gals, one past and one future.
Pitt, Port, Philly,& Cleve are were Broadway Shows send their touring companies.
Randy Oldman wrote:
tse wrote:Do you know how far VCP is from the closest neighborhoods mid-20's guy would live? Over an hour.
And...?
This thread will devolve into a city dweller vs suburbs/small town argument.
If you are from a small town an hour drive get you 40 miles away while it's a normal commute in a big city.
If you've never lived in NY, Chicago or LA you don't understand.
island offthe coast of USA wrote:
Nobody thinks moving to Kyle North Dakota is a cool thing to do.
The waitresses at my corner pub are prettier than the beauty queens from Vacuum Georgia, smarter and make more money too.
No one in Fandango New Mexico lives next-door to a model who scored a Vogue cover. My block in NYC has two along with an actress who was nominated for an Academy Award.
A number of years ago I lived in a building that also housed two SI Swimsuit cover-gals, one past and one future.
Pitt, Port, Philly,& Cleve are were Broadway Shows send their touring companies.
And what does any of this do for you specifically? Or do you just like paying a 200% premium on apartment space so you can name drop them and be forever poor?
It's an impossible question to answer without knowing your values. You can see what the city is about in most the new yorkers responses (former nyer here btw) making some cash, eating and drinking well, admiring the architecture (and tail). NY is an incredible place to revel in all of those things, but that's only worth doing if it's important to you. It easy to think that NYC is the center of the world, especially when you live there, but the world is vast and so are the opportunities to explore it. Align your values, which change over time, to your location and you'll be most happy. Ignore the pressure to conform.