Upon graduating from college, many students dream of being able to experience life in a big city while working the job of their dreams, especially if they come from an isolated environment like Cornell. A great deal of these students, however, want to live in one specific city: New York (NYC). With NYC receiving the most job applications of any city in the nation from recent college graduates as of 2023, it’s clear it should be the perfect place for anyone looking to “make it,” right? Wrong. 

Although average salaries in NYC for recent graduates are relatively high—$72,332 in 2024—they still have to pay a staggering 56% of their income to rent a one-bedroom apartment or 35.3% to rent an apartment with a roommate due to the exorbitant housing costs. To contextualize these statistics, a renter is considered “cost-burdened” when they spend 30% or more of their income on housing. In more extreme cases, renters are considered “severely cost-burdened” when they spend 50% or more of their income on housing. Many recent graduates are, therefore, unable to spend on basic necessities or save, with 43% of recent college graduates surveyed saying they lived paycheck to paycheck. 

Recent graduates moving out of the NYC area could be disastrous for its economy and growth as a city. 23.46% of NYC residents are between the ages of 20 and 34, contributing a sizable amount to the city’s economy, development, and culture. Most see NYC as an innovative city where anyone can go to accomplish their dreams. Without young, driven people, however, that culture and vibrancy almost vanishes from the city, leaving it without the soul that drives many to it in the first place. Given that NYC is a hub for recent graduates’ jobs and is a city built upon those same individuals’ efforts and motivations, it’s imperative that we do something to ensure that those recent graduates can still afford to live there.

Although housing costs within the five boroughs of NYC may be obscenely high, renting in its suburbs tends to be a more affordable option for those who can commute. Some communities in Westchester, Long Island, and New Jersey (ex. Yonkers, Crestwood Village, Cedar Glen West) have median monthly rents around $1,000-$1,700, compared to NYC’s median of $3,676, as of October 2024. Living in these areas would be a much more affordable option for young, recent graduates who are just starting their career by allowing them to spend more on other household expenses and leisure, and contribute more to their savings. Each of these areas also has incredibly easy access to NYC and its business districts via public transportation, with the Port Authority Trans-Hudson line, Long Island Rail Road, and Metro North servicing New Jersey, Long Island, and Westchester commuters, respectively.

Despite these solutions seeming relatively easy to implement, they face significant social and logistical challenges. First, a large part of the reason why many move to NYC is because of the culture, history, and social opportunities. When surveyed in 2023, almost half of the city’s residents, and 66% of Manhattan residents, rated their access to cultural activities as “excellent” or “good”. When living in suburbs, these benefits are minimized, with fewer opportunities for socializing and interacting with culture. Second, most of the city’s suburbs are incredibly spread out, with suburban sprawl prioritizing automobiles and hindering pedestrians or those using public transit from effectively traveling. Although these problems seem solutionless, one clear, simple proposal could solve both. 

This solution would be to build affordable apartment building communities centered around train stations with direct access to NYC for recent college graduates in the city’s suburbs. These communities would be full of young people who ordinarily pay incredibly high prices to live in the city but instead are paying significantly less to live in a community with a similar atmosphere in Westchester, New Jersey, or on Long Island. Centering these communities around train stations also combats the effects of suburban sprawl, as residents could simply walk to a train station and go straight into the city. 

These communities would essentially function as “mini-cities,” with all of the cultural amenities that define any major city. Given that these communities would be mainly housing recent college graduates (achieved through targeted advertising and partnerships with universities), they would effectively be able to mimic the social atmosphere of the city without the cost of living.

New graduates are the future of our economy, and as such it’s imperative that we support them to ensure an effective transition from college to the workforce. Due to ever-increasing housing costs in cities, suburban communities with similar culture and connectivity to urban areas are the only way for us to ensure that the backbone of our economy doesn’t crumble.