The Big Apple is a blast, but it’s dirty, noisy, expensive and no place to raise a family. So I’m moving back to the Big Smoke

By Samuel Lovett

Thursday October 23 2025, 10.17pm BST, The Times

It’s certainly been a blast. There really is no place like New York: the romance of Central Park, the grungy dive bars, my local late-night diner that sells milkshakes as thick as wet cement, the city’s kaleidoscope of people, all running the same rat race, and the head-spinning sense of being at the centre of the universe.

It was Carmelo Anthony, a former American basketball player, who said it best: “New York is the greatest city on the planet. But you’re not a New Yorker if you don’t wake up some days and be like ‘Man, f*** this place.’”

Never did I think this during my nine years in London, a city which, contrary to a recent commentary by my colleague Poppy Sowerby, is not in decline. As a new data report by the Times shows, London’s murder rate is the lowest on record, the restaurant industry is growing, tourism is booming, and, in good news for an aspiring homeowner like myself, house prices are dipping.

Days away from returning, I’m giddy at the prospect of London’s quiet neighbourhoods and abundance of parks, the ancient nooks and crannies rich with history, the pubs, and — perhaps most crucially — the relative affordability.

London is expensive but New York is on a different level. During my time here, I have not saved a single penny. In fact, I have eaten into my pitiful savings — a result of the extreme living costs, the need to regularly visit my wife, who currently lives and works in Japan, and, admittedly, my desire to make the most of my time here while on secondment for The Times.

My flat in Williamsburg, which I share with two other British journalists, costs $7,100 (£5,330) a month. The average New Yorker spends 81 per cent of their income on rent. But I can’t complain: unlike my roommates, my bed only touches two out of the four walls of my bedroom — rather than three.

We are paying a high price for the brilliant location. Everything I could possibly ever need is within a five-minute walk, including shops, restaurants, green space and the waterfront of the East River. But it has been hard not to shake the “uni vibes” of the apartment — from the general mess that comes with three men living on top of each other to the occasional cockroach that crawls up into a sink. And I’m still not over the $2,000 (£1,500) broker fee I had to pay when I first moved in.

In London, I’m returning to a two-bed apartment close to Peckham Rye that is 30 minutes to work by bike, and costs $930 (£700) less than what I pay in New York. It is only now, aged 31, that I’m confident I’ll be able to start saving to one day buy a house and hopefully raise a family.

On the matter of food, I’ll hold my hands up: New York’s restaurants cannot be topped. The sheer range of food available at any hour of the day — from pancakes and shakes to pizza and noodles — is something London lacks. But when New York’s fans herald its slew of Michelin-starred restaurants, how many of us can actually afford to eat out at these places? A tasting menu at the three-starred Le Bernardin restaurant costs $225 (£170) per person. These culinary treasures aren’t accessible to the majority of residents.

Most of what I eat I must cook at home. Every Saturday or Sunday I drag myself to the nearest Trader Joe’s for a weekly shop. It’s the cheapest supermarket in the city, but you pay for what you get: soups laced with 70 per cent of your daily salt intake, fruit and vegetables that last no more than a few days, pasta sauces and bread packed with sugar.

On average, a weekly shop for one person in New York costs $100 (£75), according to Numbeo, a global cost of living and quality of life database. In London, that figure is $66 (£50). Britain’s supermarkets aren’t perfect, but I’m looking forward to buying healthier options at cheaper prices.

Of course, as I get ready to leave, I have a few regrets — mainly that I didn’t see more of the country outside of New York. Again, finances are largely to blame. Airlines like EasyJet and Ryanair have no equivalent in America; the option to “pop” to Chicago on a £49 return flight for a weekend minibreak doesn’t exist. An excursion to the Windy City realistically costs more than $666 (£500) if you consider flights $253 (£190 return) and three nights accommodation $480 (£360) before you even add in food and drink.

And so, as my flight home beckons, I’ve reached a final verdict on New York: it’s a city of tough love and hard knocks, of thrivers and survivors, where the rich live like kings, the poor are invisible and for everyone else it’s hard not to think: “Man, f*** this place”.

But if you don’t like it, that’s your problem — either suck it up or step aside and get out of the way.

https://www.thetimes.com/us/news-today/article/more-expensive-new-york-or-london-kdxm97rg8

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5790629&forum_id=2:#49380606)