New York
How an Artist Lives on $36,000 a Year on the Upper West Side
How can people possibly afford to live in one of the most expensive cities on the planet? It’s a question New Yorkers hear a lot, often delivered with a mix of awe, pity and confusion.
We surveyed hundreds of New Yorkers about how they spend, splurge and save. We found that many people — rich, poor or somewhere in between — live life as a series of small calculations that add up to one big question: What makes living in New York worth it?
“I’m really lucky,” Gaya Palmer said, sitting in the cheerful kitchen of the 380-square-foot studio apartment she moved into around 1972. She has had many different jobs — she even drove a cab for a year — and currently describes herself as an artist, jewelry designer, novelty product designer, voice-over artist, songwriter, short story author and children’s book writer.
Her luck comes in the form of a rent-stabilized apartment in the Upper West Side neighborhood of Manhattan. When she signed the lease, she paid around $215 a month. Now, her rent is $977.
Sure, she had to do some plastering and painting herself when she moved in, and a mouse once lived in the oven, but she’s got 11-foot ceilings, a huge window and a little patio. Her income is around $36,000 a year, with $4,000 being withdrawn annually from 401(k) accounts and the rest from Social Security.
She loves the community she has built. “I was born when I came to New York City,” she said. She knows just about everyone on her street and has friends all over town. Plus, her sister lives in the building next door. “That’s the gift of the landlord gods,” she said.
She is energized by being around other creative New Yorkers each day and acknowledges that affordable rent makes it possible.
“The invisible vitality of New York City is the creative force of artists, actors and writers,” she said. “If you take away rent-stabilized apartments, you’re going to end up with a bunch of boring suits walking around looking for where the next bank is going to open.”
A Custom Space, Decades in the Making
Ms. Palmer’s red, black and white apartment is impeccably organized, with everything in its place. “I’m a double Virgo,” she explained. Last year, she and her unique space starred in a video that was widely shared on social media.
Quite a bit of Ms. Palmer’s furniture was found on the street, although she bought the three dressers in her living room at Housing Works for $150.
She has polka-dot seating made from foam cushions that sit on plywood boxes, with storage inside. The seats were custom-built by a gentleman who is no longer in the picture, whom she referred to as “Mr. Wrong.”
The building was constructed in the 1880s, and her apartment used to be the front parlor. Ms. Palmer, 76, sleeps in a loft bed in what is technically a hallway. Her father built the wood bed about 40 years ago.
“I call it heaven because it is heavenly, it’s soft — the bed is like all foam — and comfortable,” she said. “In the winter it’s cozy, in the summer my air-conditioner is right above.” Plus, she added, “I have a library up there.”
No Need for a Dishwasher
Underneath the sleep loft is her workstation, where she creates jewelry and kinetic wall sculptures. She sells her creations on her website and keeps the business side of things running by paying for services like Google One storage for $10 and Canva for $13.
There are no laundry facilities in the building, so she carts her clothes, towels, sheets and comforters to a laundromat a few blocks away, where it’s about $45 to get everything cleaned and dried.
And Ms. Palmer doesn’t live alone. She has Betty, a 13-year-old rescue Chihuahua whom she adopted about three years ago. Betty sees the vet every couple of months, which costs about $90, and goes through a lot of kibble, at around $25 a month.
Ms. Palmer’s efficient kitchen includes a bar made from a repurposed bookcase that she found on the street and a compact, counter-height refrigerator. “Thank goodness it doesn’t hold ice cream,” she joked. It does, however, hold Boursin cheese, one of her favorite foods. “It’s $10 at Fairway,” she said, “so I go to Trader Joe’s — it’s $5.”
There’s a sign in her kitchen that reads, in all capital letters, “YOU CAN DESIGN YOUR LIFE.” She took it from the wall of a poolside bar in the Dominican Republic, years ago, and considers it her central ethos.
She doesn’t dream of having a dishwasher, a doorman or other luxury amenities. “I’m grateful, thankful, joyful that I have a roof over my head,” she said.
“My home is my mansion,” she said, “and I don’t need anything more than this.”
Out and About
Ms. Palmer has a standing monthly lunch date with a close friend; they always go to Cafe Luxembourg. “We meet at 2:30, and we leave after the candles are brought out for dinner,” she said.
Ms. Palmer usually orders a burger, a couple of cosmopolitans and a hot fudge sundae, spending around $125, including the tip. “They have the best burger in New York City,” Ms. Palmer insisted. “Even my sister-in-law from Ohio said it was the best burger she’s ever had.”
Her friends invite her to Broadway shows and events at Lincoln Center. She also loves to visit the Museum of Modern Art ($22) because creativity is central to her life. She used to work as a lead document processing operator at large law firms. “I still would come home and make art because I had to have that balance,” she said. “Once I resigned, I was able to make art all the time.”
Sometimes she stays in and reads, or watches the news, home decorating shows or detective shows. Her Spectrum cable TV bill is around $87, and she pays $83 for YouTube TV.
Every now and then, she takes a $25 cab instead of the subway or walking. She doesn’t shop much. She hasn’t traveled out of the country in a few years. But if she sold a large piece of artwork and had an extra $1,500, she would spend it on a trip, maybe to Rio, she said.
In the meantime, she often hosts friends for wine and cheese. And just the other day, her apartment was the setting for a spontaneous dance party with some Juilliard students she’d run into.
She can’t imagine living anywhere else. If she were back in Ohio, where she grew up, she said: “I’d have a husband that I’d be divorced from by now, and I’d be mowing the lawn.”
“That’s not a life I want,” she said.
“When I wake up, if I can stand up — and I’m standing up and I’m in New York City — that’s all that’s important,” she said. “I’m vertical and I’m in New York.”
Thousands of students across New York State this week were unable to finish annual standardized tests after a technological issue disrupted the computer-based exams for the second consecutive year.
Students in grades three through eight from Buffalo to New York City encountered error messages on Wednesday when they tried to log in to their math or English language arts exams, which do not affect students’ ability to advance to the next grade. While some could sign in and complete the tests, others were kicked offline, frustrating students, teachers and parents.
For the past three years, New York State has been transitioning to digital exams, with this spring marking the first time that every student in those grades had to take them on a computer. So when students encountered issues on Wednesday, there were no paper exams available as a backup.
The developer of the state test, NWEA, an educational testing and research group, said it had worked overnight to identify the source of the disruption, which was identified as a problem with a server, and repaired it before school started on Thursday.
After problems emerged a year ago, the company pledged that it would not happen again. The New York State Education Department has awarded $116 million in contracts to NWEA to develop the untimed, federally required assessments.
The repairs this week came too late for many New York City students who were taking the math portion of the state assessment. Education officials in the city had advised principals on Wednesday not to reschedule the math test for the next day out of concern that the system could remain offline.
But some schools resumed the math exams on Thursday after the outage had been resolved, said Dominique Ellison, spokeswoman for the Department of Education. The remaining schools will administer the test in the coming days.
“I know this issue has been challenging and frustrating for schools, students and families who have been working hard in preparation for these exams,” Kamar Samuels, the schools chancellor, said on Wednesday night at a meeting of the Panel for Educational Policy, an oversight group.
It was unclear how many students in New York State had to scrap the exams, but the disruption appeared to be widespread. JP O’Hare, a spokesman for the New York State Education Department, said that 116,000 students had taken the tests on Wednesday without problems.
It was also unclear how many students were scheduled to take the exams on Wednesday because school districts have a window of several weeks in April and May in which they can administer the tests. There are about a million third-through-eighth-grade students in the state.
On Wednesday, Buffalo Public Schools stopped all math exams for students, while more than 1,600 students at Zeta Charter Schools in New York City had to give up on their English language arts assessments.
“The current system is failing, creating unnecessary challenges for students, teachers and administrators,” Emily Kim, the chief executive of the charter school network, said. “Our students deserve a testing experience reflecting the same level of preparation, care and accountability we ask of them.”
Bronx | 305 East 140th Street, No. 5A
Mott Haven Loft
$1.35 million
A two-bedroom, one-bath, 1,981-square-foot condo with an open floor plan, bamboo and granite countertops, a den/home office, original hardwood floors and a basement storage cage. The unit is on the top floor of a five-story former factory from 1901 that has a virtual intercom, a super, shared laundry and a bike room. Tano Holmes and Victor Banks, Century 21; century21.com
Costs
Common charges: $1,456 a month
Taxes: $9,240 a year
Pro
In-unit washer/dryers are permitted and an area near the kitchen can accommodate a laundry room or second bathroom. The ceilings reach 12 feet. The building is eco-friendly and has solar panels to reduce electricity costs.
Cons
It’s a big space to cool with window unit air-conditioning.
Manhattan | 467 Central Park West, No. 12F
Manhattan Valley Condo
$1.75 million
A two-bedroom, two-bath, 1,152-square-foot apartment that has a windowed kitchen with a pass-through to a breakfast bar, an open floor plan, a primary suite, a second bedroom with a walk-in closet, a windowed bath, built-ins, a decorative fireplace and wide-plank oak floors. It’s on the 12th floor of a 17-story prewar doorman building that has a live-in superintendent, a bike room, shared laundry and a waiting list for extra storage. Jed Lewin, The Agency; theagencyre.com
Costs
Common charges: $1,350 a month
Taxes: $1,098 a month
Assessment: $374 a month through January 2028, for updates to the building’s exterior
Pros
The kitchen has two windows, a six-burner range and ample counter space. The view includes Central Park and Billionaire’s Row.
Cons
In-unit washer/dryers are not permitted.
Manhattan | 146 E 49th Street, No. 2B
Turtle Bay Co-op
$715,000
A two-bedroom, one-bath, roughly 940-square-foot apartment that has a windowed eat-in kitchen, an open living/dining area, a windowed bathroom and original hardwood floors. It’s on the second floor of a 10-story building by Emory Roth with a live-in super and shared laundry. Laura Cook and Adam Wolfe, Keller Williams NYC; kwnyc.com
Costs
Maintenance: $2,583 a month
Pros
Use as a pied-à-terre, subletting after two years of residency and an in-unit washer/dryer are permitted with board approval.
Cons
The view consists of only nearby buildings. The second bedroom does not have a closet. The building lacks a bike room and there’s a waiting list for basement storage cages.
Given the fast pace of the current market, some properties may no longer be available at the time of publication.
With a half-dozen wooden art shipping crates laden with a smorgasbord of ancient artifacts as a backdrop, Italian and American officials on Wednesday celebrated the continuation of a 25-year collaboration that has returned thousands of illegally trafficked objects to Italy.
“The United States is, in every respect, Italy’s closest ally in the fight against the illicit trafficking of cultural property,” Italy’s culture minister, Alessandro Giuli, said at an event staged to recognize the return to Italy of trafficked objects and stolen artworks recovered from American museums, auction houses and private galleries over the past year.
The artifacts, which included Etruscan vases, Roman-era bronze and marble statues and busts, but also Byzantine coins and a 13th-century manuscript page, were identified after investigations by Italy’s art theft police in collaboration with different U.S. agencies, among them the Manhattan district attorney’s office, the F.B.I. and Homeland Security Investigations.
“Our two governments are well aware that theft, illegal excavations, and illicit exportation are crimes committed against the public good,” and both countries are “committed to combating this threat to the world’s cultural heritage in increasingly innovative, and effective ways,” Mr. Giuli added.
The photo-op camaraderie came at an especially low moment in U.S.-Italy relations. Earlier this month, after President Trump criticized Pope Leo XIV, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni got a Trumpian tongue-lashing for having jumped to the pope’s defense.
The Museums Special Section
Ms. Meloni said last week that she hadn’t spoken to Mr. Trump since their spat, but she expressed her support to the president after a gunman attempted to attack him over the weekend.
The at-times rocky relationship between art-rich Italy and art-hungry American museums and collectors was encumbered for decades by judicial investigations and court cases that often ended with a begrudging restitution of artifacts. Many cases remain open, like Italy’s claims on a bronze statue at the J. Paul Getty Museum in California.
In 2000, the two countries reached a cultural property agreement regarding importation restrictions that “has become a cornerstone of international efforts to combat the illicit trafficking of cultural property,” Italian officials said earlier this year at a commemorative event for the agreement.
Patty Gerstenblith, the director of the Center for Art, Museum and Cultural Heritage Law at DePaul University, said in an interview that the agreement has “been very effective in efforts by U.S. law enforcement in preventing undocumented antiquities from entering the U.S., returning these, and as a training tool for law enforcement.”
She added that it has also been useful in establishing a framework of cooperation between the two countries in cultural heritage, and encouraging loans to U.S. museums.
The agreement, renewed last December, covers import restrictions and only federal agencies can enforce it. In recent years, the Manhattan district attorney’s office in New York, though not a participant in the agreement, has taken center stage in multiple high-profile restitutions to Italy.
According to its own records, since its creation in 2017, its Antiquities Trafficking Unit has recovered more than 6,200 antiquities valued at more than $485 million, and has returned more than 5,860 to 36 countries.
The trove of nearly 340 artifacts returned on Wednesday showed the scope of the collaboration with American agencies.
Each object is the protagonist of its own nefarious back story.
The most prized piece, investigators said, was a marble head of Alexander the Great that was stolen from a Rome museum in 1960. It “was acquired in good faith” by Alan Safani of the Safani Gallery in 2017, according to a statement by the Manhattan district attorney’s office, but was seized by that office a year later. The gallery opposed the restitution and instituted a judicial process before a federal court of New York, which ruled in Italy’s favor last year.
“Protecting cultural heritage strengthens the rule of law and builds trust between governments and people,” Tilman J. Fertitta, the American ambassador to Rome, said at the ceremony. “When stolen art returns, both nations benefit. Italy regains its history, and the United States reaffirms its commitment to justice and cultural preservation.”
Also back is a first-century bronze winged satyr identified a year ago in an auction catalog, 50 years after the work had been stolen from archaeological deposits at the Herculaneum excavations.
For their part, Homeland Security Investigations assisted Italy in recovering 15 gold coins dating to the Byzantine era, part of a theft in 2009 in which 388 gold coins were stolen from the Archaeological Museum of Parma. They were tracked down in various specialized auctions.
The F.B.I. recovered from Los Angeles dozens of ancient artifacts in bronze, clay and marble that one investigator identified as having belonged to Jerome Eisenberg, an antiquities dealer who died in 2022. Investigations ascertained “their origin from clandestine excavations of Magna Graecia necropolises carried out in central-southern Italy, with the consequent illicit export to the United States,” the Italian authorities said in a statement.
More than 20 of the pieces focused on at the ceremony had been seized from the Metropolitan Museum in New York by the Manhattan district attorney’s office. Nine of the artifacts from the Met were part of a restitution announced in March that also included six rare books stolen from a Jesuit archive in Rome that had been appraised at $400,000.
The Met objects included two Greek ceramic drinking cups from about 500 B.C., a pair of Roman silver drinking cups from around the first century and a pair of gold earrings from the fifth century B.C.
In a statement this year, the Met said it had an “ongoing commitment to responsible collections stewardship.”
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