This Is How Much You Need to Make to Live Comfortably in NYC

Residents in this country's top 15 metro areas spend a large chunk of their income (unsurprisingly) on rent, and in New York City, a family would have to make over $158,000 a year to live comfortably in a two-bedroom apartment, a new study by SmartAsset, the financial data analysis service, has revealed.

The company based its study off of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)'s 30 percent threshold — where a household that spends more than 30 percent of its annual income on rent is considered cost-burdened.

Via SmartAsset

By that logic, about 46 percent of renters across the country pay more than 30 percent of their income towards rent, according Harvard University's Joint Center for Housing Studies, leaving less money towards other household expenses and savings.

SmartAsset calculated its annual income threshold for each city based on a 28 percent rent-to-income ratio. By that measure, New York City ranks second (once again) to San Francisco in terms of the income required to comfortably rent a two-bedroom. In NYC, SmartAsset calculated the average cost of a two-bedroom apartment at $3,692 per month — that's actually a 0.1 percent drop from the previous year, though that's not really much of a consolation. On average, the cost of living in New York City is 70 percent higher than the rest of the country.

Via SmartAsset

• The Income Needed to Pay Rent in the Largest U.S. Cities [SmartAsset]
• NYC Rental Market Reports Archives [Curbed]

Curbed Video: 4 Storage Ideas for Small Spaces