How can people possibly afford to live in one of the most expensive cities on the planet? It\u2019s a question New Yorkers hear a lot, often delivered with a mix of awe, pity and confusion.<\/p>\n
We surveyed hundreds of New Yorkers about how they spend, splurge and save. We found that many people \u2014 rich, poor or somewhere in between \u2014 live life as a series of small calculations that add up to one big question: What makes living in New York worth it?<\/a><\/p>\n Here\u2019s one way to make New York more affordable: triple your income. After moving from Baton Rouge, La., in 2016 to attend graduate school, Daniel Babin lived mostly on red beans and rice or homemade \u201cslop pots,\u201d renting rooms in what he called a \u201ccult house\u201d and a building on a block his girlfriend was afraid to visit.<\/p>\n Then, in January, he got a job as a geologist with a mineral exploration company, with a salary of $200,000, plus a $15,000 signing bonus. A new city suddenly opened up to him. \u201cI can take a woman out on a $300 dinner date and not look at the check and not feel bad about it,\u201d he said. He also now has health insurance.<\/p>\n Mr. Babin, 32, a marine geologist who also leads an acoustic string band<\/a>, now navigates two economic worlds, one shaped to his postdoctoral income of $70,000 a year \u2014 when his idea of a date was a walk in Central Park \u2014 and the other reflecting his new income. In this world, he is shopping for a vintage Martin Dreadnought<\/a> guitar, for which he will gladly drop $4,000.<\/p>\n Finding a New Base Line<\/p>\n On a recent morning at Mr. Babin\u2019s home in Bushwick, Brooklyn, where he shares a 6,800-square-foot cohousing space with 17 roommates, he was still figuring out how to manage this split.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m feeling less inclined to just let it rip than I was a few months ago,\u201d he said of his spending habits. He socks away $1,500 from each paycheck, and has not moved to replace his 2003 Toyota Corolla, an \u201cabsolute dump\u201d given to him by his father. \u201cHopefully, I\u2019m returning a little bit to some kind of base-line lifestyle that I\u2019ve established for myself over the last five years,\u201d he continued. \u201cBecause the fear is lifestyle inflation<\/a>. You don\u2019t want to just make more money to spend more money. That\u2019s not the point, right?\u201d<\/p>\n Lightning Lofts<\/a>, the cohousing space where Mr. Babin has lived since January 2024, bills itself as part of a \u201csocial wellness movement\u201d and seeks to continue the ethos of Burning Man<\/a>, the annual communal art and cultural festival in the Nevada desert.<\/p>\n For a room with an elevated loft bed and use of common areas, Mr. Babin pays $1,400 a month in rent, plus another $250 for utilities and weekly housecleaning.<\/p>\n He was first drawn to the organization through its events, including open mic \u201csalons\u201d where he played music or read from his science fiction writings. These were free or very cheap nights out, unpredictable and fascinating.<\/p>\n \u201cYou would see dance and tonal singing, and some dude wrote an algorithm that can auto-generate A.I. video based on what you\u2019re saying \u2014 beautiful storytelling,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cSo I just showed up every month, basically, until they let me live here.\u201d<\/p>\n The room was a good deal. He had looked at a nearby building where the rent was $1,900 for a room in a basement apartment that flooded once a month. \u201cRidiculous,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n But beyond its financial appeal, Mr. Babin liked the loft\u2019s social life. \u201cI used to be chronically lonely, and I just don\u2019t feel lonely anymore,\u201d he said. \u201cWhich is fantastic in a crazy place like New York. It\u2019s so alive and it\u2019s so isolating at the same time.\u201d<\/p>\n Splurging on Ski Trips<\/p>\n