Family Friendly Manhattan - Upscale Suburbia in New York City
Last week I was showing a 2 bedroom apartment on the Upper West Side to one of my buyer client's a couple with a new baby. The apartment was listed by an attorney/broker/owner who lived in the apartment with her husband and children. Their Asking price: $1,450,000 with monthly maintenance of $2215.
My client asked her if they were moving to the suburbs? She said Oh no we love it here we're buying a bigger apartment in the building and we don't need to sell this one first.
As we left the apartment and we were in the hall, my buyers said to me "we would be considered wealthy if we were looking in the suburbs, but here we feel poor". Then they asked me if I saw the article in The NY Times about Manhattan having the richest toddlers in the country. I hadn't seen the article yet but I live and work on the Upper West Side and sell real estate in Manhattan so it certainly was not a suprise. I hear from buyers all the time about the mansions they could buy in the suburbs but they want to live and raise their children in the city.
Any one who has been to Manhattan especially the Upper West Side in the last several years could not help noticing the cavalcade of baby strollers through out the city's broad sidewalks.
According to The NY Times article since 2000 according to census figures, the number of children under age five has increased by more than 32%. Children under 5 account for more than 1 in 20 Manhattan residents.
The analysis shows that Manhattan's toddlers are being raised by parents whose median income was $284,208 a year in 2005, which means they are growing up in wealthier households than similar youngsters in any other large county in the country.
Among families with toddlers, San Francisco ranked second, with a median income of $150,763, followed by Somerset, N.J. ($136,807); San Jose, Calif. ($134,668); Fairfield, Conn. ($132,427); and Westchester NY ($122,240).
The data from the NY Times study shows some very interesting demographic shifts.
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