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It Takes 6 Figures to Be Middle Class in New York City

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Most people that live on Long Island are in debt and live way beyond their means. We live on LI and our family income now is 160k, but we live way below our means, with economical cars and a ranch style home. When all the homes were going up over the past 20 yrs,(those huge ones) I kept saying people cannot afford them, and I was correct . People that bought homes and other thing they could not afford contributed to this economy.
There was a comment above stating only the rich or poor stay on LI?? Well, I am a native LI, and my husbands job is here and pays well. We would move if we could, but his work keeps us here.
LI is not desirable anymore, I do agree with that, overcrowded and rude agressive drivers .

littlelamb of NY 12:38AM February 16, 2010

NY, like California and other exhorbitantly priced parts of the country are becoming shells of the great places they once were because no one who desires to build a good life stays. Those who stay are either those already wealthy and out of touch with normal life, or the poor and hopeless who have no mobility. And it's not just the confines of NYC where this is a problem. Long Island, Connecticut, and northern NJ are all overprice, inconvenient, crowded, and for most an environment where they live a genteel poverty spending 60-70 percent of their incomes no housing. Not to mention agressive taxation which the author failed to mention. For me NY is the paradigm of the old saying, "a nice place to visit but I wouldn't want to live there."

Josif Mohammed of GA 12:46PM November 20, 2009

I am 34 and a new york native.I have lived in bk,qns, and long island. I rented a old farm house in long island huntington for too much.Life sucked. Car insurance,oil,not to mention being single.Single and fine clubing in the hamptons not being able to save enough for the house I wanted.No american dream.I moved to Texas and god blessed me I have a husband and daughter now.He too is a native new yorker who's lived here in texas for 24 years.I sold properties for Daniel Gale,and still couldn't afford a home.My home is Austin Texas New york can kisssss my grits

TG of TX 12:37PM November 20, 2009

I live in Astoria and I work in Midtown - my commute is 30min door to door. how is that the longest commute in the nation?

John of NY 10:31AM July 16, 2009

Kim darling ,
NYC is indigenous to me , since birth to be precise. Astoria having a long commute ? I live in Staten Island, approximately less than a mile from the conference house (across from the shorelines of Perth Amboy , Southern New Jersey ) . I am currently attending school At CUNY Hunter College , in which it takes me a solid two hours to travel the less than 30 miles . How did Canarsie and Ditmas Park make it before the borough of parks ? And futhermore , I've lived on Ditmars Bvld in Astoria in which my commute never exceeded 20 minutes to Grand Central .
Post Script ,
You would think they would have someone living in New York write this article (not sure if you do or don't , but it doesn't seem like it ).

dave of NY 7:46PM June 23, 2009

I'm so happy that I'm out of NYC. I wasted so much money while living there. I lived in Queens, but the trains were so unpredictable, what should've been a 20 minute commute, always ended up taking more than 45 minutes. What a waste of my time. And money.

Jack of DC 12:36AM March 07, 2009

I agree that NYC is an expensive city to live in, but its arts/music/cultural scenes - both mainstream and underground - are thriving which is reason enough to call this city home.
I live in NYC because there is no place in the world like it.
FYI...Kimberly, I live in Astoria and it takes me 30 minutes to get to Union Square, 15 minutes to get to Midtown and 10 minutes to get to Bloomingdale's on the Upper East Side. I would hardly call it a long commute.

Queens Resident of NY 3:40PM February 13, 2009

You have to be smart about daycare in NYC, the larger facilities, like Preschool Of The Americas will run you between 400 and 500 dollars a week depending on the age of your child, but if you check out the smaller licensed daycare/preschools you could end up spending alot less for much higher quality care. A large daycare could have 8 to 10 student to one teacher ratio, and very little personal attention or early reading and math. A preschool like Building Blocks Playgroup ( www.buildingblocksplaygroup.com ), with locations in luxury high rises on the upper eastside of manhattan, has a 2 to 4 child to 1 teacher ratio, and provides special classes such as yoga, art, science and music, and early literacy and math for as little as 250.00 to 300.00 per week full time ( a 45 hour week). The large daycares will also kill you in extra fees, that the smaller ones will usually not charge. Child care in NYC doesn't have to be budget breaking.

NYC Mom of NY 3:13PM February 12, 2009