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September 15, 2015

10 Reasons New York City Is Painfully Overrated

Chelsea Fagan

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New York City is just incredibly overrated, and yet people insist on acting like unpaid PR people for it. And
these are the 10 biggest reasons why thats bullshit.
1. People get overjoyed about the most objectively garbage living spaces. Ive seen people brag about their
$3,000/month, rat-infested East Village one bedroom, where the kitchen has the approximate dimensions of an
airplane bathroom, and faces an air shaft. People have Stockholm syndrome about the real estate here, and have
learned to reduce their expectations from comfortable living situation to dumpster with outlets.

2. People who have no business living here choose to suffer for the cause. Nothing makes me cringe more
than people who are living their NeW yOrK DrEaM at the expense of basic ability to maintain their life and
feed themselves, and are working four jobs (including one creative one) to fund their windowless basement
room in Bushwick. There are theatres in Chicago and LA, and basically everywhere else. Go live in a place that
will enable you to survive with more dignity than a raccoon.

3. Nearly everything people brag about getting here, you can get in most major cities. Sometimes when
youre talking to a New Yorker, it feels like they think no restaurants, bars, or museums exist outside of a ten-
mile radius from the Empire State Building. Like I dont know if you realize, but you can go to a restaurant in
Minneapolis, or a bar in Rome. And youll probably pay way less for a beer.

4. People act like junkies when it comes to new and exciting food. I am so tired of seeing fusions-of-fusions-
of-avant-garde-reimagining of food. Its like were all addicted to New and Interesting Ways Of Eating, and
kept raising our tolerance until every bar in Williamsburg served cured-shark gravlax over pine crisps with a
kimchi reduction.

5. People treat dating the way they treat ordering food. Im not saying that this is unique to New York I
know that people do app dating everywhere but good lord is it pronounced here, where people have as many
options for their next date as they do their next order of Kung Pao chicken. I cant count the number of
conversations Ive had with bored, vaguely despondent New Yorkers as they recall the dozen-or-so dating
options theyre keeping simmering on the stove, none with any actual interest. And I met my boyfriend of
nearly five years online, so Im not averse to digital romance. But come on, at least put in more effort into the
potential love of your life than you do the drunken Amazon cart you fill up after coming home from the bar.

6. $10 $15 is considered an acceptable price range for cocktails. Unless it is made from top shelf liquor
and champagne, and comes with a plate of warm chocolate chip cookies, no drink should be at that price point.
And yet, thats what people here are comfortable paying for a cocktail that is mostly fancy mixers, and takes
approximately 10 minutes to put together. (I admit that the giant, fancy, square ice cubes do have a certain
allure, but not a 14-dollar allure.)

7. 80 percent of the year is spent complaining about the weather. And dont get me wrong I dont think
these complaints are unnecessary, or unreasonable. I totally agree that New York City seems to get the absolute
worst of the extreme seasons, punctuated by an admittedly gorgeous four-week period in spring and fall. Its
either summer, and the whole city feels like a concrete-lined sweat lodge, full of molten garbage and a humidity
level of beef stew. Or its winter, and each row of skyscrapers forms its own little wind tunnel, where your
eyelashes have the pleasure of freezing off within five minutes of leaving work. But damn Rockefeller Center
looks pretty come Christmastime!

8. Everyone is super hyped up about all the amazing shit they cant afford here. Yes, 90 percent of normal
people in New York City cant afford to go shopping in the West Village, or try any of the twenty-something
Michelin-starred restaurants, or stay in any of the magnificent, storied hotels. No one can enjoy a Carrie
Bradshaw lifestyle, or even a Miranda Hobbes one. Pretty much everything the media teaches you is ~fabulous~
about NYC is out of everyones price range. But people are totally content to get a contact high off of all the
great stuff around them without ever being able to participate. Just walking past that amazing brunch spot with
the four-hour wait is enough to motivate the New Yorker for their eight-hour shift at an Aldo.

9. The stuff they can afford and brag about New Yorkers never actually do. People will tell you all the
time how much the ~art and culture~ here is so incredible and irreplaceable (which, okay, but you can go to
most cities for that, as seen in point three), in the same breath that they tell you they have not been to the Met in
five years, and have never seen an opera or ballet. They just like to know that all of this art and culture is
available, waiting for the moment they will eventually choose to engage with it. They dont have to actually
enjoy it to feel smug about it.

10. Meanness becomes a default setting for everyone who lives here. Now, I should specify that Ive only
lived in two other major cities, so I am not an expert on how much city life hardens you to the world, and to
your fellow human. But I can say with confidence that pretty much everyone I know who has lived in NYC and
elsewhere agrees with me that this place is significant in how much of an asshole you become living here. You
just live your life in a constant, simmering state of being pissed off at people, because they are getting in your
way on the subway, in a coffee shop, or on the escalator at a department store because theyve chosen to eat
their entire Wetzels Pretzel between the sixth and seventh floor. Everyone knows that theyre in a masochistic
relationship with NYC, but I would argue that theyre in an openly abusive relationship with the other ten
million people who call this place home.

They say youre not a New Yorker until youve lived here for 10 years, but I would argue that youre not a New
Yorker until youve learned to quietly resent every single person you cross on your daily commute.
Read This

Admit it: Living In New York Sucks

By Ryan O'Connell

Admit It, NYC Is Totally Overrated

By Kirsten Chen

Chelsea Fagan

Chelsea Fagan founded the blog The Financial Diet. She is on Twitter.
Follow Chelsea on Twitter Facebook Tumblr
Cataloged in

Dumpster With Outlets

Major Cities
Mean People
New York City
NeW yOrK DrEaM
Overrated
Stockholm Syndrome of New York City
Urban Living

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Robert 2 months ago

I enjoy regular visits to New York, but it is truly filthy compared to its peer cities. I've never seen
overflowing garbage cans in London or nauseating bathrooms in Hong Kong.
1 Reply Share

Richard 3 months ago

I visited New York ago and it is definitely the most overrated place I have ever been to. I should
have saved money and had a weekend in London. Boring a repetitive streets, shops that you can
go to anywhere in the world or buy online, disappointing theatre and a serious lack of anything
cultural to see.
1 Reply Share

joames 6 months ago

All true.
1 Reply Share

MO 7 months ago
You are a New Yorker when you are born here. Everyone else is a transplant.
1 Reply Share

Harvey Nicks > MO 2 days ago

Like the people who founded it, you mean?
Reply Share

AW1021 7 months ago

chelsea you don't know shit about new york or new yorkers. we are the friendliest people in the
world. many of us make a decent living here. we can aord a lot of amazing shit. and many of us
do the things that are aordable to. you must be talking about yourself chelsea. perhaps you
ought to get a real fucking job instead writing some bullshit blog bashing the GREATEST CITY IN
THE WORLDs. do yourself and every true new yorker a favor honey, go back to whatever rock you
crawled out from under.
Reply Share

RenaissanceKafka > AW1021 7 months ago

Angry much? Your response really just made the authors point...
3 Reply Share

AW1021 > RenaissanceKafka 7 months ago

not angry. just a straight talker. but i know, this too bothers you about new yorkers.
new york is not everyone. if it is not for you... there are many other places to live.
new york is not everyone. if it is not for you... there are many other places to live.
Reply Share

RenaissanceKafka > AW1021 7 months ago

Actually, I love New York, and New Yorkers as a whole do not bother me.
1 Reply Share

AW1021 > RenaissanceKafka 7 months ago

then instead of trolling me, you should have stood up for New York.
Reply Share

RenaissanceKafka > AW1021 7 months ago

My point was simply to convey that raging and stomping doesn't lend any
favours to your argument. I do think that the author opinion of New York was
rather one-sided, however, I would rather not criticise someones opinion (as
that's essentially all this article is) through such overt anger, anger I add
merely makes the authors point, making New Yorkers look even worse.
2 Reply Share

AW1021 > RenaissanceKafka 7 months ago

These are words. You are not able to see my face or my actions. No one is
raging or stomping, as I said earlier. This is speaking plainly in New York
vernacular. The assumption that I am enraged based on reading words
online is mistaken. Another excellent thing about NYers is that, since we
basically see ourselves as the center of the known universe, we don't largely
care what outsiders think of us. The author, you, or anyone else can think
whatever they like.
Reply Share

Natham & Matkins LLP > AW1021 4 months ago

AW1021 obviously cares about what this author and others think - otherwise
why get so defensive? lol Typical NYer. And no, I don't live there, but my
partner owns four co-ops so I'm stuck visiting all the time and having to eat
at all the overrated food places (any Momofuku, Per Se, ABC Cucina, Craft,
Wildair, any Danny Bowien places).
Reply Share

AW1021 > Natham & Matkins LLP 4 months ago

that you eat in overrated food places says far more about you than it does
about ny. as for me defending my place of birth and the city that i live in, that
is not because i care about your opinion or that of the author. it is because i
stand up for my city when people like her (or you) write ridiculous dribble
about a place neither of you know anything about.
Reply Share
 Reply Share

Druke > AW1021 2 months ago

nyc sucks... you got stockholm syndrome hommie
1 Reply Share

AW1021 > Druke 2 months ago

get a job Druke, you need money to live in this city. you could go live in a
small shithole of a town. pretty cheap there.
Reply Share

Druke > AW1021 2 months ago

i live in charleston right o the beach...great historic town,great sea food,
alot of women riding convertible jeeps, preppy jolly citizens,beautiful weather
almost all year,not crowded and smelly like rat/garbage infested nyc,less
expensive cost of living...lots of green( meaning more golf courses)...
beautiful beach houses for less..yeah im glad i left that sorry son of a
shithole called nyc, where most of your day is spent commuting to get go
where you got to... i hop in my ride and just zoom to work minimum trac! f
nyc... too bad youre stuck.hahaha
1 Reply Share

AW1021 > Druke 2 months ago

thanks for leaving. nyc got even better on that day. too bad for charleston.
Reply Share

Druke > AW1021 2 months ago

lol the stolkholm syndrome is real!!...pity
Reply Share

AW1021 > Druke 2 months ago

you like that term huh Druke. what did you get that out of your first year 101
psych class. boy... you're real smart. or perhaps it just seems that way now
that you live with all the yokels from south carolina.
Reply Share

Druke > AW1021 2 months ago

atleast i dont live with surplus hobos,rat,and 10ft city garbage....how you like
the grimy overratee overexpensive city boy
1 Reply Share

Natham & Matkins LLP > Druke a month ago

Agree Druke. NYC is seriously going down the tubes, which is sad. It had far
more interesting people and businesses even a decade ago.
more interesting people and businesses even a decade ago.
1 Reply Share

AW1021 > Druke 2 months ago

you must be recalling the ghetto you grew up in. you see that is the problem
with your people. they eat something and then throw the garbage in the
street, even when there is a receptacle two feet away. as for the homeless in
your neighborhood. that is also the problem with your people, you are lazy
and would rather beg than get a job. in the nicer neighborhoods where many
hardworking people live, we don't have rats and homelessness and piles of
garbage. glad you were able to move away from your own kind. i agree they
ain't easy to live with.
Reply Share

Natham & Matkins LLP > AW1021 a month ago

And no one believes you were born in NYC because all the real New Yorkers
think NYC is losing a lot of what was great about it. Only the people who
come in from Ohio come in and think that it's amazing. Keep pretending that
you're a real New Yorker lol
Reply Share

AW1021 > Natham & Matkins LLP a month ago

don't be jealous. by direct patriarchal lineage my ancestors helped settle this
land, first arriving in 1640. saying that NYC is losing a lot of what was great
about it just shows what loser you are. yea... let's see we replaced slums
with million dollar condos, we replaced homeless bums pissing and sleeping
in the park with families playing with their children, we replaced abject
poverty in places like south jamaica, east new york, and brownsville with an
economy that gave people work and hope for a better life. you don't know
what your talking about. but best of all, we replaced the douchebag that you
are with someone new who loves this city.
Reply Share

Natham & Matkins LLP > AW1021 a month ago

Btw nothing you said makes NYC sound remotely interesting. Million dollar
condos (which your ass can't aord), children playing in parks, gentrified
outer boroughs ... yeah sounds like DC, SF, Paris, or any other city.

NYC is getting more and more boring by the minute.

Reply Share

Natham & Matkins LLP > AW1021 a month ago

No way! That's amazing your family came here in 1640!

You're a fucking moron and no one cares about your shitty family. If
 You're a fucking moron and no one cares about your shitty family. If
anything, that's the part I love about NYC is that poor people like you and
your family are constantly being displaced by others. I could price you out in
an instant, but instead choose to live for free in my partners place in
Chelsea, a few minutes walk from the galleries, Le Grainne (though La
Bergamote is better) and not far from Barneys. Stay in your shitty rent
stabilized tenement apt in whatever shitty part of the city you are in.
Reply Share

AW1021 > Natham & Matkins LLP a month ago

Nothing like having to live like a slut o your partners wealth. True New
Yorkers are ambitious, work hard, and create their own wealth. As for living
near "the galleries", you one of those over educated snobby little no
nothings aren't you. Most , if not all of the cutting edge work is created in
Brooklyn now by artists you cannot name.
Reply Share

Natham & Matkins LLP > AW1021 a month ago

The funny thing is that you got it right - I'm one of those "over educated
snobby little no nothings" who doesn't have to work as hard as you but gets
what i want. But NYC is full of these people (I know bc that's who I talk to -
not losers in Queens) - recent transplants, people that shop at Barneys,
people who brunch in the new Meatpacking District and spend $20 on
cocktails - and we all think we are better than you and own your city
because it's all the $. Please stay in Queens, because no one wants you in
Manhattan.
Reply Share

Claire a year ago

people should love where they live. you obviously don't even like NY. So make a change. Plenty of
us would love the job and the apartment you'd be leaving behind.
Reply Share

trish a year ago

*huge eyeroll* why are these still being written? we get it, you despise new york. i just visited
boston on labor day weekend and it was just as pretentious as new york (not hating on boston, i
loved it there). so like.....where is it okay to live?
1 Reply Share

k a year ago
you used to be one of my favorite writers, but you've gotten so negative and moody and your
articles are no longer enjoyable to read. I think I'm done looking at your work. Sorry, Chelsea.
Reply Share
SeN a year ago
When you're good at you job, you can easily make enough money to live comfortably in this city
and travel when you need to get away. Perhaps you should rethink your career, because you're not
a good writer.
Reply Share

Natham & Matkins LLP > SeN 4 months ago

Actually there are plenty of great artists that can't make enough and slowly drift into
undesirable parts of Brooklyn . . . but that's the author's point - people suer just to live in
NYC.
1 Reply Share

AW1021 > Natham & Matkins LLP a month ago

great artists will always get discovered and rise above and make a living here.
"slowly drifting to undesirable parts of Brooklyn"... once again you talking out of
your ass. first of all, this is what artists must do in order to practice their art.
secondly, it was good for the artists to move out of the insulated world of manhattan
(largely white manhattan) and move out into the boroughs to a more diverse
community. it expanded their lily white world view. god you are such a schmuck it is
hard to even address it all.
Reply Share

Natham & Matkins LLP > AW1021 a month ago

If people have a choice to live in Manhattan or Brooklyn, they aren't
choosing Brooklyn. No one says they aren't talented ... it's just that they
wouldn't stay in Brooklyn. Dont kid yourself loser.
Reply Share

PaulMurrayCbr a year ago

Fetishisation of food in general has become interesting - TV shows and whatnot. Re have
regressed all the way to the most primitive freudian stage.
Reply Share

Feather a year ago

Sounds like you're bitter. Bye Felicia.
2 Reply Share

NYCSPD a year ago

l.
Reply Share

Tina a year ago

#1, #2 in particular, #3, #8 & #9 totally. Although I must admit, I had been born and raised in
#1, #2 in particular, #3, #8 & #9 totally. Although I must admit, I had been born and raised in
NYC, and left it twice (for lengthy, one-domicile, non-college-attendance-related year-round living
[a.k.a. I relocated], not once but twice ;) aaand I am not wealthy or well-connected ... thus,
seemingly I could rock far better any other city (on the surface), but it better be extremely
cosmopolitan ...
Reply Share

halz a year ago

lol. girl bye. if you're not happy, gtfo
3 Reply Share

Druke > halz a year ago

Grow a pair. NYC sucks u sheep
3 Reply Share

rawpower a year ago

I went to New York, and it still remains the only place I ever visited that I had a negative experience
with.
- It's disgusting, there's garbage everywhere
- People are always rubbing shoulders with you
- nearly everyone smokes
- food is expensive as hell, buying cheese is like buying a pint of gold
- china town is basically a pig stile and all the stores sell basically the same things
these are just o top my head, there's way more. Liberty city was probably the only semi decent
destination, and that's mostly the boat ride over there.
1 Reply Share

AW1021 > rawpower 7 months ago

obviously you know nothing about new york. from the sound of it you have not been here in
over 20 years or more, if ever.
Reply Share

KappaPrideFascist > AW1021 4 months ago

I was there last month and rawpower hit it right on the head,
1 Reply Share

AW1021 > KappaPrideFascist 4 months ago

so. you losers go to all the tourist traps in new york and then make up your
mind about an entire city of 8 million people. one cannot blame new yorkers
for your failure to do a little bit of homework about the city.
Reply Share

Natham & Matkins LLP > AW1021 4 months ago

AW1021 non-tourist traps suck too. I thought going to the boroughs would
 AW1021 non-tourist traps suck too. I thought going to the boroughs would
at least yield interesting things and good food. My friend makes much better
Tibetan food in his kitchen than any of the places I've visited in Jackson
Heights.
Reply Share

AW1021 > Natham & Matkins LLP 2 months ago

the boroughs are filled with people who are recent immigrants and bring their
cuisine with them. if you were not able to find good food in the boroughs,
maybe you are not too bright. or perhaps you having a boring palate.
Reply Share

Natham & Matkins LLP > AW1021 a month ago

Also, the fallacy in your argument is that you believe that people who are
"recent immigrants" means that they can actually execute foods well. You
probably think anything is good just because it's a shit hole-in-the-wall. NYC
food is vastly overrated.
Reply Share

Natham & Matkins LLP > AW1021 a month ago

Yes, because being "bright" is a marquee of being able to find good food.
I'm just someone who's done a lot more travelling than you have in your life
and know what good food tastes like.
Reply Share

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