How much do ME & my friend need to pay rent in a very small apartment in New York City?

A studio is small and suitable for one person. 700 a month rent plus utilities. The landlord requires you to have an income of 2800 a month for that apartment, 4 times rent = income If you earn 2800 a month you don't get food stamps Utilities, laundry, transportation will be another 600 a month.

I hate to burst your bubble, but for $700-$1000, you will NOT get much which is decent. If you want a decent place, albeit smaller, you will need to budget at least $1500 a month. My son formerly lived in Queens in which I considered a modest and decent apartment, and he paid $1800 monthly, plus utilities. If you want Manhattan, you need to win the lottery !. In Manhattan (where my son also lived for a period) he got a third floor walkup at $4200 a month. Understand that rents in the NYC area vary widely based upon location and quality of premises. You can ONLY look to see what you get for what rents are requested. GOOD luck !

If you qualify for food stamps something tells me you WONT qualify for an apt in new york. Landlords want 3 to 4 times the monthly rent. So if rent is 1000 you need to make 3 to 4k a month. I dont know anyone who makes that much on food stamps..... And no landlord is going to rent a little studio to 2 grown unrelated adults. Keep dreaming on.

You are kidding right???? FOOD STAMPS???? The first shock for a first-time renter will probably be the prices. Consider that the average monthly rent for a one-bedroom in the Village is more than $3,100 and that the average for a studio is just over $2,200. Or that the average rent for a one-bedroom in a doorman building anywhere in Manhattan is close to $3,500. Mr. Hunt said that when he shows prospective renters what their budget really can buy, they are sometimes so appalled that “they think I’m trying to fool them or something, and they run away and I don’t hear from them again.” Alternatively, the renter checks his or her expectations and grudgingly decides to raise the price limit, look in other neighborhoods or get a roommate. “When expectations are very high, the process can be very frustrating,” Mr. Hunt said. The thousands of new graduates who will be driving the engine of the city’s rental market from now until September will quickly learn that renting in New York is not like renting anywhere else. The second shock is likely to be how small a Manhattan apartment can be. It is not uncommon in New York, for example, to shop for a junior one-bedroom or a convertible one-bedroom, neither of which is a true one-bedroom at all but really a studio that already has or can have a wall put up to create a bedroom. Aside from the realities of price and space, the requirements set by New York landlords are also bound to help turn a bright-eyed first-time renter’s outlook grim. To start with, landlords want only tenants who earn at least 40 times the monthly rent, which means an $80,000 annual salary for a $2,000 apartment. According to census data, more than 25,000 graduates ages 22 to 28 moved to the city in 2006, and their median salary was about $35,600. Those who don’t make 40 times their monthly rent need a guarantor, usually a parent, who in turn must make at least 80 times the monthly rent. In addition to a security deposit, some landlords also want the first and last month’s rent. Tack on a broker’s fee and a prospective renter for that $2,000 apartment is out of pocket nearly $10,000 just to get the keys to the place.