As as New Yorker with a rent stabilized lease[0], I pay about half in rent what my neighbors do.
Even so, my monthly nut (rent/utilities/ISP/etc., not counting food and other consumables) is ~$4,000.
I could probably cut that to $3,500 or so if I wanted, but not much less.
Add in food, toilet paper, toothpaste, etc. and I'm easily at $4,750-$5000 a month.
That number doesn't include clothing, laundry, hair cuts, doctor visits, transportation and some other stuff, so it's actually a bit higher.
But let's just work with $5,000/month for the moment. That's $60,000/annum net income that's required. As a ballpark (counting FICA, NYC, NYS and Federal taxes), a minimum gross salary of $95,000-$100,000 is required to support that.
But that's just basic necessities. And don't forget, I pay ~1/2 what my neighbors do in rent. So for other folks it's even more onerous.
There certainly are less expensive places to live in NYC, but with my stabilized lease, not so much less expensive for a comparable place, even in the outer boroughs.
So let's assume a single person making minimum wage (in NY, that's $15/hour) and actually able to get 40 hours of work per week.
That's $600/week or $31,200/annum gross pay. Which, including FICA, NYC, NYS and Federal taxes, comes out to ~26%. Meaning net pay is ~$23,000/annum or ~$1,900/month.
According to most recommendations, one shouldn't spend more than 30% of net income on housing. For a minimum wage worker in NYC, that's about $600/month.
And since the median rent in NYC is $3,395/month, a minimum wage worker would need at least two roommates to afford such an apartment and still be paying ~50% of their income on rent.
Yes, half the rentals are less than that. And half are more.
So yes, people can survive on minimum wage and would still be tight making the national median[1] income (~$70,000/annum in 2021).
But even at the US Median income, it's not a "Living Wage" which implies the ability to meet your immediate needs and have a least a small surplus.
So it should come as no surprise that the median income for a single person in NYC is ~93,000, some three times minimum wage.
What does all this say? That NYC is very expensive (housing is the biggest issue) and even those making $100,000/annum are likely to need to make tradeoffs. And someone making minimum wage ($31,200/annum) or even the national median income (~$70,000/annum) will have trouble making ends meet.
[0] https://rentguidelinesboard.cityofnewyork.us/resources/faqs/...
[1] https://www.census.gov/library/publications/2022/demo/p60-27...
[2] https://www.nyc.gov/site/hpd/services-and-information/area-m...