NYC Partner Salary Reality Check

I know I’m going to get shredded for this, but here goes: I’m a second-year partner at a V50 firm in NYC, making around $850K, and it just doesn’t feel like that much money. I don’t mean that in an abstract sense—I mean that I genuinely don’t feel like I’m living like someone who makes $850K/year.

I have two kids (another on the way) and rent a two-bedroom in Carroll Gardens for $5,900/month. My husband and I have been trying to buy a home that fits a family of five, but Brooklyn prices are insane. Anything semi-decent (move-in ready) is either wildly unaffordable—especially at today’s 7% interest rates—or in a neighborhood where private school would be a must, making it just as unaffordable.

We’ve considered the suburbs, but anything truly worth coming home to after these long hours—and within 1.5 hours of my office—is going to be $2-2.4M minimum. With current mortgage rates and NJ/Westchester property taxes, that’s a ~$17-18K/month nut. My monthly draw is around $21k.

I know this sounds entitled/insane, but I wanted to add another data point on what life is like in NYC as a Biglaw partner. My sense is that partners before the 2010s could afford to actually live in NYC much sooner after making partner, while for me, that kind of financial breathing room feels a long way off. NYC is increasingly for the ultra-rich or the poor, with the middle class (upper, middle, lower) disappearing entirely.

Again, I know it’s crazy to suggest that making $850K is somehow “struggling,” or "upper middle class," but it simply doesn’t go as far as it did 15 years ago in NYC. I don’t see this sentiment discussed much—so tell me, am I way off base?