Median One-bedroom Rents in NYC Now As High As $4,210

Will future generations will look upon us City dwellers with pity or scorn? Actually, scratch “future generations.” How about “denizens of Pittsburgh, Denver, Lincoln, or pretty much any other damn place besides San Francisco”? Because the folly of living in New York City, it keeps getting more intense. According to Curbed, which gleaned data from Zumper, median rents for a one-bedroom in the City this past month leaped from “Astronomical” to “More Than Your Great-Grandpa Made in a Year.” They ranged from $1,200 in Brownsville, Brooklyn, which is a place Lena Dunham never lived, to a whopping $4,210 in TriBeCa, in Manhattan, which is a place she did.

Apparently we can blame the Greenpoint price spike on her (a median one-bedroom now sets you back an exorbitant $2,275), since after she set her TV show “Girls” there, the neighborhood exploded. Of course, even the ‘point can’t compare to what I lovingly call “Barely Brooklyn,” the parts of the borough that may as well be Manhattan:

the priciest area to reside is Dumbo, with a median rent of $4,075 for a one-bedroom. Clustered around that industrial-turned-hip part of town are the borough’s next most costly neighborhoods of Vinegar Hill ($3,100), Downtown Brooklyn ($2,980), and Brooklyn Heights ($2,950).

If you’re seeking a one-bedroom to rent for less than $2,000 a month, it’s Queens, baby, with Astoria ($1,850) and Long Island City ($1,850) as viable options. There are also more eastern and southern parts of Brooklyn — try Crown Heights ($1,450), Bushwick ($1,695), Bed-Stuy ($1,750), or “Greenwood Heights” ($1,850).

Downtown Brooklyn is not even a neighborhood, it’s a collection of high-rises surrounded by Kwik-e-Marts. Brooklyn Heights, by contrast? Totally a neighborhood, complete with history, literature, culture, architectural beauty, and a terrific waterfront view of people who pay even more to rent than you do. Oh, and Lena Dunham. That’s where she’s living now.

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