Expensive Cities

I was looking at apartments in big cities around the US and it blew my mind. There's almost nothing under $1000 dollars in most of them. I pay under $400 for a studio, all utilities included. I can't imagine how much this would be in San Francisco.

I live in Milwaukee because I was raised in the surrounding suburbs, so I imagine there are people who grew up around SF that just migrate downtown when they move out of their parents'... but is that even doable without first getting some amazing job?

There's gotta be some young people here living in big cities that don't have great jobs. How the hell do you afford it?

For starters, San Francisco's minimum wage is (as of this year) $9.14/hour.

Also, in big cities with good mass transit, a lot of people don't have cars. So cut out a couple hundred a month in insurance, gas and repairs.

It's totally possible without a great job. People get roommates or studios or (as Cigarette said) don't have cars. I've lived here for 12 years and this will be the first year I've made over 40K.

In LA at least, you can still find a studio or a shared 1 bdrm for ~700$/month if you're willing to live in a less sought-after neighborhood like Mar Vista or Hollywood. Still not exactly cheap, but closer to feasible for an entry level working stiff.

I don't have any idea how you would be able to jump straight into the downtown area of a city like NY or San Francisco unless you just flat-out lucked out and found the one affordable flat out of a hundred out there. Almost all my friends back in NY unless they're well-established have to set themselves up in the periphery neighborhoods like Inwood or Brooklyn Heights.

Man, I can't even afford a car living here in Milwaukee. And I barely even pay for public transit because my job, a grocery store, and a bunch of bars are walking distance from my house.

I guess getting a degree and saving some money would probably be a good idea before going some place that expensive.

Huh. In Cleveland, I could own a car and rent an efficiency on minimum wage. If I was frugal.

I will say that with the last three cities I've lived in being LA, Paris & NY, i CANNOT even look at real-estate listings or ask friends what they pay for rent when I'm outside of a megalopolis: "You only pay $450? For this much space?! This is a palace!"

It depends on what you're willing to put up with and/or do without.

Willing to live with three, four or more roommates? Renting a house in L.A. is possible.

Willing to live in a tiny closet of an apartment?

...with a roommate? NYC is possible.

I wouldn't even consider owning a car in NYC, and you can get by in LA without a car if you plan carefully.

If you're willing to commute to NYC, new jersey has some better cheaper housing with a lot more room for the money and parking that won't cost you $500/month per car or $200/month per motorcycle.

That's totally horrifying to me.

I rent a house in Bham form 1500/mo with four other nerds, so It's really not hard. I have around 120 in disposable income after all monthly bills, anyway, and I work at an organic grocer. Srsly, the south has way easier living conditions.]

Edit: Oh, and parking is free.

On the other hand... you live in the south.

i live and work in SF, and it's really, truly ridiculous how much it costs to live here on your own.

next week i'm moving in with two friends which will result in a savings of about $900 a month just on rent alone.

Which has a much much lower gas bill, and no stupid snow.

If that's what gets you to sleep at night.

No offense, dude - but it's Birmingham.

Not San Francisco, L.A., NYC or even Philly.

Birmingham.

Think about it.

Exactly. It's cheaper to live here, and still it has a lot of opportunity, and an awesome climate.

Whatever makes you happy, but it still has little in common with any of the other cities that are the subject of this thread.

Actually, all the guy asked about was big cities.

Houston is cheap as hell to live in compared to a lot of larger cities. Of course, we also have giant fucking mosquitoes, crazy heat indexes in the summer, and massive quantities of humidity.

But you can wear shorts on Christmas a lot of the time.

I guess it doesn't matter how big or cheap Houston is, though. Apparently I live on the wrong side of the tracks.

$1000 Granted I lived the majority of my life in the Detroit area, a big city, but not really an unaffordable place but I lived on the edges of decent areas where you can get space for cheap.

The trade off is maybe living in a different cultural surrounding, not having the convienences your used to like a grocery store or having to buy ketchup from a liquor store with bullet proof glass.
I haven't owned a car for 2.5 years so parking is not part of the equation, mass transit+ my bike is good for me, 'till winter.
Most major cities have decent mass transit, you have to wait sometimes but for less than $100 a month you can get around.

NYC is definitely frustrating. I have lawyer friends who've been out of law school 3-5 years and still live in conditions (tiny apartment, run-down building, roommates, etc.) that many a self-respecting college student would find embarassing. Other friends who are writers, musicians, etc., usually: (a) have a rent-stabilized apartment they've been living in since before the housing market went berserk; (b) live way outside Manhattan (or even the more desirable parts of Brooklyn); (c) have roommates; (d) rarely do anything social that costs money; or (e) some combination of the above.

I do know there are occasionally apartments set aside in new developments for people with low income--a writer friend of mine won a lottery for one of these recently and now lives in a decent-sized studio in an awesome part of the East Village for $600 or so a month (with limits on rent increases). I wouldn't want to count on winning a lottery though.

The best advice is to get a significant other and make it serious--it may or may not be healthy for the relationship, but it definitely gets you more square footage for your $.

I'll second this. I'm importing mine from the midwest, actually. Saves me the hassle of having to get rid of all my stuff when she gets here.

i moved to nyc in 1994 and shared a rent stabilized three room (two bedroom) apartment on the lower east side for $800. he moved and i kept it for myself for 7 more years (in which the rent increased by $50).

i finally moved out and a few years later coincidentally met a girl who was living in my exact apartment with two other people and paying $2400.

i stuck around the city for a few more years subletting rent stabilized apartments from friends who traveled a lot.

finally i ran for the hills. thank you nyc for 12 amazing years but fuck you rudy g, friends, seinfeld and most of all, sex in the city.

i dont know about any lottery but my friend applied for middle income housing about 8 years ago and finally got an extremely affordable apartment in a brand new building in the east village. thats the kind of waiting list you are looking at if you go that route.