$1 million

This article from the Tribune tells that the US just jumped to having 1 million homes in the US worth $1M+. The kicker is all the stats on the NYC housing market - "you can't buy a 2BR on the Upper East Side for $1 million". While this makes sense in my head, it's still kinda crazy.

What salary would you need to make in NYC to live "comfortably"? While I know I can go to Salary.com and see that the cost of living from Minneapolis to NYC is 79% higher, and while you'd probably get paid 11% more on average (which is a stat I question, by the way) you'd still end up with much much much less disposible income.

I question all of these stats because I don't think sites like Salary.com "get" what I would consider eqitable (sp?) conditions when they calculate their cost of living. As an example:

I live in a not great building in a carpeted studio in a neighborhood that can get sketchy-ish within 5-6 blocks (E on Franklin) but also within 5-6 blocks it's Uptown.

I'm going to say that in NYC, Salary.com would equate to a icky building and small apartment in a may ok or maybe not so great bourough.

I don't see that being the same cost of living - The fact that I need 79% more earnings to get what salary converters consider equitable mean I would really need to earn probably 150% more in order to live how I would want to in NYC.

That sucks.