It’s no secret that the average rent in NYC is, well, a tall order — Empire State Building tall, not Starbucks size small tall.
Instead of listening to your friend’s tips on easy ways to save money — like making your own coffee instead of buying it and setting zero spending days — while you cough up a solid third of your paycheck monthly, turn to these findings by RentHop. They found out how to save money every month that’s honestly a no-brainer: get a roommate.
We know, we know, we would also rather watch Netflix in our underwear without a roommate casting judgemental looks our way, but hey, you might reconsider when you find out exactly how much sharing a two-bedroom apartment in New York will save you compared to going it alone in a one-bedroom. Across the country, even in way-too-expensive New York, you can expect to save around 40% each month by sucking it up and sharing your space with a roomie. And maybe this theoretical roommate is just jealous of your abs.
Of course, the savings are different in each NYC neighborhood.
But for those of you who just can’t imagine sharing a space — especially a bathroom, since that’s what RentHop finds really drives up the place of a pad — there’s one neighborhood where the savings would be small enough to justify staying solo. Well, depending on how much you value you space since saved money is extra money, after all.
Apartment-hunting hermits, you should set your sights on Carnegie Hill.
Nestled between Central Park and the Upper East Side, this neighborhood averages $2,700 per month for a one-bedroom apartment, and $4,950 for a two-bedroom. That means, even if you were to move into the two-bedroom with a roommate, you’d only save around $225 per month, or 8.33%.
If you do the math and account for steep New York prices, as you rightly should, that means giving up buying lunch out (we’re assuming a $20 lunch since a salad can easily set you back $12-15 bucks in The Big Apple) just 11 times a month will just about make up the difference. So basically, packing your lunch will let you ditch your pants in the apartment in peace. Consider us sold.
