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What Is Your NYC Paycheck Actually Worth?
By
Christopher Robbins
Published May 21, 2014
Modified May 21, 2014
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By
Christopher Robbins
Published May 21, 2014
Modified May 21, 2014
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New York is a bargain bin of organic peanut butter cups and Fire Island nights for the 300,000 or so who earn more than $100K a year. The rest of us (you know, the ones who in fact wield power through suffrage) feel every debit card swipe like a garrote. So after the ATM fees, the broker's fees, the monthly MetroCards, the $5 boxes of cereal and $8 bottles of contact solution, how much is the paycheck of a Normal New Yorker actually worth?
NPR's Planet Money (not the most hospitable-sounding celestial body) took a giant data set from the federal government released last month and found that making $37,064 in New York actually "feels like" making $28,799, when you account for our cost-of-living.
Indeed, the government data show that the New York-Newark-Jersey City metropolitan area had one of the highest regional price parities in the country—goods and services cost around 22% more here than anywhere else.
Washington D.C. and San Francisco fared worse. You could move to Danville, Illinois, where $30,079 feels like $35,973. And there's always Cleveland.
Tagged
affordable housing crisis
cost of living
Death by Seamless
tax the rich
Christopher Robbins
Christopher Robbins is a New York City reporter covering transportation, affordable housing, local politics, and criminal justice. His work has also appeared in New York Magazine, The Village Voice and The New York Times. Chris is a graduate of Patrick Henry High School in Roanoke, Virginia, and enjoys biking to Fort Tilden in the summertime.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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