What would you do with $1,500? How about dinner? At New York City’s most expensive restaurant, dinner for two can cost up to $1,500. And if you decide you want to eat there, you’ll have to call months in advance to get a table.  

Manhattan is the most expensive place to live in the United States with Queens and Brooklyn close behind. Although the cost of rent is the main culprit, groceries, movie tickets, and transportation also cost more than in other cities.

Then why do so many people want to live in NYC? Two of the most common reasons are that it seems easier to find a job in NYC than in many other places in the U.S. and the city offers excellence in the arts, medicine, food, education, fashion, and many other fields.

However, not everyone gets to enjoy the exciting things NYC has to offer. After paying for rent, the subway, and food every month, the 1.7 million New Yorkers living below the poverty line (which means their household makes less than $31,000 per year) don’t have much money left for things like healthcare, clothes, or books. An unexpected expense such as a broken fridge can put a family into deep financial trouble. For those born in a low-income neighborhood such as the Bronx, achieving success is much more difficult than for those growing up in a wealthy neighborhood in Manhattan or Brooklyn.

But New York is a city of extremes. It is also home to a large number of extremely wealthy people. Do you think that’s why it is called city of dreams? Or do you think that this is just unfair?