MANHATTAN — If you’re moving to New York after graduation with the promise of an entry-level job, be forewarned: finding an affordable apartment will be a challenge.
In Manhattan, the median asking rent for a studio or one-bedroom was $2,800 in 2015, according to real estate search engine Streeteasy. Since most landlords want their renters to earn at least 40 times the monthly rent, that means you’d need to earn $112,000 a year.
So, where can a new grad live? (Click here to jump to interactive map below.)
Streeteasy analyzed the expecting starting salaries of the 20 most popular majors of New York City grads and calculated what your rent should be if it ate up no more than 30 percent of your income, which is what most economists agree is considered affordable.
The company also created a map in which you can input your major, how much of your salary you want to spend on rent and how many roommates you’re willing to have. (The cap is two roommates because New York City laws prohibit more than three unrelated adults from sharing a home.)
The search will be tough whether you’re an engineering major — who are projected to have the highest starting salary at $58,670 — or a philosophy major, projected to earn about $27,530.
An engineering major’s budget, paying 30 percent on rent, might allow for about $1,466 a month; a philosophy major might have to ponder paying about $688 a month.
Obviously, options increase if you have roommates and you look outside of Manhattan.
A fine arts major, for instance — for which the projected starting salary is $37,427 — would find that 11 percent of studios or one-bedrooms on the market would be within reach — and that’s only if you dedicate half of your income to rent, Streeteasy noted.
By adding one roommate and looking for a two-bedroom apartment instead, available inventory increases five times over. You’d still be paying half your income on rent, Streeteasy noted, but then nearly 56 percent of two-bedroom listings would be within your budget.
Paying more than half of your salary on rent, however, would be considered “severely rent burdened,” according to housing experts. One in five households of renters in the city are paying more than half their income in rent, according to the Citizen’s Budget Commission.
Median asking rents in The Bronx and Staten Island were less than half the median asking rent in Manhattan, and the market was more affordable in parts of Northern Queens and East Brooklyn — in particular Crown Heights, Astoria, Bedford-Stuyvesant, and Bushwick, Streeteasy noted of the post-collegiate havens.
For those who are Manhattan-or-bust, you'll have a large selection of affordable options in Washington Heights, Harlem, Midtown West and the East Village, the site said.
Of course, if your parents want to help out and make sure you’re in a Manhattan doorman building, they’ll also have to co-sign the lease as a guarantor. A guarantor's income needs to be roughly 80 times the monthly rent, and they need good credit.
Here's the interactive map from Streeteasy.
