I would like to move to NY for reasons. Doesn’t have to be the city, thought in or near (or generally metropolitan) preferred, and I would like to move as soon as realistically and feasibly possible (I’m not getting rid of all my shit, hopping on a plane, and arriving in NYC, even if that is as soon as possible).
I’m not really sure how to do this. I know I need to look into apartments or places to stay in general, and also look into getting a job once I’m up there or before I arrive. I am currently in college, so I would also need to look into colleges to transfer into. The thing is, I don’t know where to start looking. I mean, sure I could look up “apartments in NY” and “community colleges in NY” but the internet is AI generated nowadays and listicles and apartments.com doesn’t give the whole story. When I moved into my current city, I asked for advice and suggestions on Reddit and got a lot of help (been staying in the same apartment complex for the last 4 years that someone from there recommended actually), so I figured, fuck it let me do the same here.
I guess my more solid questions would be:
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What apartments should I look into? Any suggestions for it?
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What colleges should I check out that would be covered by FAFSA and offer bachelors in Computer Science or related (tangentially or otherwise) fields?
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I’m aware that NY in general is a more expensive state in cost-of-living but I’ve heard wages there are also higher. Would I be able to exist there off a part-time or full-time retail/food-service job? Also, I do currently have an Associate’s degree, would I be able to get a better paying job through that or is it not enough?
Any other advice would be very much appreciated, and if I come up with more questions I’ll edit them in ig.
I think you need to specify an area first. NYC and upstate NY are two very different places.
There are more than to 2 regions in NY. There are the finger lakes, the Catskills, the southern tier, Western NY and Niagara falls to name a few. When I moved to Western NY I quickly got sick of being asked if I lived in NYC and when I would say no, 99% of the time the person asking would follow up with “Oh, so upstate then?” It really started to get on my nerves after the first handful of times.
I jump at every chance to get involved in a Where Is Upstate NY argument, just to discourage the term lol
If you’re from the metro, anyplace north of Yonkers is “upstate.”
Technically geographically correct, but culturally wildly incorrect.
Yeah I’m realizing that now. I guess I was mostly thinking of NYC because of Mamdani, plus I’ve visited before and it was cool as fuck; only other city I’ve visited before was Pittsburgh and I have my own reasons for not moving there. Upstate could work but I’m mostly interested in living in or near a metropolitan area in the north east. Really my ultimate goal is to get the fuck out of the country but that likely won’t happen for a long while.
My wife and I have been trying to move back for years now, NYC Metro is way too expensive for us, my family comes from Queens and mostly lives on LI, it’s been difficult because of costs, but also because every time we think we’ve got a house we want another buyer swoops in with cash or way more than we can match.
My wife’s family is from the Buffalo Metro area and I’m trying to sell her on moving to Michigan or Canada and just cutting across to see her fam when we need to, I spent a couple of years living in the Detroit Metro area and loved it, and it’s much more affordable.
Overall I’m sure you could find a job, part time or otherwise there’s always work in the city, but you probably wouldn’t be able to afford to live in the city without public assistance or living in public housing, or having a shit load of roommates. The best thing to do is finish school and find a job there that pays well, then move, but even then probably should consider moving to an area that is an easy commute into the city instead.
I would say to not move to nyc for the sake of moving there. It sounds like you’re trying to force your life to fit into the idea. If you’re still hell bent on it, you’ll need to make some friends first that will let you move into their apartment ( so room mates), until then, the rest of your list does not really matter. You will have a really hard time trying to juggle going to school, working and affording a life.
Ya know, that’s a completely fair analysis. Tbh I probably am trying to force it, I just quite like the idea of living in a massive sprawling city and Mamdani. In general I want to get the fuck out of the country, but since that likely won’t happen for a while, I want to at least move to a decent city in a decent state.
Mamdani is for sure drawing in even more people.
I would say you are not familiar with the city and if you have any connections at all, start by finding people who will let you couch surf so you start getting the lay of the land and the feel for the different boroughs.
If you really have no money you’ll probably end up living in the worse parts of the Bronx or Brooklyn, which can be dicey. The places to most people want to be are Midtown (Manhattan), Williamsburg (Brooklyn) or Astoria (Queens) and they can be very pricey.
A lot of people are being priced out and now moving to Jersey City, which is very close by to Manhattan. Depending on what school you go to, living in Jersey may rule you out for certain types of aid for living outside of the state. I had college mates that went this route, they eventually dropped their chance at aid and all roomed together in Hoboken. Keep in mind a con with public transport between states is that it costs more.
I’ve heard a lot of people live in Jersey and commute to NYC for work. This is all solid advice though! Thanks
You would almost certainly NOT be able to survive part-time unless you had roommates and lived in a rather undesirable location. I’m a full time supervisor in a factory and if I want any kind of savings whatsoever I have to rent basements/garage “apartments.” I currently live in a garage…
This is long island though, I don’t have much experience with “upstate/greater NY” but from what I gather it’s not much easier. Rent alone around here goes $1400/month+ and that’s the “cheap” side.
This is good insight. Thanks! I was pretty much expecting to have roommates anyways, it’s not a major problem if I have them, but how undesirable of a location are you talking?
I would have thought wages to be higher in tandem for rent, is it not?
Undesirable as in run down and higher crime. The closest area to me I have in mind is one that pretty regularly has stories about “MS-13” members using a machete on some poor fool.
I’ll put it another way, I’m looking to get OUT of NY. This is a state for the already established, rich, or professional class.
As far as wages to match higher costs, not sure what the going rate is elsewhere but for a low end position, something like McDonald’s/Taco Bell could pay ~$18/hr here but the spread is also abysmal, going from those kinds of jobs “upward” you kinda max out at $22ish/hr starting.
Ah fair. Thanks so much for sharing! I appreciate the insights
