New York City TV characters who couldn't afford today's rents

Guarantors may be the most glaring omission in the glitzy city lifestyle captured by popular sitcoms.

Surely, Hannah Horvath would have needed far more indulgent parents — or someone else willing to supply her with supplemental income — to keep up with a Greenpoint lease while scrapping together money serving coffee, freelancing for news outlets and substitute teaching.

On the show, the "Girls" protagonist earns far from what is needed to rent a room in North Brooklyn, and even if she earned an average salary for a writer in New York in 2017, she'd still have to find a different neighborhood.

Many landlords require that renters' annual salary amount be at least 40 times the monthly rent — or that someone with significantly more money agrees to guarantee that regular rent payments are made.

"Girls" is not the only sitcom broadcasting an unrealistic standard of living.

Few iconic city characters would earn enough to surpass the threshold of renting guarantor-free in their fictional neighborhoods, according to Roomi, a website designed to help renters find roommates. Using average New York City salary data from the career website Glassdoor.com, Roomi assessed whether characters could afford the average room rental rate.

As shown below, most sitcoms seem to glamorize their leading characters' lifestyles, which explains why so many protagonists — Jerry Seinfeld, Carrie Bradshaw, Will Truman and Monica Geller — live in rent-controlled apartments:

"Girls"

Hannah Horvath

Writer, earning $49,483

Could not afford living in Greenpoint, where average rent per room is $1,315. She's $3,117 short of avoiding a guarantor.

"Will & Grace"

Will Truman

Attorney, earning $187,676

Could afford living on the Upper West Side where average rent per room is $1,454.

"Seinfeld"

Jerry Seinfeld

Comedian, earning $35,310

Could not afford living on the Upper West Side where average rent per room is $1,454. He's $22,850 short of avoiding a guarantor.

"Sex and the City"

Carrie Bradshaw

Writer, earning $50,593

Could not afford living on the Upper East Side, where average rent per room is $1,397. She's $5,287 short of avoiding a guarantor.

"How I Met Your Mother"

Ted Mosby

Architect, earning $68,480

Could afford living on the Upper West Side, where average rent per room is $1,454.

"Friends"

Monica Geller

Chef, earning $56,319

Could not afford living in the Village, where average rent per room is $1,750. She's $13,681 short of avoiding a guarantor.

Tribune Content Agency
Real estate Affordable housing New York
MORE FROM NATIONAL MORTGAGE NEWS