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-   -   Think Vancouver is expensive? You need to earn six figures to make middle class in NY (https://www.revscene.net/forums/563720-think-vancouver-expensive-you-need-earn-six-figures-make-middle-class-ny.html)

Harvey Specter 02-06-2009 10:48 PM

Think Vancouver is expensive? You need to earn six figures to make middle class in NY
 
Quote:

More than $2,000 a month for day care. Some of the highest phone bills in the country. Jam-packed, 50-plus-minute commutes to work.

You knew it was tough to live in New York City — but this tough?

A new report shows just how ugly — and expensive — New York City can be, especially for the middle class, squeezed by skyrocketing living costs and stagnant wages.

The study, released Thursday by the Center for an Urban Future, shows that New York City is hands-down the most expensive place to live in the country.

Among the findings:

A New Yorker would have to make $123,322 a year to have the same standard of living as someone making $50,000 in Houston.
In Manhattan, a $60,000 salary is equivalent to someone making $26,092 in Atlanta.
You knew it was expensive to live in Manhattan, but Queens? The report tagged Queens the fifth most expensive urban area in the country.
The average monthly rent in New York is $2,801, 53% higher than San Francisco, the second most expensive city in the country.
“Income levels that would enable a very comfortable lifestyle in other locales barely suffice to provide the basics in New York City,” the report concludes.

Other belt-tightening details include:

New Yorkers paid about $34 a month for phone service in 2006. In San Francisco, similar service cost $17 a month.
Home heating costs have jumped 125% in the past five years and are up 243% since 1998.
Full-time day care costs can run up to $25,000 a year for one child, depending on the neighborhood, or about as much as some college tuitions.
Meanwhile, wages in the city have remained mostly flat in all boroughs but Manhattan — even during the boom years from 2003 to 2007.
It’s not only money that makes life here hard, researchers said — which might not be news to most New Yorkers.

Take commutes, for example. The report found that many New Yorkers put up with commutes double the national average of 25.5 minutes.

Commuting to Manhattan from St. Albans, Queens, can take 51.7 minutes, while getting there from Canarsie, Brooklyn, can run 50.8 minutes.

Researchers said the combination of skyrocketing costs, stagnant wages and a deteriorating quality of life forced hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers to flee the city for cheaper areas during the boom years from 2002 to 2006.

The report found that more New Yorkers left each year during the boom than left during the dark days of the early 1990s.

Center for Urban Future Director Jonathan Bowles noted that the number of people fleeing the city has slowed since 2007 as the rest of the country has sunk into recession, jobs have dried up nationwide and home values here started to sink.

Mayor Bloomberg downplayed the report but said he is concerned about the constant drumbeat of job losses in the city.

“There is turnover all the time. That’s very healthy,” Bloomberg said. “We’re doing fine, but it is very worrisome, the number of people who are losing their jobs.”
.

willystyle 02-06-2009 11:32 PM

Nevermind.

yson_3 02-06-2009 11:50 PM

34 a month for phone service? thats still a lot cheaper then what myself and all my friends have been paying!

E=mc˛ 02-07-2009 12:19 AM

lol
unless you have a data plan, paying $35+ is expensive man
milk the carriers for all they're worth, negotiate with the retention department, or try to find a store that can put you on a corporate plan.

None of my friends who know what they're doing are paying more than $30 after taxes for their phone plans. I'm paying around $25.

Of course if you have a data plan it'l be more expensive, but the voice portion shouldn't be that expensive (i'm referring to minutes, SMS, and mobile browser )

slammer111 02-07-2009 01:09 AM

^ What plan are you on? Please do tell :)

b-dub 02-07-2009 01:24 AM

wtf?
i'm paying 100+ bucks for my plan

City fido - $50
3G plan - $30
Visual voicemail bundle - $15
+ various fee and tax.

Good_KarMa 02-07-2009 01:39 AM

If i can make it in New York, i can make it anywhere!

achiam 02-07-2009 07:09 AM

Prime property in Vancouver is still nowhere close to that of major world cities. I really don't know what those silly reporters were thinking writing that Vancouver was one of the most expensive in the world.
Most would agree that an extreme house in Vancouver would be over $10M CAD, but in London or NYC there are whole areas where that's the norm.

nipples 02-07-2009 07:15 AM

yeah but the states has much much cheaper cell phone plans than us in canada.
after talking with all my friends here from the states and realizing that they don't have roaming....i was choked.

i think i roam even when i go to like whistler!

and my cell phone here right now is cheaper than i paid in vancouver...despite having to pay the foreigner penalty prices!!

Mancini 02-07-2009 07:28 AM

They didn't specify mobile phone service. I think the pricing is for a land line.

micbain 02-07-2009 09:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by achiam (Post 6268204)
Prime property in Vancouver is still nowhere close to that of major world cities. I really don't know what those silly reporters were thinking writing that Vancouver was one of the most expensive in the world.
Most would agree that an extreme house in Vancouver would be over $10M CAD, but in London or NYC there are whole areas where that's the norm.

Because vancouver is expensive when you compare median income to median house prices. This is a standard metric used to measure affordability.

Saying middle class in NY at $123k is just sensationalism...yes middle class is $123k but you get paid more to work in NY to factor in cost of living. Even a doorman makes $50k.

If you're in the market for $10m homes, then yah vancouver probably isn't an expensive city...but for the rest of us working folk, a $10m home is a fantasy and is in no way a realistic way of determining if a city is affordable.

jigga250 02-07-2009 10:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by achiam (Post 6268204)
an extreme house in Vancouver would be over $10M CAD, but in London or NYC there are whole areas where that's the norm.


no there aren't

obviously bigger cities will have larger numbers of 10+ million houses, but there aren't any significant areas where "thats the norm"

hotjoint 02-07-2009 10:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by b-dub (Post 6268122)
wtf?
i'm paying 100+ bucks for my plan

City fido - $50
3G plan - $30
Visual voicemail bundle - $15
+ various fee and tax.

damn you gettin jacked,

I pay around 60 ish for mine

$17.50 Epp plan
200 daytime minutes
Free weekends and evening after 6pm

$30 Iphone Essentials Data Plan
500 Mb data
10,000 text mesages
caller id
Visual voicemail

My plan is the best :thumbsup:

yson_3 02-07-2009 02:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hotjoint (Post 6268356)
damn you gettin jacked,

I pay around 60 ish for mine

$17.50 Epp plan
200 daytime minutes
Free weekends and evening after 6pm

$30 Iphone Essentials Data Plan
500 Mb data
10,000 text mesages
caller id
Visual voicemail

My plan is the best :thumbsup:

while you get 200 minutes. he gets unlimited.

it all depends on what you need and actually want. If 200 minutes + unl e+w are enough, then great. but for a lot of phone users - they'll be far over that amount in no time.

woozzle 02-07-2009 02:06 PM

they live in New Jersey

hotjoint 02-07-2009 05:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by yson_3 (Post 6268655)
while you get 200 minutes. he gets unlimited.

it all depends on what you need and actually want. If 200 minutes + unl e+w are enough, then great. but for a lot of phone users - they'll be far over that amount in no time.

thats true, I barely ever use my phone so 200 daytime mins are more then enough for me

Eastwood 02-07-2009 05:37 PM

What's teh most expensive: Victoria, Vancouver, or Kelowna?

I always thought Kelowna was teh most expensive in BC.

BoneThug 02-07-2009 05:40 PM

i use to commute 50 mins to work all the time. wasn't even that bad. grab a coffee and and a book, newspaper or mp3 player and you're set.

Meowjin 02-07-2009 07:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by achiam (Post 6268204)
Prime property in Vancouver is still nowhere close to that of major world cities. I really don't know what those silly reporters were thinking writing that Vancouver was one of the most expensive in the world.
Most would agree that an extreme house in Vancouver would be over $10M CAD, but in London or NYC there are whole areas where that's the norm.

we make shit wage here.

BoneThug 02-07-2009 07:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MajinHurricane (Post 6269109)
we make shit wage here.

never post again so that your post count can stay the same.

3xta 02-07-2009 08:05 PM

they didn't cover food costs?

CivicBlues 02-08-2009 11:40 AM

Sounds like sensationalist journalism again in a climate of "bad news is the only news".

It's not really fair to compare the "average" monthly rent for New yorkers when there are obviously huge differences between high rent penthouses and the low rent controlled boxes some people in the city pay that'll skew the results. A better indicator would be the median rent and the median commute times. Come on, basic statistics 101 people!!

Oh and the fact that many NYCers do get paid NYC wages, whereas here in Vancouver we get paid Houston-type wages to cover San Francisco-type expenses.

Synaptik 02-08-2009 12:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CivicBlues (Post 6269974)
Oh and the fact that many NYCers do get paid NYC wages, whereas here in Vancouver we get paid Houston-type wages to cover San Francisco-type expenses.

QFT.

This is why we're ranked high on least affordable, not on most expensive. Affordability is relative to wages, expensiveness is an absolute value.

Nocardia 02-08-2009 03:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CivicBlues (Post 6269974)
Sounds like sensationalist journalism again in a climate of "bad news is the only news".

It's not really fair to compare the "average" monthly rent for New yorkers when there are obviously huge differences between high rent penthouses and the low rent controlled boxes some people in the city pay that'll skew the results. A better indicator would be the median rent and the median commute times. Come on, basic statistics 101 people!!

Oh and the fact that many NYCers do get paid NYC wages, whereas here in Vancouver we get paid Houston-type wages to cover San Francisco-type expenses.

good to hear people still use common sense before they believe what they read.

wouwou 02-08-2009 05:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CivicBlues (Post 6269974)
Sounds like sensationalist journalism again in a climate of "bad news is the only news".

It's not really fair to compare the "average" monthly rent for New yorkers when there are obviously huge differences between high rent penthouses and the low rent controlled boxes some people in the city pay that'll skew the results. A better indicator would be the median rent and the median commute times. Come on, basic statistics 101 people!!

Oh and the fact that many NYCers do get paid NYC wages, whereas here in Vancouver we get paid Houston-type wages to cover San Francisco-type expenses.

nicely put

now only if someone came in and claim all the high NYC costs are coming from immigration and as a result only natives should stay

:haha:


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