Cost of living ?

[Independent Gal]

I think I''m going to be getting a job offer from an organization in New York City. I kicked a&& at an interview last week, and there have been some encouraging follow-up e-mails. This job would solve my visa issues before they actually becomes issues, which would be a huge relief. Otherwise, it''s not exactly my dream job (I posted about a dream job a while ago... didn''t get the offer!), though, and would mean living apart from FI for 4 months a year.

The other thing is, the difference in the cost of living between where I live now and NYC is pretty dramatic.

So.... I''m wondering if any of you know a website where one can calculate exactly what the difference in cost of living is between different cities in the US.

If I get the offer, I want to negotiate for a salary that maintains my currect standard of living, so I need to know what the difference is.

Help?

 

[curlygirl]

IG, you can try a site called bestplaces.net. I think it lets you enter a salary and then compare 2 cities side by side. If you do move to NYC, you have to let me know!!! You''ll love it here but you definitely need $$$$$!!

 

[Independent Gal]

Thanks Curly! Indeed I already love it there! I spent almost all my weekends there when I was in grad school.

I was talking to my dad about the situation, and he said he had asked someone he knew why NYC was so damn expensive and his friend had replied "Because it''s worth it!"

 

[Independent Gal]

Well, according to that website, I would need a 30% raise. 70% if I wanted to live in Manhattan. Which, of course, I do.

Not sure if that's going to happen, but it's worth a tryyyyy!

 

[blushingbride]

That''s something you could definitely negotiate since most jobs in NYC definitely take cost of living into consideration. AND...your dad''s friend is right - it''s definitely worth it!!

I live and work in NY and it''s definitely expensive, but luckily DH and make great salaries so, it''s easy for us. Although, when I first moved here 6 years ago with my girlfriends, it wasn''t so easy. We did a lot of girls nights at our apt. because we couldn''t afford to go out all the time and ate lots of mac and cheese! Ah, memories....

 

[Mara]

NY and SF often battle back and forth for the distinct pleasure of being at the top of the most expensive city in US....we live in suburbs surrounding so it''s a wee bit cheaper for us than in the city but not by much. thankfully. we don''t love SF at all, but i LOVE NYC. we''d love to live there.

 

[Tacori E-ring]

Hope you get the job AND the salary you need!

 

[mjso]

I was just doing this same calculation this morning! We are looking to move somewhere a little less expensive and urban than LA and I found this nifty little tool from salary.com

For some reason I can''t get the link to paste, but if you go to www.salary.com you should see the box for it in the lower left hand corner. Basically you put in your current salary, then tell it where you live now and where you are moving to. It will tell you the % difference in cost of living and the % difference in salary. Then it will calculate the increase/decrease you will have from moving.

 

[:)]

Hope you get both the job AND the necessary salary!

 

[elle_chris]

Something to keep in mind if looking in Manhattan- landlords/management companies require you to make 40x the rent.
So let''s say you''d find a decent one bedroom for around 3k a month, and by decent i mean at least 750sq. your anual salary needs to be
120k.
The outer boroughs are much cheaper, don''t have the 40x salary requirement and shopping, restaurants, well, pretty much everything is less.

While I love the city, I have to say I''d have no problem moving. Only thing that keeps us here is my husband works on Wall and his days last 12-14 hours (apparently some market somewhere in the world is always open). The commute would kill him and we''d hardly see eachother so it becomes worth it for the 15 minute walk he has. (We''re downtown) However I''m stuck doing the reverse commute lol..

Otherwise, I''d be out of here soooo fast.
There are so many great communities in the outer boroughs. Like Brooklyn has Park Slop (a bit cheaper), Carroll Gardens, Williamsburg and a bunch of other areas that have everything you can get in the city but cheaper. The commute from the above areas isn''t bad either. Most are just a few stops from Manhattan. In most cases no more than 10 minutes.

So if ya get that job, and it looks like you are, ya should really check out those neighboorhoods. I think you''d be nicely surprised.

 

[karasue91]

I just moved out of NYC, I lived in the East Village and LOVED it. But, after a year or three of living in the city you will realize that it's REALLY worth it to move 15 minutes out of the city to Brooklyn or Queens if only for the amount of space you get for your money. But if you love the city, I would definitely say move to Manhattan for the first year or two, there is nothing else like it.

About the rent, they do have pretty high requirements in terms of qualifying, but they also let your parents co-sign for you (you probably never expected to need your parents to co-sign anything for you after you moved out of the house did you??!). I don't think it should be a problem for you, especially if the company wants you to move from where you are (somewhere in Canada right?) to NYC....they must be paying you at least a decent salary.

Again, I don't know where you live now, but for most cities, I would say that a 70% raise to move into the city is underestimating. I'm originally from Ohio and I know that the quality of life my friends have with much lower salaries was so much better than the quality of life I had in NYC. Don't expect to be able to build your savings account unless you move outside the city (as in Manhattan, NYCers only consider Manhattan "the city", hahaha).

Ooohh I can't wait to hear if you get the job!!! I was so ready to leave NYC, but I will always loooooove it!!!

p.s. I highly recommend the East Village...tons of great bars and amazing restaurants, can be very close to subways, and cheaper than the west village!

 

[ursulawrite]

Another vote for Brooklyn (and I live in SoHo). The restaurants are incredible, Prospect Park kicks Central Park into touch, not to mention the epicentre of NYC culture being in Brooklyn: BAM.

If you have no plans to buy an apartment, I would not recommend living in SoHo. Much as there is great shopping/restaurants on the doorstep, the influx of NJ shoppers/tourists from Friday-Sunday can be a little much, especially during peak purchasing seasons. NoHo is the much quieter equivalent, and only five minutes up the street. Either way, you gotta live below 14th St

 

[scarlet16]

I don''t really have much to add to everything else said - yes it''s expesnive, but YES it''s SOOOO worth it. I came to Manhattan for college 8 years ago and haven''t left (and don''t think I ever will).

As far as locations in the city, I need to give a shoutout to Hell''s Kitchen for fun and somewhat reasonably priced. Queens is really fantastic as well (particularly Astoria and Sunnyside) and very convenient to the city.

There really are quite a few NYers...I know they tried this but we really should do another get-together!

And PS Elle Chris - we have the same situation. I''ll be working in midtown when I graduate from law school in May and likely working 12-14 hour days. The fiance is stuck doing a reverse commute to central jersey (1.5 hours each way).