Moving 2 Blocks In NYC Could Save You Hundreds Of Dollars: Study

NEW YORK, NY — Your neighborhood pride might be costing you money. Some New Yorkers could pay hundreds of dollars less in rent by moving just a few blocks beyond traditional neighborhood boundaries, according to a study published this month.

The apartment website RentHop analyzed the median monthly rents of one-bedroom apartments near typical neighborhood boundaries to evaluate how prices changed based on distance from those borders.

The difference was huge in some neighborhoods. Upper East Siders willing to head two blocks above 96th Street into East Harlem could save $1,350 on an apartment in a building with an elevator or doorman or $381 on a walkup unit, the study found.

Further downtown, non-walkup apartments one block east of Third Avenue in the East Village and the Bowery are $995 cheaper than those one block west of the boundary in pricy neighborhoods such as Greenwich Village and NoHo, the study shows.

Crossing Houston Street can also put some money in your pocket. Non-walkup apartments get $477 cheaper one block north of the iconic thoroughfare, while walkup prices drop by $200, the study found.

Different types of apartments are cheaper on different sides of East 14th Street, RentHop found. Non-walkup units get $205 cheaper with each block moving north into Gramercy Park or Stuyvesant Town, while renters can save $240 per block on walkup apartments south of the boundary in the East Village or Alphabet City.

The phenomenon holds true in some parts of the outer boroughs. Walkups two blocks south of Parkside Avenue in Flatbush and Kensington are about $515 cheaper than those north of the street, the study shows.

Brooklynites living along Broadway, the boundary between Bushwick and Bedford-Stuyvesant, could save $300 by moving into a walkup three blocks west, the study shows.

Boundaries don't make a difference in some areas such as Williamsburg, where rents were roughly the same on either side of Metropolitan Avenue, the study found. A similar pattern showed up near Classon Avenue, which divides Clinton Hill from Bed-Stuy.

There's little difference in rents across 36th Street in Queens, the border between Astoria and Long Island City. But Long Island City walkups four blocks south of the boundary are about $250 cheaper than those located just two blocks from the boundary.

(Lead image: Photo by Francois Roux/Shutterstock)