Nor did we consider past costs or future savings. And though we tried, we can’t factor in everything: the absurd cost of health care, the various unique emergencies that each of us encounters. So for our young New Yorkers who want to become parents, we went ahead and chose an age for their hypothetical children, then priced things accordingly.Ī couple of disclaimers: We’re describing what these lives would cost right now - so there’s no accounting for an unpredictable future or for inflation. We called this a “slush fund.”Įvery year of a child’s life brings unique costs (are you paying for diapers, or are you paying for remedial tutoring in algebra?). To account for all the other stuff that drains one’s bank account - picking up floss and toothpaste at Duane Reade, field trips and school supplies, Ubers, office lunches and iced coffees - we asked dozens of them to take a look at their bills, subtract the predictable and repeating costs, and tell us how much was left over. We interrogated these adults about their spending on everything from cars and heating to lawn care, children’s birthday parties, and therapy bills. To report out a reasonable baseline of what these nine people’s future lives might cost, we asked hundreds of New Yorkers to open up their books. We hope it’s genuinely useful to younger New Yorkers wrestling with questions like, What would my family income have to be to support my vision of tomorrow? What part of my dreams should change - or my plans for paying for them? Should I move upstate and renovate a dilapidated Victorian? (Do not do this.) Some readers may wonder: Is this city for me? But perhaps others will find in these case studies certain elements that could possibly be within reach (even if you don’t have a trust fund, or your shares don’t vest) for a good and manageable New York life. But if they do shock or horrify, we hope facing them is at least better than wallowing in the ambient dread of not knowing. The purpose of presenting these receipts isn’t to shock or horrify. Then we spent weeks talking to people who actually live those lives and asked them how much it all costs, from the babysitters to the termite prevention to the electric bill. We asked, What would a “nice life” look like? Do they want extreme levels of well off, or bourgeois comfort, or simply freedom from financial worry with the time to pursue a hobby? We went deep with these nine people on their aspirations for their lives in 15 years. Instead, we heard a craving for high-end domesticity so many people told us they wanted to be married with “between one and two kids,” a shocking number said they wanted three or more, and nearly everyone said they wanted to own their homes. We expected a few more to actually want to live in Manhattan. We were surprised by how many people fantasize about a life with a partner and kids in brownstone Brooklyn - we expected more to plan lives as single artists or to build households of friends and throuples. We spoke to dozens of people but narrowed it down to a handful, each reasonably en route to the upper-middle- (and, in two instances, just plain upper-) class life they picture in their heads. We decided to put a price tag on the dream lives of a wide range of New Yorkers, all 30 and under and childless. A one-pound container of strawberries at Eli’s costs $30. Half the households that live here simply cannot afford to, according to another, which says you have to make $100,000 just to reasonably get by - to afford food and transportation to work. New York is the most expensive city in the world, according to one recent report. Sure, it’s always been ludicrously expensive, and the “what you could get for the same price of this Chelsea studio in Ohio” game is our little way of torturing ourselves.
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