We're holding hands on this one. Manhattan, indeed! I paid $15.00 an hour (don't recall the daily rate) to park my Ford Taurus in a busy commerce section of Manhattan.

craigy's post had/still has more holes in it than Swiss cheese. But that's OK with me, because he doesn't know the details, so how could he post them? He couldn't.

When strangers make cost claims about "NYC" they may not know anything about costs in other boroughs of NYC. Again, all OK with me, I only took issue with a broad brush faulty claim about "NYC." That's all.

He referred to "NYC" when he meant Manhattan. However, the post was not incorrect. Most people refer to Manhattan as "NYC". The outer boroughs are somewhat meaningless to anyone not from this area.

Correct.

And had I not spent umpteen months living albeit out of a suitcase on Long Island or New Jersey, commuting from DFW to La Guardia once a month or so from Texas while working in NYC, I would not have known that...

$70k in NYC is rather poor; but municipal workers make out very well.

2006 Ta dah! To nobody's surprise who has ever lived -- or even visited -- there, Manhattan is the most expensive place in the United States.
That's according to a new survey by Runzheimer International, a Wisconsin-based management consultant. The study considered what a typical family of four earning $60,000 annually spends and compared the costs of maintaining that lifestyle in more than 300 U.S. locations of comparable quality.In Manhattan, that family would need to spend $146,060, 137.9 percent more than in the average American town. This slice of the Big Apple topped runner-up San Francisco by more than $24,000 to earn the dubious distinction of being the nation's priciest place.http://money.cnn.com/2005/10/18/real_estate/buying_selling/most_expensive_places/index.htm

I can assure you, your wrong. $200k is low end, $300k-$500k is about what you need, for a reasonable life style.

People who don't live in the city don't really understand what its like. Its interesting to say the least. BTW I know people who spend $500 a month for parking for a car. Yep parking.

I don't go their to drink very often but when I do its a pricey $$$ night. Throwing a $100 down for a round with a couple of friends doesn't get much change. I'm just happy my friends sister through her connections gets us in for free at the clubs. If not the cover would be $30-$50+ .

LOL, I'm truly sorry that my second hand info wasn't up to Skid's standards. Next time I talk to my friend, I'll make sure I get all the details of his family's finances. :D

Can we all agree that living in Manhattan is expensive?

I'm sure the $70k garbage-man can find someplace to live in the boroughs (or even NJ). ;)

Skid can't see beyond the well.

We've been over this before.

If I worked in Manhattan, I would commute to my daily work via the subway.

I would either reside in New Jersey, in Queens perhaps even Staten Island or further out on Long Island.

It would not take me the kind of numbers to live and work in NYC that are/have been bandied about here. All WITHOUT an automobile. It just wouldn't.

Throwing and making crazy provisos and introducing them to the mix after craigy's making his original, broad-brushed initial claims may alter the above. That's all...

This would also be a factually incorrect statement.

I can state, with absolute certainty, that a person can live in Manhattan on a gross salary of $85K with a pet and a cleaning woman and without a vehicle. However, this assumes a rent stabilized apartment. Without same the salary must climb to about $100K.

Add a vehicle and the salary must climb to $115K.

No problem.....
 

When your claims have been shot down - those aren't my standards at work. It's your unknowledgeable postings at work.

You two might not agree on the definition of "reasonable life style." I suspect Hatter is using my wife's definition. :D

Oh, definitely...........he's a "all hat.......no cattle" kind of fellow. He's got an old Chevy pickup truck, not a S550.:D

I enjoy the nicer things.:D

Come on I'd want a boat, and a car, M3 at least. Half of the guys I know who live in the city have places in the Hamptons as well.:D

OTOH I hate the city and am quite happy to only visit it a few times a year.

For your info I was checking out an 04 SL500 last weekend.:P:D

Although I'll probably just buy a Volvo excavator instead.:o