NYC tops U.S. list of most expensive cities

by Tom Johansmeyer on

It’s not exactly shocking to see that New York City is the most expensive city in the United States. Groceries, gasoline and other items tend to run a tad more than twice the national average. Whether you rent or buy, you’ll spend a fortune in this city, where the average price for a home is $1.1 million and an apartment, on average, will cost $3,400 a month.

So, how can so many bloggers live here? Remember: these are averages. That means someone has to be on the underside of them.

Housing prices were also among the reasons why San Francisco, San Jose, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. worked their way into top spots on the list. Average home prices shot past $600,000 in all four of these cities. In Austin, the average home price is a much more modest $226,998, and it’s even more comfortable in Nashville, at $201,020.

The measure used to determine the cost of leaving in each of the cities is based on expenses in six categories: groceries, housing (rent/mortgage), healthcare, utilities, transportation and miscellaneous items. The prices of 57 goods in these categories were used.Six of the most expensive cities in the country are in California, with four of them among the top 10. Texas has four – Austin, San Antonio, Houston and Dallas. Most of the costliest cities are on the two coasts, though Chicago (14), Las Vegas (18), Phoenix (25) and St. Louis (35) made the top 40.

The most surprising appearance on the list of most expensive places to live is Detroit. Even though it’s plagued by unemployment of 16.7 percent, utilities are expensive. Electricity costs an average of $243.56 a month, compared to a mere $141.64 in Atlanta.

The ten most expensive cities on the list are:

  1. New York City
  2. San Francisco
  3. San Jose
  4. Los Angeles
  5. Washington DC
  6. San Diego
  7. Boston
  8. Philadeplhia
  9. Seattle
  10. Baltimore

Check out the full list here.

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[Photo via MigrantBlogger]

Cherry blossoms at New York’s botanical gardens

by Jamie Rhein on

With only through next week to catch the cherry blossoms in Washington, D.C., there’s another chance in April to enjoy the pink glory if you head north. At the New York Botanical Gardens in the Bronx, and at the Brooklyn Botantic Gardens, the cherry trees bloom later than those in D.C.

To create this time lapse photography video that highlights the blooming, 3,000 shots, one every three minutes, were taken between April 18 and April 26, 2008. The video was created by Dave Allen, the webmaster for the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens. The effect is a bit like a musical kaleidoscope of nature in shades of pink. Nicely done!

To see the cherry trees bloom in real time, head to the section the Brooklyn Botanic Garden called Cherry Walk. According to the New York Botanical Garden website, rhododendron, buttercups, pansies, and magnolias are some of the other flowers and trees that bloom there in April.