Despite being the second dirtiest city in the world, according to residents, and having the highest rent in the United States, New York is the number 1 place people around the world want to visit and the number 1 place people want to move to.
A survey conducted by Time Out magazine with 27,000 residents around the world pointed to New York City as the place people most wanted to travel to in 2022, followed by Tokyo, Japan, and Paris, France.
New York’s tourism was certainly hit during the pandemic, but it is now approaching normalcy. According to NYC & Co., the city welcomed 32.9 million visitors in 2021, up from 22.3 million in 2020. In 2022, visitation is expected to grow to over 56.7 million and reach 63.7 million in 2023. In 2019, a record 66 million tourists visited the city.
The secret behind this high demand may be because the city is always reinventing itself and offering new attractions for tourists. In recent years, new observatories have emerged, such as Summit One Vanderbilt and Edge at Hudson Yards, along with new experiences like RiseNY, Little Island, and the Museum of Broadway.
Visiting New York is one thing, but living in the city is a completely different matter. The cost of living in the “Big Apple” is extremely high. The average rent in Manhattan has reached $5,000 per month, a record, according to StreetEasy. To add insult to injury, many landlords require tenants to earn an annual salary about 40 times the monthly rent, which currently amounts to a salary of $200,000.
In addition to the high cost of living, there is also an increase in violence. Shootings in the city have more than doubled this year compared to the same period in 2019. The overall crime rate increased by 30.5% in July 2022 compared to July 2021, according to NYPD statistics.
Despite all this, New York also ranked first when the Time Out survey asked respondents which city they would like to move to. London and Paris came in second and third, respectively.
For those living outside the city, this may come as a surprise. Remember the mass exodus during the two years of the pandemic? Many said that New York would never be the same, that the city was “dead.” But New York has already proven to be the most resilient city in the world. Its ability to recover is incredible.
For those who live in it, even in tough times, “There is nowhere we would rather be.” For these people, paying half their salary in rent is worth it when they have easy access to the best bars, the best restaurants, the best cultural life, people from all over the world, and the most vibrant atmosphere on the planet.