Is spending 60% of your take home pay on an apartment commonplace in New York? I realize the cost of housing in NYC is very high but I guess I assumed most of the people living in the city were making more than 90k.
People usually spend half their paycheck on rent. It's not too bad considering you don't need a car, especially if you are a couple living together. In the rest of the US you'd each need a car which is easily $800/mo when you account for depreciation, maintenance, gas, insurance, and misc costs.
