I live in a one-bedroom in midtown Manhattan. It costs me about a hundred dollars a day and I’m still saving money on my software developer salary.
That’s pretty steep for a 1 bedroom apartment, 3000ish I assume based on what you said, and I’m guessing it’s not that big. I meanwhile live in a college town in the middle of nowhere and my 3 bedroom house with a garage and basement is 2100 a month.
Yeah rent in desirable cities is high. It’s the price you pay for being in a cultural mecca with a lot of career opportunities. Not for everyone obviously but a lot of people would absolutely not want to live in a college town either.
I’ve done both and enjoy cities way more and consider the rent money well spent. Making that transition to a big city was transformative for me personally and my career.
The funny thing is that despite spending all that money, I actually hate living here. It’s crowded and I can’t get around by driving. I used to pay $450 a month for a parking spot but I gave up on that because even though I could park near where I lived, I wasn’t able to park at most of the places I needed to go. (And now they’re adding tolls and I will have to pay about $20 each time I drive to my own home.)
My elderly relatives are here and I want/need to be close to them. It’s not realistic for them to move, but if they could then I would immediately go with them somewhere where a cabin on a 40-acre lot costs less than my apartment. 40 acres is like having 8 Manhattan city blocks all to yourself!
You’re software developer tho. So you’re a rich person anyways. You don’t understand the struggle