Princes, parents and perks: How 20-somethings afford NYC

Living — and having fun — in New York City has never been pricier. This month, the median monthly rent for a Manhattan apartment reached $4,000, setting a record by more than 25%. Meanwhile, the cost of eating in a “midmarket” Manhattan restaurant has skyrocketed amidst an 8.6% leap in consumer goods prices.

And yet, slews of 20-somethings are snapping up reservations at trendy eateries like Dante West Village, Saint Theo’s and Dame, which reportedly had a 1,254-person waitlist last Friday. You can see these young people on any given weeknight, decked out in designer clothes, ordering the $58 steak au poivre at Lucien or downing bottles of red at Morandi, before heading back to their expensive apartments in the city’s most desirable neighborhoods. This, despite the fact that the median New York household income is $67,046, according to the Census. 

So who are these young people living the high life in New York City — and how can they afford it? Five twentysomething Gothamites dished to The Post on how they fund their flashy lifestyles.

Vera Rees, 24: Paid for by princes

After graduating from Syracuse University, born-and-bred Manhattanite Vera Rees moved back to her hometown and now works as the artist relations manager at Nebula, a Midtown nightclub that opened last October. 

Earning around $4,000 a month before tax, Rees helps book DJs, manages the club’s music programming, and takes care of anything the talent may need leading up to their shows. That includes $1,000 dinners, which she also enjoys alongside the artists before they perform at the club.

“Nebula pays for all of it,” Rees said. “No matter how many team or entourage members are there.” 

She comes home to a four-bedroom Lower East Side apartment that her parents have owned since the early 2000s. In fact, it’s actually three combined units that, Rees said, if she were paying rent, would cost her $10,000 per month. She lives free of both rent and parents, who moved to Costa Rica when the pandemic started two years ago.

Lately, she has employed a stylist for $200 per session who helps her pick out “sophisticated and mature-looking” outfits for her nights out, and she said she drops around $500 every two months on clothes.

Last February, Rees went to Aspen with her best friend, Kayla (see below), who was invited by the owner of Ace Models. “The agency founder sponsored the whole trip. We just had to take a few photos for the site and the agency’s Instagram,” she said. Rees reposted the images — with her clad in white wide-leg pants and a matching bustier — on her own social account. “It was a really fun trip. I never say no to opportunities for travel,” she added.

On the nights she’s not out for the club, Rees said she parties about two nights per week at always-packed spots, including Public Hotel and Gospël, but rarely pays for anything. She said her outings are always covered by generous male friends and club promoters — “mostly successful businessmen in their 40s or so.”

She said two such men include a Middle Eastern prince and “a prince from Asia,” the latter of whom gave her a monogrammed Dior tote with her initials on either side last week. “We met at a random brunch last year when a friend was visiting from Los Angeles,” she said. “She brought the prince and we hit it off, becoming fast friends.” 

To those skeptical of such an arrangement, she insists: “We’re just friends! In the beginning, when we first met, they tried to flirt with me, but I made it super clear that I wasn’t interested. They are very respectful of that.”

Karlin Ready, 30: Rich pal perks — and thrifty purchases

Karlin Ready is making “mid-six figures” as the director of marketing at the philanthropic luxury e-commerce company Olivela. Born and raised in Los Angeles, Ready moved to New York nine years ago to study at The New School, where she got a bachelor’s degree in marketing. Since then, she’s lived in a studio in Chelsea, where the average monthly rent is $3,925.

She said she goes out Thursday through Saturday and spends around $500 a week — “sometimes more!” — on dinners and drinks.

Ready said she also enjoys special trips due to her childhood friend Paulina Gretzky. In May, the model/actress paid for Ready (and all guests) to attend her wedding to golf star Dustin Johnson at Blackberry Farm in Tennessee, just one of several luxe experiences the pair have enjoyed together.

“I am financially independent, though,” Ready insists. “I completely support myself and I never ask anyone for money.”

For her New York nights out, Ready rocks thrift store finds and designer pieces from Gucci, Prada and Chanel. But she rarely pays full price for luxury brands because she knows employees at places like Saks and Chanel who let her use their company discount — giving her up to 50% off retail. Last year, she bagged a $4,000 Chanel crossbody purse for $2,500. She loved it so much she ended up getting the matching boots for just $900 instead of the $2,000 sticker price.

Ready said she’s also treated to perks through her connections. “I’m one of those people who talks to and makes friends with anyone: servers, hosts, owners, bartenders. Everyone.” Several months ago, she was on a date at West Village hotspot Don Angie and befriended their waitress, who introduced Ready and her date to the manager. “He was like, ‘Here is my personal number. If you ever need a table, call me and it’s yours.’” 

To keep her spending under control, Ready said she only uses her debit card, and doesn’t even own a credit card. “My friends think I’m a grandma because I only use that one card, but it keeps me in check with spending!”

Leo Scheck, 24: Three jobs, two roommates

DC-native Leo Scheck is a Northwestern grad who moved to New York in January 2021 and works three jobs that, all together, earn him $100,000 per year.

His main gig is running the social media accounts for Out Leadership, an LGBTQ+ advocacy organization. He also owns and operates his own social media and marketing consulting business. And three days a week, he moonlights as a nightlife promoter.

As a nightlife “host,” Scheck’s job is “to be the life of the party and hype the place up,” he said. As a result, Scheck gets to party for free at any venue he’s promoting, and he also enjoys gratis nights out at other hosts’ venues.

“I know that I’m always welcome at their tables and they’re always welcome at events I’m promoting,” he said. “Maybe there’s a perception that I spend all of this money on party tickets and drinks, but I rarely have to pay to go to a party.”

As a result, Scheck can easily afford the rent on his $1,200-per-month Cobble Hill apartment, which he shares with two roommates.

Even though he works hard and pays his own bills, Scheck admits he is “privileged.”

“I had a very comfortable upbringing, but today, at 24, I’m not receiving any money from my parents. I’m completely financially independent.” So much so that every month, his parents send him a $40 Venmo request so Scheck can cover his share of the family cell phone plan.

Kayla Marquez, 26: Freebies from club owners

Rochester-born Kayla Marquez graduated from Syracuse University in 2018 and now works as a bottle waitress at Somewhere Nowhere, a nightclub that opened in Chelsea last July.

On a good night at the club — when it’s packed with people who are dancing and drinking till the wee hours of the night — Marquez brings home around $1,500 a night. But on a really good night, she can make as much as $2,600.

And that’s not her only gig. Some of the club’s regulars have also enlisted her to work as a bottle waitress at private events for everyone from Rihanna to singer Doja Cat to DJ Zedd. In total, for these private events, which usually happen every week, Marquez makes about $5,000 per month.

“I don’t get any help from my parents,” Marquez added. “I’m living on my own.”

Marquez is also lucky enough to live at the Lower East Side home of her college pal Vera Rees, paying Rees’ parents “a little” for rent. She said she doesn’t pay to party in the city. Her boyfriend, a promoter at Tao Group Hospitality, takes care of her and her friends when they pop into any of his company’s venues, including Marquee and Lavo. “He’ll have a table with a bottle already waiting for us,” she said.

Even when she’s not going to Tao-owned spots, like Lure Fishbar, Catch Steak or Cipriani Downtown, and the bill comes to at least a couple thousand, Marquez doesn’t reach for her card, because she said she is friends with a lot of wealthy club owners who offer to pay. Sometimes the men will end up joining the women at her table and chat for a few hours; other times, they’ll simply buy them a drink and move on, she said.

“My circle is a large amount — 10 or so — of girls,” Marquez said. “We’ve never once paid for a drink or a bottle when we’re out. I’m in nightlife; you make a lot of friends.” 

On her 26th birthday in June, she and 15 of her closest pals took over the private room at the Asian-inspired speakeasy Sei Less, where each person had to pay just $100 for food and market price for drinks — and the room came free of charge.

“I’m friendly with the restaurant’s co-owner, so he sent us two rounds of complementary shots, too.” Marquez said. “It was so f–king fun.”

Betty Ann Graham, 29: A financier fiancé and smart spending

Two years ago, Betty Ann Graham moved from Atlanta to New York for her current position as a social media accounts manager at a luxury interior design PR firm, earning just under $80k per year. 

Shortly after, the Auburn University graduate started dating her now-fiancé, who is a vice president at a financial firm. In 2021, he popped the question with a three-carat diamond, and the pair moved into their two-bedroom loft in Tribeca, where rents for similar apartments average $6,700 a month.

Graham said her fiancé, who she prefers to keep anonymous, pays 70% of the rent while she pays the remainder with her salary and a few hundred dollars her parents send her each month. Graham said she and her fiancé dine out only once a week with friends, typically on a Saturday night — but when they go out, they go big. 

Locanda Verde, Union Square Cafe and The Grill are their go-to haunts, where they and their friends will order a feast of shared appetizers, main dishes and at least two cocktails per person. A night out can cost up to $200 per person, but Graham said her fiancé picks up her tab. “Because [my fiancé] is a true gentleman, I almost never cover my portion of the meal,” she told The Post. 

One thing Graham will shell out for is fashion — even though most of the pieces in her closet are consigned, rented or thrifted for a fraction of the retail price. For her 27th birthday, Graham said she snagged an Hermès silk scarf, which typically costs at least $480, for just over $200. Another prize bargain in her closet is a pair of black Chanel flats, which retail for $800, but Graham nabbed them for half price.

“It was always very important to my parents that I understand money and how to manage it,” Graham said. “My dad actually taught me how to invest in the stock market when I was 14 so that I could learn to grow my savings.”