The Most Affordable Neighborhoods in NYC for Recent College Graduates

Anyone who's ever lived in—or had dreams of moving to—New York City knows it to be two things: One, it's unlike anywhere else, and two, it's almost absurdly expensive. Making it work here is already difficult, but add super high rent prices (with basically little to no space) and it makes things even more challenging.

Unsurprisingly, since entry-level jobs come with entry-level salaries, it's even harder for recent graduates to find a place to call home in the Big Apple. But, plenty of people do make it work—you just have to know where to look (and, of course, be really smart about budgeting).

So, where are the more affordable neighborhoods? According to a recent Street Easy report, new grads and entry-level employees will have the best luck looking in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Bushwick, and Crown Heights (these three neighborhoods are in Brooklyn and take spots No. 1, 2, and 4, respectively) as well as Astoria, Queens (at No. 3) and Washington Heights in Manhattan rounding out the top 5.

According to the report, the median asking rent for all of NYC in 2016 was $2,795 per month—which means, if you follow the 30 percent rule (meaning not spending more than 30 percent of your salary on rent) that you'd need an annual salary of $111,800 to afford it. Definitely not attainable for most recent grads, and certainly beyond the median entry-level salary—which is, according to the report, $47,630. Using the 30 percent rule, that means grads can afford around $1,190.

By those calculations, recent grads are able to afford about 0.4 percent—473 out of 111,518, to be exact—of studio and 1-bedroom apartments. Of course, if you're in or looking at an entry-level position, you'll have much better luck apartment hunting with roommates.

According to Street Easy, two grads making the median salary and sharing a 2-bedroom apartment can afford 26.6 percent of homes in NYC—a huge jump from 0.4 percent. And three new grads looking at 3-bedroom listings can do even better—56.9 percent of apartments on the market are within their grasp.