Is it expensive to live in Long Island City?

The costs of living in a certain place have always been important. But 2022 has brought a drastic price increase, forcing people to look for more affordable places to move to. Housing prices make up 30% of the monthly budget, making this the biggest expense, that no one can avoid paying. There are ways to decrease this, mostly by living in a smaller apartment, while renting some storage facilities Long Island City. Living in the Big Apple has always been expensive, but the prices vary between different parts of the city. The prices even vary between neighborhoods, and today we will answer the question, is it expensive to live in Long Island City?

General information about Long Island City

Long Island City is one of the 250 neighborhoods in NYC, located in Queens County. A little over 30,000 residents call this place home, and it is ranked quite high for its quality of life. As it is expected in an area like this, Long Island City offers a dense urban feel, with a population density of close to 6,000 people per square mile. And it has increased by 3% in the last 10 years. Very few people can afford to buy a property in NYC, so 87% of the population here also rent their homes. If you want to live in Long Island City, you should consider storage rental NYC and pay attention to the:

• Housing prices
• Utility expenses
• Expenses for food

Housing prices

NYC is notorious for having ridiculously expensive housing costs, but Long Island City is on the more affordable side. Since a big part of the population rents their homes here, is it expensive to live in Long Island City while renting? Surprisingly, rent is only $200 over the national average, at $1,350. Compared to Manhattan, where rent is $3,500, Long Island City seems like it is not even in NYC. Studio apartments cost even less, and in this case, you can store your extra things at some full service storage NYC company. Buying a home here is still an investment, at $833,000. When it seems like a lot, remember that the average home price in other areas of the city cost $1.4 million!

Utility expenses

The second highest expense that you have to pay every month is utilities. We usually take electricity, water, and heating for granted, but the bills that we pay help us not lose those privileges. For the average apartment in Long Island City, the monthly bill for utilities is $250. Luckily, you can affect these expenses on a day-to-day basis, by saving water, turning off the light that you don’t need, etc.

Expenses for food

No one can live without food, and there are two ways to get a meal – eat out or cook at home. Eating in restaurants has always been the more expensive option, but the recent food prices increase of 9.9% made the prices quite equal. For a regular Western diet, a person would need $528.70 per month. Sadly, having your product in the heart of a big city is quite difficult, so you would greatly depend on grocery stores for food. But having a smaller apartment, and renting self storage NYC, will help you save money, that you can spend on treating yourself at a nice restaurant, like Manetta’s and Casa Enrique.

So, is it expensive to live in Long Island City?

To conclude the answer to the question is expensive to live in Long Island City – is yes and no. If you are comparing Long Island City to a rural area in New York State, it will be much more expensive. But if you compare this neighborhood to Brooklyn, you will see that your dollar will get you far more. If living in NYC is a dream you want to achieve, Long Island City might be a good place to start. We wish you good luck!

Reference: 

USDA ERS – Summary Findings