Who's saying that? Everyone is talking about 2 bedrooms or Brooklyn or somewhere in Manhattan downtown. You're not going to get anything downtown for that.

But anywhere on the UES (East 70s and above, it's cheaper the farther east you go), you can easily score a $1200 place with a roommate for a "flex" (1 bedroom divided and converted to 2, you'll survive, this ain't Kansas anymore).

The farther north you go though, you wanna stick to the west side because it gets pretty ghetto. But with the ghetto comes cheaper prices obviously. Once you end up in the 110s and above, rent drops down to about $1000/pp with a roommate. Once you end up in the Bronx, you'll prob pay $800/pp with a roommate. But you'll constantly be worried about getting robbed.