{"id":1632,"date":"2014-03-18T01:01:09","date_gmt":"2014-03-18T05:01:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.renthop.com\/news\/?p=1632"},"modified":"2023-07-24T14:09:55","modified_gmt":"2023-07-24T18:09:55","slug":"looking-at-the-hidden-costs-of-living-in-new-york","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.renthop.com\/blog\/looking-at-the-hidden-costs-of-living-in-new-york\/","title":{"rendered":"Looking at the Hidden Costs of Living in New York"},"content":{"rendered":"
At RentHop we keep track of rents across the nation (and we’re building some great new tools to help you analyze them). To help you understand better some of the personal finance issues related to paying rent, we’re partnering with\u00a0Moven<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0SmartAsset<\/a>, two leaders in the personal finance field, to give you some helpful advice.<\/em><\/p>\n Today’s article is about some of the hidden costs of living in New York. We’ve looked at three key expenses – food, travel and entertainment – to see how they vary across the boroughs. While the numbers aren’t the same everywhere (New York is expensive!), the concept is; when you’re considering where to live, there are lots of variables that aren’t included in the rent.<\/em><\/p>\n For more info, go have a look at SmartAsset’s article on the\u00a0diverse rental economies in four major cities \u2013 New York, Boston, Chicago and Los Angeles<\/a>, and at\u00a0Moven’s infographic showing some of the\u00a0key factors you should consider when making the rent vs. buy decision<\/a>. Also, don’t forget to tune into\u00a0the\u00a0Breaking Banks<\/a>\u00a0radio show airing this Thursday at 3pm on VoiceAmerica.<\/em><\/p>\n By Kyla Marshell<\/span><\/p>\n When choosing an apartment, the first thing you have to ask is \u201cHow much is the rent?\u201d Finding an apartment with a rent you can afford is the first step \u2013 but there\u2019s a host of other \u201chidden fees\u201d that factor into the total cost of living. That\u2019s why we decided to take a closer look at the extra expenses that affect how much you ultimately have to pay using recent data from New York’s five boroughs. Though everyone\u2019s expenses are different, there are three that are certain: food, travel, and entertainment.<\/p>\n First, some average monthly spending information (excluding rent and mortgage) developed using anonymized Visa and Mastercard transaction information by Bundle<\/a>\u00a0and data from the 2012 American Community Survey<\/a>:<\/p>\n