Jersey City. It's pretty much an unofficial borough of NYC. You take a 8 minute path to get to midtown or downtown Manhattan.

Was that 80k in NYC? My 90K was straight out of college (granted, I went to grad school) not in NYC so you're not really making their jobs sound great.

It was in the NYC/North Jersey/Central jersey area. We all grew up in NJ. In high school we went to NYC all the time. My friends stayed here because this is where they grew up? They have other friends and family all here. And NYC is one of the most fun places to live as a young adult. Part of the cost of NYC is you are paying to have access to all these things. You're not paying for a huge ass apartment or land, but so you can live in the city and take part in the culture and events of NYC.

Like sure. They are 100% WFH and could live in bum fuck South Carolina and save more money but why? They're already maxed out their retirement savings and more. Part of their free time is to go out in NYC, do dope things, go on dates, meet other people from around the country and world. People all over the world move to NYC. You don't get that heterogeneity living in some small ass town in Kentucky.

Are you from this area? There's a lot of misinformation about costs. Yeah, living in fucking Chelsea or UWS is fucking expensive. Back before med school I worked in tech for a year. I made 70K, lived in brooklyn and never had money issues. I maxed out my retirement account that year and roth IRA. There's still plenty of affordable places in NYC. These responses are coming from people who have never lived in actual NYC (and that includes all the boroughs).