Is it possible to live in NYC or Boston on residency salary?

[SuzySunshine]

Lily - I think you can in Boston. We have two sets of couples friends that live in Boston. BOTH spouses of BOTH couples are residents so they are making LESS than $100K combined. One couple got some help from their parents and they bought a townhouse, the other couple is renting in the same neighborhood and I'm pretty sure they are not being helped by parents. They both live in the Brookline area.

My DH interviewed there but since he didn't rank them very high I didn't research it that much personally. Good luck.

[houseelf]

Hi, lots of people do it. I think that Angie did it as a SAHM with two kids. I have *nothing* against either city and think that either would be a LOT of fun *if we had the dough*.

Boston just came up this past Spring as a possible option for us for fellowship. DH wanted to rank it number two on his match list. This caused an epic Hell-come-to-Jesus between us. I'll spare you he details since this question was posed during normal, polite conversation.

After researching the area, I found out that our children would be eligible for subsidized lunches on a fellow's wages. The employment sitution for me looked pretty scary (hmm...my low end law school degree versus a ton of eager Ivy Leagurers). The COL with two kids was almost laughable.

However, your situation sounds a *heck* of a lot more do-able than ours. Go for it and have a ball. Boston and New York sound like a lot of fun.

Kelly

I can't really comment on the feasibility of Boston (I'm sure Angie can answer that), but I'm pretty sure you cannot buy a brownstone in NYC w/an income of $150K, unless you have something like another $150K in the bank already. The COL there is so crazy. Teeny tiny apartments go for upwards of $200K. Of course this varies greatly depending on exactly where you are in the burroughs.

Hopefully someone who actually lives there will post and say I'm wrong. I'm just going on what I know from my BIL and my friend.

[Tenacious_D]

Yes and no...

For $150K you can live decently in Queens, Long Island or Jersey (don't bother with Staten Island ). There are really nice parts of Brooklyn as well and reasonably priced "up and coming" neighborhoods in Manhattan. The answer is it really depends on what you must have in NYC or Boston (lived in both cities for a number of years). Do you want space or do you want a quick trip to work? Are your dogs big outdoorsy kind of dogs or can they handle being indoors a lot? Do you want a variety of foods in your neighborhood or do you just cook all the time? I can really go on but please PM if you want to talk about specific neighborhoods. DH and I (if he does residency in NY) would rather live in NJ or CT and travel a little bit then raise children in the heart of the city. That's just me...a lot of people feel much differently about it.

[Vishenka69]

We've lived in NYC on a lot less during med school and now residency. As mentioned before, you definitely won't be able to buy (unless you're ok with over an hour commute) but renting shouldn't be a problem. Although you'll quickly learn that 1500 sq ft is considered HUGE in NYC and will have to scale down. Most ppl who live in NY don't spend that much time at home, so small spaces are not a big deal. If you have always lived in a house or large apartments, then NYC living might not be for you. Many residencies offer subsidized housing, although some is better than other. Within an hour (door-to-door) commute is considered reasonable. Many programs also require residents to live within a 30 minute commuting distance in order to take call or back-up from home, so the 'burbs may not be an option.

DH has interviewed in every hospital in the city and we've lived in NY for 16 years. We're pretty familiar with every borough, so ask away.

[DCJenn]

If DC is on your radar screen, you'll be able to live comfortably in the city on 100k. You will be paying more than 1/3 of your salary in housing costs, but everyone does. Like the NYers, small is relative in the city. My husband and I were comfy in 515 sq ft. (until he closed his storage unit and dumped all of his crap with me.)

Jenn