Living comfortably in the Big Apple doesn’t come cheap. In fact, it costs about $87,000.
That’s according to a 2016 GOBankingRates report that used the 50/20/30 budgeting rule —where 50 percent of income covers necessities, 20 percent goes toward paying off debt, saving and investing and the remaining 30 percent can be spent on flexible expenses—to determine how much it takes to satisfy needs, wants and goals in different cities. Based on their estimates, it costs a whopping $43,700 annually just to pay for needs like housing, groceries, transportation and health care in New York.
Compare that to the median household income of $52,700, and you might be wondering how anyone makes it in the big city. Enter: these three residents.
In the first of our series, “Money and the City,” they tell us how they stretch their paychecks in the city. Then Pamela Capalad, a N.Y. based Certified Financial Planner and founder of Brunch & Budget (and a member of our Ask an Advisor panel), weighs in with a few tips on how they can up their games even more.