According to a new report by the Citizens Budget Commission (CBC), New York City is not as expensive as everyone says, relatively speaking. Sure, rent prices are out of control, but it’s actually one of the country’s affordable major cities for a typical household — all because of our awesome public transportation system!
“The report uses a tool created by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) called the Location Affordability Index (LAI); it measures an area’s housing and transportation costs relative to income,” Real Estate Weekly reports.
A typical NYC household earns $63,915 (ranking 6th among 21 other large and heavily populated cities), spends $14,700 (ranking 7th most expensive) and only spends $5,752 on transportation (ranking the cheapest). More than half of New Yorker households use public transport and have no car. These factors make NYC the 3rd most affordable big city in the country, outdone only by San Francisco and Washington, D.C.
And yet, it’s still the least “happy” place in America, subjectively speaking. (Photo: @aleksivic)
