February 6, 2009...8:34 AM

NYC Too Expensive: Middle Class Flees To Greener Pastures

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Not terribly shocking for anyone that’s ever lived here, but the Center for an Urban Future just released a report about how the “middle class” is leaving NYC in record numbers.

Even when I did have “a good job” I still felt like I was living paycheck to paycheck and it was nearly impossible to save money. Now is an entirely different story…but anyways, I can feel justified when I tell my parents I can’t save money.

This is a snippet from the report:

The “New York City premium” on goods and services from housing and groceries to utilities and transportation means that a $60,000 salary earned in Manhattan is the equivalent of making $26,092 in Atlanta; $31,124 in Miami; and $35,405 in Boston.

In other words, income levels that would enable a very comfortable lifestyle in other locales barely suffice to provide the basics in New York City. “What you would call middle class elsewhere you would call working poor here,” says Lilian Roberts, president of DC 37, the city’s largest municipal union.

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