I really don't know how people manage to live in New York between the taxes and cost of living. I lived in Manhattan after college, but before law school for a few years and was working in the television industry. It really is a fun place to live if you can afford it. I like to think of the City of New York as a huge sculpture through which you can walk, and the people as participants in street theater.

When I lived there I had a beautiful 17th story  East Side studio apartment on 2nd Avenue that overlooked southern Manhattan. I could see the World Trade Center in the distance. I was initially paying $265 per month in rent. When my lease was up for renewal the rent increased to $385 per month, and I thought that was outrageous, but by that time I was moving to Chicago for law school. So it became a non-issue. It is my understanding the residents of New York are now paying as much as $4,000 or $5,000 per month in rent. The salaries that people earn down there now must be astronomical.