A recent study done by StreetEasy found that rents in NYC are rising 7x faster than wages, and with NYC being crowned the most expensive city in the country, many of us New Yorkers are left wondering how much longer we’ll even be able to afford living here.
And unfortunately this new report found that the answer to that question may be not much longer–that is if you make the average salary.
According to a new report released by StreetEasy, due to soaring rents and high upfront costs less than 5% of NYC apartments were affordable for New Yorkers making the city’s average salary last year.
Data shows that, on average, New Yorkers earned just under $89,000 last year, meaning if they only wanted to allocate 30% of their annual income to housing (the threshold for being rent-burdened as used by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development) they could only afford a rent of up to $2,216 per month without being rent-burdened.
However, StreetEasy data shows only one in ten NYC rentals were priced below this amount in 2023. Rather, the city’s median asking rent was $3,475.
Even more, essential workers earning average wages in their occupation could only afford less than 1% of rentals in the city in 2023, and even tech workers, whose wages are higher than average, could only afford about one in three NYC rentals.
StreetEasy data shows that in 2023 the median asking rent in NYC jumped a whopping 8.6% from the year before to $3,475–the highest jump since 2010.
And while it would only make sense that the average wage would have to increase a comparable amount to offset this, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that the average NYC wage rose just 1.2%.
Moreover NYC’s housing shortage continues to worsen, outpacing metro areas in San Francisco, Chicago, and Boston combined.
The report writes:
Spending more on rent leaves a larger hole in renters’ budgets and makes it difficult to save for long-term goals, such as a down payment on a home. However, many New Yorkers don’t have a choice: the latest NYC Housing and Vacancy Survey indicates one in four NYC households spent more than half of their combined income on rent in 2023.
A separate study done by SmartAsset recently found that NYC is the worst city in the country to live comfortably and that a family of four needs to, on average, make at least $318,406 a year.
And with New Yorkers needing more than $1 million to be able to retire comfortably we can’t help but wonder how it was possible that NYC was named one of the best places in the U.S. to retire.
Sometimes all we can do is daydream about living abroad–this enchanting medieval village in Italy and quaint French village are both selling homes for just €1, and we just might take them up on that offer!
Even more, this wintry village in Switzerland will actually pay you to move there!
So, basically, if you need us, don’t–we’ll be Europe.