I know! It is crazy! That house in White Plains is a normal house, nothing spectacular. Forget about buying a townhouse in Manhattan! You need to win the lottery for that.

a lot of places in boston have heat and water included. i have heat, water, and gas included in my rent.

Me too - I just pay my electric.

See, this is what I was wondering though, and why I was asking about salary in with the question. What you pay for a studio is more than I make in a month, and I have a fairly decent job. Are the salaries in NY just that much higher ie. does an entry level job pay 50k in NY that would pay 25k in Wisconsin? Or are you just suppoed to "make do" and devote 90% of your paycheck to rent?

Come over to 5 towns area or Great Neck/Manhasset/Kings point sections or the gold coast of long island. That's nothing.

As for heat and all that being included in rent, it happens in almost every city in the more modern apartment buildings. Or it's a sign of the fact that they can't attract enough tenants and do it to bring in new ones.

-Rudey

No.

The highest paying entry-level job would probably be in finance (investment banking areas). In NYC those jobs pay a base salary of 55K and probably a bonus of 20+. In Chicago where the rent is much less, the same job would never pay less than 45 and usually runs between 45-55 base where the ones that pay 45 give larger bonuses at the end.

It's about the fact that more higher paying jobs exist in these areas more than anything else. They don't pay you so you can live nicely. They pay you because you need to be there to do the job and to entice you to be there and bring talent over the pay is high enough to cover your costs.

And lots of those entry level analysts still live paycheck to paycheck because they insist on having a certain lifestyle and usually end up being comfortable a couple years after grad school only.

-Rudey
--The rasmus - in the shadows is a catchy little song.

Okay, I think I get it now... thanks Rudey!

Ya All are ijots. Move to Kansas City Area! Lot Cheaper, DA!:)

Oh, no dont on second thought, we get to many people, the cost will go up!:(

But the average salary of anybody who lives in one of those expensive places is obviously going to be higher. As an example, if you work in Milwaukee and make $55k, you live in the west or north suburbs or on the east side or in the new trendy lofts down on Wisconsin. The other people live in Avenues West with all us broke Marquette kids or south of the freeway. I could have an apartment the same size and condition as mine 7 blocks the other way from campus and pay twice as much.

The salary is really dictating where people live. For example, I don't think anybody lives in my hometown who makes less than $30k a year because they couldn't afford anywhere to live. And I don't think anybody would willingly live in my apt building if they weren't a student.

I get it now. I was thinking about it the wrong way... that (for example) the only way you could have a roof over your head in PrettyCity was to pay $1000/month, whether you made 20k or 200k. I wasn't thinking about it neighbourhood-wise. It makes much more sense now!

Still.. how are all you college kids affording $1000/ month apartments?!?!?!

The ones who do it here all have their parents pay for it. Some of our on campus ones are $750 for a tiny one-bedroom. It's why I live off-campus - bigger place for half the rent. I just have to worry about men in my dumpster. :p At Marquette, east of campus is obviously the most expensive, followed by north, and west is the cheapest. I know people who live on, say, 31st & Wells who pay $250 a month for a place that's bigger than mine. They just can't go out alone. And then there's people who live on 7th & Wisc and pay $1000 a month for a place smaller than mine. You have to think of it market-wise. For example, Waukesha County has an average income of of $61k. The people who live in Palmyra-Eagle don't make that it two years, and the people who live on Beaver Lake make that in two months.

pbbt. You should have moved into my old complex on Cass & Kilbourn. Cute little neighbourhood, 2 blocks from the lakefront, totally safe.... 1 br for $450 :p

A nice combination of parental support and graduate fellowships. I do what I can. I figure it's better for me to be closer to school and not have to commute than have a cheaper rent, but have an hour or more commute. I don't pay utilities--just internet. But, if I decide not to live here after grad school, I'll probably move somewhere else with more of an environmentalist ethic.

Okay, for my hometown in Florida (smallish town, right on the Gulf):

Average 1-bedroom: $650
Average "starter" house (1200 sq ft): $85,000
Average "established house" (2500 sq ft): $200K, expect to pay $450+ if you want it on the water or on the golf courses.
Average Income: The military salaries bring it down, so I'd say $55,000.

Realtor.com has a handy-dandy little cost-of-living calculator that shows you what you would need to make in X town making what you would in Y town.

Tom has a very good point-- Kansas City has one of the lowest cost of livings around.
Depending on where you live in the city/ metro area the following are Kc averages...

1br apartment--- around $500, you pay the utilities in most.
Starter house--- $135K-- average 3bed 2 bath house
Average income-- not sure-- I would say around $40K, your link shows $38.

Here is an intersting little tool---- cost of living calculator....
http://cgi.money.cnn.com/tools/costo...tofliving.html


-wendi

KC is an inexpensive place to live, and it seems to be a decent place in which to raise a family, but it is terribly sprawled. I think I would rather pay a high rent and have everything at my fingertips like I do here.