FIRE Number for New York, United States

A tight budget in one of the most expensive cities in the country. You share an apartment or rent a small studio in an outer neighborhood, cook most meals at home, and rely on the subway to get everywhere. The upside is real: free museums, cheap dumplings in Flushing, and Central Park cost nothing. But $3,333 a month in NYC means watching every dollar, and state plus city income taxes shrink your effective budget further.

A comfortable apartment in the West Village, Upper West Side, or Brooklyn Heights puts you in a desirable part of the city. You dine at well-regarded restaurants several nights a week, hold museum memberships, and see orchestra-level Broadway shows regularly. Weekend trips to the Hudson Valley or Long Island are feasible. At $10,000 a month, New York is genuinely affluent living, though still not lavish by Manhattan standards.

A premium apartment on Central Park West or a large Tribeca residence in a white-glove building. You have a housekeeper, eat at the city's best restaurants without hesitation, and travel business or first class. A cook comes in several times a week. You support cultural institutions as a donor and attend galas comfortably. This is the life of a successful professional who never worries about money in New York -- wealthy and comfortable, not ostentatious.