Park Slope Versus The Burbs
New York has a reputation for being an expensive town, which of course it is. But the high housing prices and rents don’t tell the whole story. You see, New Yorkers don’t necessarily need cars. And our property taxes are pretty low. Which is why a Times story this weekend comparing the cost of living…
New York has a reputation for being an expensive town, which of course it is. But the high housing prices and rents don’t tell the whole story. You see, New Yorkers don’t necessarily need cars. And our property taxes are pretty low. Which is why a Times story this weekend comparing the cost of living in Park Slope versus Orange, NJ found that a family of four with a household income of $170,000 could actually live more inexpensively in Brooklyn than Jersey. In fact, monthly expenses were $1,285 cheaper in the County of Kings. “Specifically, each month, the suburban family needs to lay out about $5,668 to run their home and commute to work in Manhattan, compared with $3,852 for the urban family,” said The Times. “That includes most relatively static expenses — from the mortgage, property taxes and homeowner’s insurance, to transportation, utility bills and, for the house, landscaping. ” The major caveat: If you want to send your kids to private school, fuhgettaboutit. You’re better off moving to the burbs.
High-Rise, or House With Yard? [NY Times]
Photo by Betty Blade
So, the Times has gone from lame articles on the subject of “Manhattan vs Brooklyn, which is cooler?” to “New Jersey vs Brooklyn, which is a better deal?”
Outstanding.
And it seems pretty obvious they reverse-engineered this study–they picked a 2br apartment to compare to a 4 BR house. If you’re going to compare apples to apples, 3 br vs 3br would be a better test.
11217 — I don’t know if anyone *wants* to struggle. There are MANY things in this city (everyday life things) that make life harder and more full of struggle compared to most other cities. These are peculiarities to New York City… and I wouldn’t count them as positives.
But I agree with what I believe to be your general point.
Stupid article, per usual.
Orange is NOTHING like Park Slope. Living a suburban lifestyle is the easy way out, in my opinion. Most people don’t necessarily love it, but they want easy. The reason NYC has energy is because people here don’t want easy…they want to struggle and better themselves.
You aren’t going to better yourself driving to Walmart, making dinner in a microwave and retiring to the television at 8:00 for reruns of the Bachelorette.
I’m not saying it’s true for everyone, but most people I know in the suburbs aren’t very happy or fulfilled. They are very very lonely. You can be lonely anywhere, but it’s easier to be lonely in the burbs.
Park Slope is definitely not the best neighborhood to compare to Orange. I wonder what the differences are for people who own houses in parts of Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx that are like Fresh Meadows, Kensington, Bayside, Marine Park compared with towns in NJ. The property taxes in NJ seem like such a hurdle for the people I know who live there. I’d like to be a homeowner one day, but don’t want to run to NJ or LI to do it. I grew up in the burbs and it was definitely okay. Lots of bored teens but many kids in NYC are pretty bored too. I want the best of both worlds I guess.
Case-Schiller is actually not very relevant to NYC-Brooklyn at all. None of the data has been representative of the housing market here.
I dunno Alexa…. I grew up in a small town (not a suburb, though probably similar in a way) and I think the suburbs would be MUCH safer for a bored teen using lots of drugs and drinking.
Apparently rich people have very difficult choices to make. I pity them.
As to whether Park Slope is diverse . . . of course it is diverse, but is it meaningful diversity?
Apparently rich people have very difficult choices to make. I pity them.
As to whether Park Slope is diverse . . . of course it is diverse, but is it meaningful diversity?
Yeah, it’s a crappy article, but like most such in the Times, the implications are far more intriguing than the content. What I find interesting here is 1. it’s not such a clear-cut decision and 2. The infighting between the UFT and DoE has more high-stakes consequences than I had realized. Good public schools beyond the elementary level are rare in NYC and the present system isn’t making them any more numerous. Ironic as urban life is probably better for teens than the burbs or a small town.