I'm in NYC and single, so buying doesn't seem like a smart option right now no matter how you slice it.
Since I moved out of my parents' house, deeeep in the outer boroughs, I've lived in the same apartment, slightly less deep in the outer boroughs. My rent's stayed the same over the past 3 years ($1,250) but my salary has skyrocketed (from $67,000 to $120,000).
But at the same time, my commute has gotten longer and my friends have moved away to more central places. It's at least an hour and fifteen minutes, with a transfer, to get to work and back. And if I'm heading home late at night from a long day at work, hanging out with friends, or going on a date, it'll be from an hour and a half to two hours with night and weekend schedules. I don't want to try to create an emotional excuse for a dumb financial decision, but I do think that having to plan my life around needing all that time to get to and from anywhere is isolating me, and that's doing a number on my mood and general social connections. My current trip is way too long, and my job's moving offices to a place further away from where I live next year. So there's no way I'm gonna keep this doing for another year, so the question is: how much is too much?
Since my salary has nearly doubled, I can afford a much higher rent. But I've lived in the same out of the way place for years, I really lucked out with it (it was the second place I looked at) and I'm generally unfamiliar with the choices that go into something like this. I could pay half my take home to get a shoebox right next to work (well, maybe 20 minutes away), or increase my rent a whole $250 to get a more comfortable living space with a 45-60 minute commute.
Basically, if you're a high earner, how do you weigh commute time against percentage of your net income in rent?