[jacksondeane]

Your take-home pay should be somewhere in the $2500/mo range. That leaves you with about $600,after paying your rent and parents mortgage, for everything else in life (utilities, cellphone, ect). That's not likely enough to save up for the things you mention.

Food: As cheap or expensive as you want. Typical lunch in the city will run $10-$15. Buy cheap groceries and bring a lunch every day.

Commute: Depends on where in NJ you are. Hopefully you are close to PATH, if not you will likely take a NJ Transit train/bus.

Reference: I am an iOS Engineer, working in Manhattan, living in Brooklyn. Have been here 5.5 yrs.

[ccm6gt]

The house I will be staying at in NJ is very close to the PATH transit so that looks to be my best option right now. I'll be working in Lower Manhattan so the transit looks to drop off about 10 minutes walking distance away from where I need to be which will be convenient. You've been working in Manhattan for the past 5.5 years, was it with the same company and do you like it? Thanks for your input!