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I will move in NYC in the next months as an Intern for 6 months. I will earn 1800$/month (I assume before taxes), work in Jersey City and want to live in Manhattan or Brooklyn with roommates.

I have found some informations about public transportation prices(about 200$/m with Port Authority transfer), and that i can find a room for 1000$/m inside the city.

Is it possible and reasonable to live inside NYC with my salary ? I also have saved an amount of money to spend during this few months (between 3k$ and 4k$).

Moreover, how long does it take to go from Brooklyn to exchange place (Jersey city) ?

I also wish you all a happy new year !

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    Why not live in Hoboken? It's a 10 min ride to Manhattan and a lot cheaper area - and the nightlife isn't that bad either. – Ross Jan 4 '16 at 15:46
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    Never heard about it ! I'm gonna check this place and housing there. Thanks ;) – Tiekeo Jan 4 '16 at 16:39
  • You're welcome. I interned for three weeks in NYC. We stayed in Hoboken for the first week then two in Times Square. I honestly liked staying in Hoboken better. I wish my internship was six months! Good luck ;) – Ross Jan 4 '16 at 16:50
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You probably cant live in Manhattan on 1800 per month with such little savings. Try for Brooklyn or Queens with several room mates. Jersey City is likely out of your price range as well.

It would be wise to leverage technology to help keep your budget and savings projections under control during this time and moving forward. Whether you use a spreadsheet or a tool like OnTrajectory.com or some other website -- you have to get everything out in front of you so you can make smarter decisions. Once you do that, then you will be able to get the most out of your savings and income. Good luck!

  • 33 y/o, Lifetime New Yorker
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  • May I ask you which area in Brooklyn will be next to the train line (I think it's L but I'm not sure) going directly to the station "World Trade Center" ? I think that living next to this area will be easier for going to work every morning. Thanks for sharing your experience. – Tiekeo Jan 5 '16 at 9:15
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Find out what your take home pay will be. There should be someone in the company who can give you an idea there. Once you know that, setting up a budget is pretty straight forward. You need

  1. food (can estimate that and control it quite a bit),
  2. clothing (presumably that is taken care of with clothing you already have),
  3. shelter (you have already found some and gotten some advice from Ross),
  4. utilities (ask when talking to potential roommates),
  5. transportation (you seem to have a good idea there).

Subtract the sum of all that from the take home pay. If you are negative, you will have to supplement with your savings. If you are positive, you can have some fun (or use surplus savings to have fun).

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I would recommend to live in Harrison area if you work in Jersey City. Less city life but also lower living cost.

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