Singles in New York City aren’t just missing out on chocolates and roses this Valentine’s Day. They’re also hemorrhaging an extra $20,100 in annual rent, according to data from StreetEasy and Zillow.
That number, known as the “singles tax,” remains unchanged from last year, but is nearly three times higher than the national average of $7,562 and roughly $5,000 more than in San Francisco, the second most-expensive city for singles.
“As anyone on the dating scene in NYC will tell you, it’s not easy to be single here,” said Casey Roberts, StreetEasy home trends expert. “The lack of affordable rentals just adds another layer to that struggle.”
The tax is calculated from the median one-bedroom rental price in each city, so the tens of thousands of dollars in extra rent that some New Yorkers pay reflects the city’s historically high housing prices, which locks many renters out of living alone in the first place.
As of December 2024, the median one-bedroom apartment in New York rented for $3,350 per month, 65% higher than the national average, but prices vary significantly throughout the city. The average Manhattan one-bedroom goes for $4,200 a pop, more than double the $1,900 renters paid in Staten Island, the city’s cheapest borough.
A separate StreetEasy report from last year found that residents earning the city’s average annual salary of $88,647 in 2023 could afford less than 5% of rentals without being rent-burdened, defined as paying more than 30% of income on rent.
Many renters scoot around New York’s continued affordability crunch by living with roommates. More than half a million people or families in New York cohabitated with people outside their family, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2022 American Community Survey (ACS).
Renters can also, of course, couple up and pool their income, as StreetEasy and Zillow suggest — as long as they’re okay sharing a bathroom and overhearing their partner’s Zoom calls.
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