"How can people possibly afford to live in one of the most expensive cities on the planet? It's a question New Yorkers hear a lot, often delivered with a mix of awe, pity and confusion. We surveyed hundreds of New Yorkers about how they spend, splurge and save. We found that many people rich, poor or somewhere in between live life as a series of small calculations that add up to one big question: What makes living in New York worth it?"
"But they have a hack to make their housing more affordable: Ms. McAuliffe's husband, Jake Kassman, is the superintendent for their building and the one next door. He took on the super job a few years ago, after the couple's first child was born and the family realized they wouldn't be able to live only on Mr. Kassman's roughly $110,000 salary as an M.R.I. technician at Columbia University's medical center."
Many New Yorkers treat daily life as a series of small financial calculations that determine whether living in the city is worth the cost. Housing is the largest expense for most residents. One family of five in Morningside Heights lives on $140,000 a year and pays $2,700 monthly for a three-bedroom apartment. The husband earns roughly $110,000 as an M.R.I. technician and works as the building superintendent, adding about $30,000 a year in pay and occasional free rent. The wife left her education job because childcare would have erased her paycheck. The family converted a neighboring unit to add a bedroom and weighs school and activity costs, including private school after a playground meeting.
Read at www.nytimes.com
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