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>Whatever anyone (or any internet program) says about the NYC cost of living, it's worth remembering that most New Yorkers (not necessarily programmers) get by on average incomes not much higher than other parts of the country. I don't know what the average is, but I'm quite sure it isn't that big.
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I lived 10 years in (9 in Manhattan, 1 in Brooklyn). I must respectfully disagree. Absolutely impossible. Anyone who can get by in NYC on the average income of Western Mass (where I am now) is living in a hovel. My wife and I took a combined income hit of, well, an enormous sum, and it is still less painful to live here than in NYC.