The Expensive Life In Big Apple

By Staff

New York
Do you want a cozy life in the Big Apple? Never even dream of it if your wages per month is below the six figures. New York city becomes the most expensive city to live in U.S.

The skyrocketing living costs and stagnant wages make the life of the middle class tiresome. It says that a New Yorker would have to make 123,322 dollars a year to have the same standard of living as someone making 50,000 dollars in Houston. The average monthly rent in New York is 2,801 dollars, 53 per cent higher than San Francisco, the second most expensive city in the country.

A New Yorkers has to pay about 34 dollars a month for phone service in 2006, while similar service in San Francisco cost 17 dollars a month. The full-time day care costs or tuition fees can run up to 25,000 dollars a year for one child. It may be even higher according to the neighborhood standards.

This deteriorating quality of life compelled hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers to flee the city for cheaper areas during the boom years from 2002 to 2006.