Even in New York City, $15K a month is an absurd price for an apartment

Everyone knows that it’s not cheap to live in New York City. At the most basic level, it’s a supply-and-demand issue. New York isn’t building as much new housing as places like Charlotte or Austin, so the supply is more limited. There’s also a lot of demand around New York City. There is no shortage of people who would be thrilled to live in a one-bedroom apartment in New York City for $900 a month, no matter what neighborhood that apartment is in! That’s why there are virtually no one-bedroom apartments in NYC for $900 a month. Landlords can afford to charge $4K for a mediocre apartment, because people are willing to pay it to live alone! It’s the tradeoff you have to pay to live in the greatest city in the world!

If you make a high income, you can afford to live more comfortably in NYC. You don’t have to move far-out in Queens to afford a spacious apartment. But even if you’re making a lot of cash, you shouldn’t waste all of that money on rent. If you need to get a 3-bedroom apartment in a nice neighborhood, so your kids will have their own bedrooms and go to a good public school, you can make an argument for that. But if you want to live like no one else just for the heck of it, you shouldn’t do it unless you can actually afford it and save for retirement.