Why Rent In NYC Is Out Of Control Right Now

Rent in New York City is at an all-time high. The median asking rent in Manhattan reached $4,100 in June 2022. CNBC Make It spoke to three New Yorkers whose rent increased by up to $2,100 a month.

But are New Yorkers willing to pay up? One challenge for renters is that they must earn at least 40 times the rent. With the median asking rent in Manhattan at around $4,000, the minimum income to qualify for an apartment at that price is $160,000. The median household income in New York City is $67,000. 

Correction (Aug. 23rd, 2022): At 01:46 the video misidentified that Thelma Annan is 32 years old. She is 31 years old.

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Why Rent In NYC Is Out Of Control Right Now

[GooblyWoobly]

Paying over 2k AND having a roommate is insane

[luxuryhub]

I love how minimum wage increases have to be phased in to not "burden employers, " but rents are allowed to double or triple overnight with zero regard for the burden on tenants.

[XPaPeRxAnGeLxAiX]

This video felt hugely tone deaf to the gentrification problem caused by these same people who want to live in Manhattan and can’t. As a native New-Yorker who works $15, I find it hard to have sympathy to people making six figures who can just afford to pick up and leave to another state or country. My family has lived in the Bronx for generations and can barely afford to live here anymore because ppl who can’t live in Manhattan just move to outer boroughs and make the cost of living expensive. I understand the struggle and appreciate the perspective offered, but the video should’ve at least included native New-Yorkers and talked about the gentrification problem in NYC.

[community]

$4, 700 for rent - that's $56, 000 per year for rent - no wonder that girl's mother said she needs to buy a house.

[Muhtadin]

The people that romanticize NY, you're stuck in an abusive relationship. Get out before it's too late.

[bakeembakeem]

I can only imagine how freaking scary this rent situation is for single parents

[IvarDaigon]

I'm a middle aged man at the top of my career and I cannot even fathom what it must be like to spend $42, 000 a year to pay off someone else's mortgage. That's like buying a Tesla model 3 every single year and gifting it to someone else.

[ShoeibShargo]

She's moving to London because of high rent in NYC. Who's gonna tell her? 😭

[ShutThePuck]

Landlords raising rents to offset losses during the pandemic. Will they ever lower the rents once they've recouped their losses? No. Will employers increase wages to offset the higher cost of living? No. There will eventually come a breaking point.

[-Dan-.]

I can’t imagine living in a place so actively hostile to human life

[idngeqh]

I’m a life long NY’er and still love the city. But for all the young people in this video and watching the video I’ll share one thought. Keep your housing expenses as low as possible and do not get over your head. If that means you can’t live in NYC so be it. There are endless equally good or better places to live & you don’t need to be in NYC for opportunity any more. Your 20’s are critical to setting up your life, don’t put yourself in a hole.

[armandodemiguel]

Im a Industrial engineer (specialized in catenaries and HIgh tension networks) worked in NY for 5-6 years. After a year of paying 3700$ for rent and having to walk each day for 40 minutes to work i decided to mae myself a stealth van. For less than a year of rent i bought myself a ford transit and made it a stealthvan during my month vacation.
THE BEST INVERSION OF MY LIFE.
I lived like a king. Parked rougly 10 minutes of my office, near a supermarket. And never had a problem (for 4 years parked in the same place).
I Saved almost 60% of my income. INSANE. 5 years later i sold my stealth van and with the money i had saved i paid almost entirely a house in my hometown. Now im a Physics highschool teacher, earning less than half i did when i worked in NY, but i got a paid house, all afternoons free and summers off.
Trust me, if you want to live in NY, Vancouver, Sanfrancisco etc etc. Get a stealthvan. trust me.

[crystalodame]

I like this series but i really wish there were some native New Yorkers interviewed for this. I’m a native New Yorker from the Bronx and was in the process of finding an apartment in July. The process was depressing, humiliating and disheartening.

I saw over 30 apartments before i found the perfect one (thank god) and I was beaten out by so many people who had the option to “Move back home” when for me, my “Home” was what was the problem.

While I appreciate the perspective here, I think this piece could have greatly benefited from the hearing about people who were born and raised here but are being pushed out on a daily basis.

[justinmonsanto]

Just a tip, DO NOT PAY MORE THAN $20 for an application for an NYC apartment. It’s actually illegal for landlords to charge more than that. This is coming from a Leasing Manager in Brooklyn

[kaykepop]

My sister in law is 30 years old and has lived her entire life in New York. She moved, after a year of planning, to a Southern state a few months ago for this very reason. She's now paying just under $1, 000 per month (utilities included) for a 3 bedroom, 2 bath, semi-luxury apartment. She said she's not planning on ever living in NY again.

[avantgarden]

Never forget what they did to 36-year-old Derek Floyd, a hard working family man was terminated as part of New York City's effort to free up funds for the migrant crisis, and because of the stress of this he died of a heart attack. The city has ramped up its efforts to pay for housing services for thousands of migrants, therefore fired him. So sad

[QueenLucifer]

This is why people are living in cars, living with multiple roommates, or worse living in shelters or on the streets.

[Tara-pqjj]

I seriously lost it when she said she is moving to London because the rent prices are so high in New York. What a privilege.

[yeeb]

Getting an aparment for 2, 250 and having that be doubled in a few months time is absolutely criminal. Most people can’t be expected to be paying double the rent they signed up for, especially minimum wage workers

[JerrySmith-ihrd]

Greed has ultimately suffocated NYC. Such a shame. I lived in Park Slope Brooklyn in the 70’s through the mid 80’s when I was young and in my 20’s &30’s and feel lucky to have had the wonderful experience of being there and in the arts then. There’s a creative gritty spirit that is now gone forever because of the crush of the almighty buck.