If you have found your way to CC, surely you can do some online searching to find the info @GMTplus7 has so kindly posted for you.
I think what you really need to know is where you can find an affordable and suitable apt in NYC for your net income and still have money left over each month after accounting for your other living expenses, which can be pricey.
But depending on where in SE Asia you presently live, you may already be quite used to the higher cost of living in concentrated urban areas.
401k can be mandatory, depends on the company. Some force employees to contribute.
What is “fine”? You will likely not be living in a “fashionable area” if you have combined gross income of 100K for two adults. Many people do not have a car in NYC, and that can be a big issue in terms of where you live.
The general rule for rent or mortgage is at most 30% of gross income. For 100K per year, that is 30K per year. Divide by 12 and you get at most $2500 per month for an apartment. If that includes utilities, maintenance, and security, that might not be that bad, but I don’t think you’d be saving much for retirement.
I’m not sure if two people can live comfortably in a studio apartment, and also if you are a married couple and plan to have kids, you need to think very seriously about where to live.
If you have family in NYC, that would be helpful as well. But if you have student or car loans, I would think carefully about the choice to live in the city.
Yes,as Mamabear said one can live reasonably well with $110K salary even in Manhattan. The upper most rent you can pay is $2750 since most landlords in NYC require your monthly rent cannot be more than 40X your annual gross salary. One can find a nice studio in a safe area for less.
Income tax in NYC is high since you have to pay 4% city tax on top of state and federal taxes.
I assume you are asking for your son, and if he doesn’t overspend on bar tabs and restaurant meals, he should be able to live reasonable well and have a bit of savings left.
Thanks everyone, this is really helpful. NYC is so expensive if consider tax and cost of living, but I guess the experience and opportunity may worth it.
My son’s girlfriend is sharing an apartment in Chinatown and earning ca $50,000 a year. She doesn’t buy designer clothes and they tend to go out for Chinese dumplings or $1 sliced pizza rather than more expensive places.
^^That’s the rule of thumb NYC landlords decide whether you financially qualify to rent the apt. Manhattan rents are so high relative to wages that no other common rules apply if you wish to rent there.There are parents on this forum who have to co-sign their kids’ leases because kids income don’t qualify.
There was a thread here on what papers you should have with you when you go apt hunting.
Thanks everyone, I am asking this not for my son. I am trying to persuade my sister don’t take this job offer. She is in Asia and her salary is bit less than 110k USD here but her net income (after tax) is 20% more than she will get in NY. I think her cost of living will drop a lot and she has to manage well where to live and budget well her other expense to be able to save for international travel back home once a year. She wants NYC expenerience but I believe the cost is too big and she can just use her saving spend few months there as a tourist. Do i do right thing for her?
she is single and prefer live by her own.
If your sister can afford it, then what harm can a couple of years adventure in NYC do? Depending on the job role, it might even improve her CV and be a springboard to even greater opportunities back home. In my company, those who climb the management ladder are expected to have int’l experience.
Career progression aside, u only live once (at least non-hindus only live once), and life is more than how much more money you can sav every month of your life. Yes, she’ll be living in a shoebox-sized apt, but so did we when we lived in europe. The rest of the experience there was worth living in a shoebox & paying 90 euros to fill up the petrol tank.
She does needs to be cautious of the tax implications of working in the US. I had a European expat colleague in the US who had to sell his house in Europe within 2 (3??) years of being in the US; otherwise, he would owe US income taxes on the capital gains earned from the house in europe (it was something like that-- not sure if I got the details correctly).
Anyhow, the bottom line is that the US Internal Revenue Service has VERY long tentacles.
DS had an experience of persuading a friend NOT to take a particular job in NYC, with a good reason in that case.
I heard it was a job about producing a TV show about a particular topic, on an ongoing basis. DS had another friend A who had actually been working for that company for some time and he knew that everything there was a “fake”, not real (but it fools the audience.) The friend A felt miserable about working there after a few months. The person B, also DS’s friend who he knew well, was thinking of joining the same company. DS knew person B would never be happy to do that kind of job. He therefore talked person B out of taking this job. Person B is thankful to DS in the end.
Person A is DS’s suitemate while in college. Person B is who he met in his grad school. He has been very close to both (talking about having known each other for N years.)
Person B had the international background (more specifically, was born in Asia, used to be living in Asia but had been in US for the past 7 years, actually for many years, he was in NY state but not in NYC. According to person B, many people from his country tend to have the tendency to “love” the experience of living in NYC. There is nothing wrong about this if the nature if the job will likely advance the job prospect for person B’s future or it will likely be an enjoyable (at least tolerable) job instead of wasting one year of his career development and being miserable.
I do not mean that the job your sister is considering will be like this. (I have no idea.) All I am saying is that this should be a part of the consideration.
Note that I did not mention “money”, “income”, or “living cost in NYC.” In this case, it is mostly about whether person B will likely be miserable (even just for a year, because it would be a temporary job for a year only) if he takes the job.
Thanks GMTplus7 and mcat2, I think you made good points. I do agree with her that working/living in NY are good opportunity both on personal and professional level. My only concern for her is that if she has to live on very tight budget with that salary. she lives in simple but comfortable life in Asia, nothing fancy but at same time she doesn’t need to budget her income when she needs to social with friends or go for short holidays.
If she doesn’t mind living with roommates, she can certainly live comfortably. I make less than half of what your sister would make, my rent is less than $1000 a month for a big room in a 3 bedroom in Brooklyn, and I still don’t need to budget tightly. I have left over money to buy the groceries I like, to eat out a couple of times a week, and to do fun stuff when I have the time, and I’m still saving money every month. It is really totally doable
If this is a good career move, she should take the job.
To make her budget work, she needs to consider the possibilities that she may need share an apartment rather than living alone, and that she might have to take vacations that are less expensive than flying home each year. But a good roommate means an instant inexpensive social life, and there are many places to visit in the US, Canada, and even Europe that would not be very expensive if she flies from one of the NY area airports.
I know several people who are working in Asia right now, and who have made those same types of compromises for their careers. To save a bit of money, they take their vacations in Asia and travel back to the US only once every two or three years.
I would not say salary is necessarily a reason not to take this job. Having been both a tourist in Europe and having lived there. One year as a student with a French family and five years working in Germany there is absolutely no comparison in how you get to know a culture or the language skills you will pick up being immersed in a culture. In the short term it may not be worth it monetarily, in the long term it might be.
Thanks everyone for good advise, I think I better leave her to decide what she really wants to do in her life. great experience or play safe. She is in late 40s, Single.
