Solo Renters Must Earn Nearly $154K Annually To Afford a Studio, per New ‘Carrie Bradshaw Index’

Living alone in New York City still requires a very Carrie Bradshaw-sized fantasy budget — or, more realistically, a six-figure salary.

A solo renter in New York would need to earn $153,600 a year before taxes to comfortably afford the city’s typical studio, according to The Economist’s latest “Carrie Bradshaw Index,” named for the “Sex and the City” heroine famous for living alone in Manhattan on a columnist’s salary.

The typical studio payment in New York is $3,840 a month, according to the index, which assumes renters should spend no more than 30% of their gross income on housing.

For comparison, Los Angeles renters face a steep solo-living hurdle, too. A typical studio in LA County rents for about $2,004 a month, according to Realtor.com data, which translates to roughly $80,000 a year to stay within the 30% affordability rule — still far below New York’s $153,000 threshold.

There is better news for renters nationally.

The number of America’s 100 biggest cities that the index considers unaffordable for an average earner has fallen to 30 — the lowest since The Economist began the index three years ago.

Nationwide, renters who want to live alone now need to earn about $150 less per month than they did a year ago.

A surge of newly completed apartments has helped ease the squeeze. The US added 695,000 apartments in 2024 — a 40-year record — followed by another 531,000 in 2025, according to The Economist.

At the same time, softer demand has helped slow rent growth and prompted landlords to dangle incentives such as free months or waived fees.

The improvement has been particularly noticeable in some smaller and less expensive markets. Cities including Oklahoma City and Lexington, Ky., posted some of the biggest affordability gains, while 11 cities crossed into affordable territory.

In Oklahoma City, one of the biggest gainers in The Economist’s index, a studio averages $735 a month, according to Zumper. That would require an annual income of about $29,400 under the index’s 30% rule. In Lexington, Ky., the average studio costs $984 a month, requiring about $39,400 a year.

The picture is similar in three other cities. Studios average $945 in Phoenix, $944 in Detroit and $875 in El Paso, requiring annual incomes of roughly $35,000 to $38,000.

New York’s $3,840 studio, by comparison, requires $153,600 a year. Nationally, the median studio rent was $1,595 a month in August, according to ApartmentAdvisor.

Carrie’s apartment remains a New York fantasy

That makes the index’s namesake especially fitting.

Carrie Bradshaw famously lived by herself in a rent-controlled Upper East Side apartment despite working primarily as a newspaper columnist — a lifestyle that has long raised questions about how she actually paid for it.

And the national rental reprieve may prove temporary. The Economist notes that new construction starts have fallen sharply from their 2022 level and are now at their lowest quarterly total since 2011, potentially limiting future supply.

For now, solo renters across much of America are finally catching a break.

New Yorkers hoping to trade in their roommates for their own Carrie Bradshaw apartment? Not so much.

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