Posted on 04/24/2013 6:29:57 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
One of the first things you learn when living in New York is that what qualifies as wealthy somewhere else seems barely middle-class here. On the Upper West Side, where I live, it’s hard not to feel as if Manhattan is impossibly expensive for young professionals.
The average nondoorman, one-bedroom apartment in the neighborhood rents for about $2,500 a month. Oatmeal-raisin cookies at Levain Bakery cost $4 each. A pair of sensible, unstylish walking flats from Harry’s Shoes can set you back $480. I suppose, by comparison, that the $198 chef’s menu at Jean-Georges doesn’t sound so ridiculous.
New Yorkers assume that we live in the most expensive city in the country, and cost-of-living indexes tend to back up that assertion. But those measures are built around the typical American’s shopping habits, which don’t really apply to the typical New Yorker — especially not college-educated New Yorkers with annual household incomes in the top income quintile, or around $100,000.
According to a recent study by Jessie Handbury, an economist at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, people in different income classes do indeed have markedly different purchasing habits. That may not be surprising, but once you account for these different preferences, it turns out that living in New York is actually a relative bargain for the wealthy.
While compiling her research, Handbury looked at Nielsen shopping data for 40,000 American households, across more than 500 food categories, with details on everything from organic labeling to salt content. Remarkably, she found that for households earning above $100,000, grocery costs are 20 percent lower in cities with a high per-capita income (like New York) than in cities with a low per-capita income (like New Orleans).
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Well it’s because these same “rich” morons who live on the Upper sides of Manhattan are overwhelmingly liberal and constantly vote for the politicians who will most likely tax the living sh*t out of them. How many times did Obama attend fund raisers on the upper west side of Manhattan when he was campaigning? Something like every single week. EVERY week, because I remember he would always come in on a Friday right at rush hour. I have absolutely no sympathy whatsoever. Shoot yourself in the foot don’t go crying to the masses.
Geez.....this former WAPO now NYT puff-piece writer (Princeton Grad) has just found out that if you buy groceries instead of eating out, it costs less?
She’s somehow rationalized to herself that ‘living’ is a better deal there for the rich than for the poor? Do rich people carry a discount card or something? Maybe they buy groceries, apparently something you just found out about.
Maybe if you were better looking, you could cut your eating costs by luring unsuspecting males into buying you dinner every night like that other self-absorbed NY honey that wrote about it.
The next mayor of New York will either be:
* A lesbian woman who “married” her lover, who uses the power of her office to attack business that cross her, or want to drive businesses out whose social policies don’t conform to hers ( see Chick-Fil-A near New York University ).
* A former Congressman who exposed himself on the internet and claimed that his account was hacked. He has an appropriate name for this act too...
NYC is at its highest population level ever, and the high real estate prices confirm that it is in ever-growing demand.
Ummmmmm... I thought I did well to score a couple of pairs of my favorite "classic" sneakers from Shoebuy.com on sale at 25% off. ($41.16 per pair, Amazon wants $65.)
Fortunately, I'm not "rich" enough to spend $480 on a "pair of sensible, unstylish walking flats from Harry’s Shoes".
This reminds me of the Douglas Adams quote: “The last time anybody made a list of the top hundred character attributes of New Yorkers, common sense snuck in at number 79.”
In a previous life I worked in Tokyo’s famous Ginza district, reported to be the most expensive place in the world. And, yet, I could walk out with my business colleagues to any number of decent quality food establishments for a decent lunch of 1,000 yen or less (about US $10). The same thing when I went on business to New York couldn’t be had for less than about $30. Go figure.
Interesting article but the tone is insufferably smug.
Most NYC residents live in tiny apartments, don’t own cars, don’t have children and have fairly high paying jobs. They spend most of their money save little. I doubt the author owns a car or has a family.
Enjoy your $4 cookies.
Yes, I’m guessing this “economics reporter” is a recent grad from an elite school that turns out condescending nitwits by the crate, and that she is a trust fund baby supported by Daddy’s money. A surprising lot of NYC writers at the journals and fashion mags are not self-supporting.
Rush always said that the only reason to live in NYC is to work.
Concur.
When I lived there, it was a place where life was about work and fun, and by payday, everyone was in need of a check.
You learn so much reading the New York Times.
so a tiny appartment at 2x the rent.
a cookie at 5X the price.
bad shoes at 4X or more the price...
are supposed to make you want to live in a city that smells of urine, high taxes, in a state with confiscatory taxes and no respect individual civil rights?
But places like Houston are cheap — and staying cheap, even as they grow — because the local governments have realized their comparative advantage is in deregulation, not in fancy cookies.
Having lived in Houston for awhile in the 60s, I can tell the author that that is not something they realized--it's been that way for a hell of a long time. It was a bit chaotic insofar as zoning, but it was gangbusters for the economy.
Look at the ranch houses that $100K income families occupy in Texas ... and the studio apartments that $100K income households occupy in NY ... and tell me that’s a bargain.
I could fit a NY apartment in my master bedroom.
SnakeDoc
I grew up in New York city and moved out last year. Best thing I ever did. It's a city run under despotism now. People want to be told what to do like little children, want their money constantly stolen by the city, the fine, live it up, but I ain't living like that.
RE: Having lived in Houston for awhile in the 60s, I can tell the author that that is not something they realized—it’s been that way for a hell of a long time. It was a bit chaotic insofar as zoning, but it was gangbusters for the economy.
Is Houston conservative or liberal?
I know that Texas is a conservative red state but HOUSTON?
This is the city that voted REPEATEDLY for that idiot, tea party hater, Sheila Jackson Lee.
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