The Cost of Renting in New York City

How much I've spent in rent in New York City

I did the math on how much I’ve paid in rent in New York City - not including moving costs, security deposits, broker fees, or any of that other stuff. I won’t make you wait until the end to know how much it is, but maybe sit down before you read this. Since October 2019, with about a year off of paying rent in the city due to the pandemic in the middle, I’ve paid $73,961.50. In broker fees and moving costs, add another around $4,000.

I know some people are going to think that’s an insane number for three and change years of rent, and some people are going to think that’s a great deal. And if you think that’s a great deal, hopefully you make a lot more money than me.

It’s pretty common in New York to be spending upwards of 40% of your income on rent. To get approved for an apartment, you generally need to make 40x the rent, which means if it’s a $2,000/month apartment, you need to make $80,000/year. But there are ways around this, like guarantors and sublets.

I moved to New York when I graduated college, so I haven’t spent much time paying rent in other places. But I did pay rent during three internships and co-ops before I made the move to New York. Each of these housing arrangements were in middle America, and none were over $1,000/month. Actually, the cheapest was more like $300/month, but that one was 1/4 of a room in a frat house (that’s a story for another time).

When I first moved to New York, I actually looked at sublet apartments over traditional leases. I didn’t have any friends moving at the same time as me, and I knew I would need roommates given my budget ($1,800 or less). I was open to a short term lease since I wasn’t sold on one specific neighborhood yet. And I had no furniture, so I didn’t mind the idea of a furnished or semi-furnished space to make that transition easier, all benefits of taking on a sublet in a shared space.

I found a three bedroom apartment where two girls were moving out and one was staying, and me and one other girl moved in. Most of the living space in the apartment was furnished, so I didn’t have to spend as much up front for move in costs.

I paid $1,400 in rent for my room, and I had the smallest room. It was maybe 7 feet by 10 feet - my full sized bed touched three walls. The other two rooms were bigger, and one even had a balcony, so they each paid around $1,600 and $1,800. I was happy to be paying less and saving more, and the building was very nice for the area - laundry and a small gym in the basement, a doorman, and an amazing roof with beautiful views of the city. I paid an extra $100/month on utilities.

This place sounds a little too good to be true, and nowadays, it is. This was 2019, before covid. The same apartment now goes for closer to $6,000/month, and my tiny bedroom was definitely not one you could comfortably work from home in.

I moved into my second apartment in June 2021, just as the rental prices in New York City were bouncing back from the rock bottom during the pandemic. I got one of the last good deals, $2,100/month with one month free for a 400-sq ft studio apartment. The building was all right - it had two elevators, a doorman, and laundry on each floor. But it also was the first building where I saw a roach - well, waterbug - and the building got covered in scaffolding, so my one window got covered in construction. That scaffolding is still up to this day (Jan 2024). Plus, I hated the layout - the bed was in the middle of the studio apartment, and I longed for a separate bedroom for more space.

A year later, they sent me a lease renewal at $3,200. I was ready to move anyway, but this certainly made me not want to move into a market rate rental ever again. I took five months off from the city, traveled, took my time apartment hunting, and I eventually found a rent stabilized one bedroom, where I currently live today.

Rent was $2,350 when I moved in, and now it is $2,420.50. I pay $100/month for utilities (electricity and wifi - no cooking gas, because it’s out in the building - another story for later). It’s a prewar building with no elevator, but I face the back of the building and should never have to stare at scaffolding again. Or worry about the landlord raising my rent 60%. And there’s laundry in the basement.

I’ll talk more about the pros and cons of rent stabilization in a future post - overall, the pros certainly outweigh the cons, and it is not that hard to find a rent stabilized apartment in New York City, if you’re willing to be in a prewar building and don’t expect a crazy good deal. Yes, I’m rent stabilized, but my rent is still within 10% of market rate.

Anyway, next month I’ll be even closer to cracking that $100,000 spent on rent in New York City, and now that I’m rent stabilized, who knows when I’ll end up buying a place. It’s the city of renters, after all.