How much for a single 22 year old to live comftorably in NYC?

@Greatness86 Preferably in Manhattan actually, and no job lined up at this point.

I would highly recommend having something lined up before coming out here. The market is saturated. Do you have an associate or bachelor degree? If you have an associate, you will be looking for awhile. Do you have your NY license yet?

Unless you have a trust fund or willing to look outside Manhattan a *small* studio apartment is just what you are going to be living in. *LOL* Say this as a native NY'er who has lived in Manhattan for the past 15 years or so.

Even one bedroom apartments here are often *small* compared to what you can find in Brooklyn,Queens, Staten Island or the Bronx. Things get better in New Jersey or elsewhere outside the city but you want Manhattan.

It's not your gross wage you need to focus upon, but net (take home) because here in NYC/NYS taxes will take about 1/3 more or less from your check. So figure out of a $50K (gross) you'll really make about what? $35.000? *EVERYTHING* cost more in NYC especially Manhattan from milk to healthcare, so again you have to factor that into consideration.

Happily most hospitals pay about $65K to 70K more or less for RNs with adjustments for shift differentail and so forth so you'll probably not have to worry about $50K.

When times are (or were) good there was (or is) chances to pick up overtime or do extra shifts at another facility to add to your kitty. However as others have pointed out landing a hospital gig is not exactly easy ATM in NYC, in particular Manhattan. There seems to be some hiring going on but no where near the levels to absorb it seems all nurses looking for work.

If you can try coming out for several months (maybe staying with a friend or relation) and hit the streets to get a taste of your empolyment prospects. For no other reason that landlords here (Manhattan usually but elsewhere as well), won't consider you for an apartment unless you can furnish them with verified employment references. If you don't have a job lined up it's highly unlikely anyone will rent you a apartment.

Best of luck

Living alone, you'll need AT LEAST 70k/yr to live in Manhattan south of 96th.

The Upper East Side near the river has less expensive (not cheap) apartments. Might work if you work on the UES, but a *terrible* idea if you work anywhere else.

Several Manhattan hospitals provide subsidized housing and relatively good rates (for NYC), but there's usually a waiting list.

Might want to look at BK and Jersey.

Unless you have a trust fund or willing to look outside Manhattan a *small* studio apartment is just what you are going to be living in. *LOL* Say this as a native NY'er who has lived in Manhattan for the past 15 years or so.

Even one bedroom apartments here are often *small* compared to what you can find in Brooklyn,Queens, Staten Island or the Bronx. Things get better in New Jersey or elsewhere outside the city but you want Manhattan.

It's not your gross wage you need to focus upon, but net (take home) because here in NYC/NYS taxes will take about 1/3 more or less from your check. So figure out of a $50K (gross) you'll really make about what? $35.000? *EVERYTHING* cost more in NYC especially Manhattan from milk to healthcare, so again you have to factor that into consideration.

Happily most hospitals pay about $65K to 70K more or less for RNs with adjustments for shift differentail and so forth so you'll probably not have to worry about $50K.

When times are (or were) good there was (or is) chances to pick up overtime or do extra shifts at another facility to add to your kitty. However as others have pointed out landing a hospital gig is not exactly easy ATM in NYC, in particular Manhattan. There seems to be some hiring going on but no where near the levels to absorb it seems all nurses looking for work.

If you can try coming out for several months (maybe staying with a friend or relation) and hit the streets to get a taste of your empolyment prospects. For no other reason that landlords here (Manhattan usually but elsewhere as well), won't consider you for an apartment unless you can furnish them with verified employment references. If you don't have a job lined up it's highly unlikely anyone will rent you a apartment.

Best of luck

Forgot to add this:

If you do not have employment and or assets that cover the rent (landlords in Manhattan and most better parts of NYC like to see rent paid with one week's wages or at worst one paycheck if paid bi-weekly), many but all will accept a guarantor/co-signer. Such a person or persons must have excellent credit and assets to back up your rent on the theory if you do not pay they will be legally held to do so. There are several young adults in our building whose parents have co-signed their leases.

Living alone, you'll need AT LEAST 70k/yr to live in Manhattan south of 96th.

The Upper East Side near the river has less expensive (not cheap) apartments. Might work if you work on the UES, but a *terrible* idea if you work anywhere else.

Several Manhattan hospitals provide subsidized housing and relatively good rates (for NYC), but there's usually a waiting list.

Might want to look at BK and Jersey.

The UES/Yorkville from about East 50's through East 90's and above, then from Third Avenue to York is often joked by my friends and I as "nurse central" when it comes to housing. Young and old can be seen around change of shift hours in scrubs or uniforms heading west, north and south and back as they fan out to NYP, Mount Sinai, Lenox Hill, Columbia, MSK and the rest of the healthcare facilities that run up the area from about East 61st.

Another big area would be Turtle Bay and the Eastside from about the East Forties down through the East Twenties. Again you have a large number of hospitals and healthcare facilities (NYU, Bellevue, Beth Israel, etc...)

In both areas that is Yorkville, East Village and so forth rents used to be rather affordable, but that is changing as mostly all of Manhattan has become "safe" to live in. The East Village in particular is rapidly going the way of the West Village in loosing affordable housing.

Every hospital in Manhattan and to an extension NYC has a problem with balancing their need for nurses versus paying wages that allow same to afford to live in the area. To be sure many nurses do commute from NJ, Westchester and LI into NYC/Manhattan just as nurses from say SI go into Brooklyn or Manhattan to work but that does not mean their costs of living are any cheaper. What they save in rent by living outside of Manahttan or NYC comes out as commute costs (driving and or public transport), so often it's near a wash.

At one time many NYC hospitals like those every where else did have nurse's residences. But over the years as women/girls preferred to live on their own (and out of the hospital's reach), that model was abandoned and properties converted to other uses or simply sold off.

Even today while building housing for nurses seems a good idea not everyone wants to live "under the thumb" of their employer. For one thing it usually means once your job is ended you have to move out. Another is that the hospital *knows* where you are and so it's kind of hard to say on one's day off that one cannot "make it in" when called for OT.

Just bumping this up to add since my original posts the new Second Avenue Subway (SAS) has opened making subway travel to and from the UES/Yorkville much easier.

The "Q" train makes getting from Queens, much of Brooklyn and even Westside of Manhattan far easier than before, and in many cases a one seat subway ride. That and or one can use free bus to subway (or vice versa) transfers.

Most used station is 72nd and Second Avenue which isn't surprising as the most southern entrance/exit is down near 69th Street. This makes getting to UES "hospital row" (NYP, Sloane Kettering, Rockefeller, Mary Manning Walsh) just a two block walk. Indeed all the UES/Yorkville healthcare facilities including Gracie Square are a far easier commute than in past.

Previously you had to walk (or take bus) several blocks to Lexington Avenue for nearest subway, or take a cross town bus to west side.

Certain times of day (shift changes) the Q train is a sea of blue, green, purple, cranberry and other color scrubs/uniforms! *LOL*

Second Ave. Sagas - A New York City Subway Blog :: Second Ave. Sagas

mta.info | Guide

This New NYC Subway Map Shows the Second Avenue Line, So It Has to Really Be Happening

For OP and others all this means thanks to the Q (which runs deep into Brooklyn/Coney Island), there are more options for finding housing and still take employment at any of the UES/Yorkville health facilities.

Via transfers to the "F" or "N/R/W" trains much of Brooklyn and Queens can be reached as well.

Forgot to mention the "Q" train connects at 33rd Street PATH station. That opens up options to commute from east side Manhattan hospitals to areas of New Jersey served by that system, and or at least easily reached.