Being from New York gives you a certain attitude, fast-paced and totally unique, even a bit rough around the edges. There are aspects to everyday life that get so ingrained, it can be easy to forget that they don’t apply to everyone everywhere. Some of these quirks are nice, others not so much (such as the new outrageous average rent amount), but they are all essentially New York.
Related: 52 Free or Cheap Things to Do in New York City
You Don’t Hesitate to Ask ‘How Much Is Your Rent?’
Asking someone how much they pay for rent is considered normal small talk amongst New Yorkers. Drooling over someone’s rent stabilized or rent-controlled apartment is also totally understandable. Especially given the recent report that the average rent in Manhattan now tops out at over $5,000 a month — 30 percent more than just a year ago.
Related: 10 Opulent Castles You Can Buy for the Price of a Manhattan Condo
You’ll Ignore Neighbors in the Elevator
Being enclosed in small spaces with the same people over and over again is no reason to talk to them. In fact, you might get a dirty look if you are the person to say “hello” in the elevator.
Crosswalk Signs Are Optional for You
The little blinking men and hands are more suggestions than rules when it comes to crossing the street. New Yorkers know they can cross the street whenever there are no cars, or if they can safely make it across in time by running.
Related: 11 Cities Where It’s Easy and Fun to Walk 10,000 Steps a Day
You Walk Fast Without Realizing It
Even when you have nowhere to be, you have somewhere to be in New York. Walking slowly, unless you are disabled or elderly, is a sure way to identify yourself as an out-of-towner.
Related: 50 Free Walking Tours Across America
You’ve Got a Distorted Sense of Space and Size
Any bathroom that can comfortably fit a human is huge by NYC standards. Likewise, any kitchen that has a full-sized stove and room for two people to stand in is king-sized.
Related: 20 Reasons You Don’t Want to Live in a Tiny House
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You Don’t Have a Driver’s License
Between the subway, ride-sharing apps, yellow cabs and walking, who needs a car? Many adults who have lived most of their lives in New York don’t know how to drive a car.
Related: Cities Where You Can Live Without a Car
You Turn to Your Bodega for Breakfast
The bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich plus a cheap coffee from the corner deli/convenience store is a balanced meal, not to mention affordable and delicious.
Related: Where to Find a Good, Cheap Breakfast in Every State
You Have Deep-Seated Emotional Feelings About Pizza
Pizza is a way of life in New York, and a staple to any good New Yorker’s diet. You and all of your friends are likely to have a different opinion of what’s the best slice in within any given 1-mile radius.
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You’ve Come to Grips With Living Without a Closet
Learning how to live with one tiny closet or no closet at all is something most self-respecting New Yorkers have done at one point or another. Having ample closet space is a luxury, not a given.
Related: 11 Storage Ideas Inspired by Marie Kondo to Simplify Your Life
Food Delivery Is a Basic Need for You
Your idea of comfort food is when you can click “reorder” on Seamless rather than leisurely cooking grandma’s most memorable dish. Depending on the size and functionality of your kitchen, most of your meals might be delivery, and that is totally normal.
You Don’t Flinch at the Sight of Rats
They live here, too. If you run around screaming because you saw a rat on the subway tracks, or rummaging through trash bags on the sidewalk, you’re definitely not from around here.
Your Wardrobe Is All Black
The New York uniform is all black, no matter the season or temperature. If all of your clothes are all black for every occasion, you’ll fit right in.
Related: 20 Top Cities Every Fashion Lover Should Visit
You Have Subway Blindness
New Yorkers have the unique ability to be literally pressed up against other humans on all sides, often in extreme temperatures, while riding the subway and pretend that they are in a room all alone.
You Don’t Toast Your Bagel
Real bagels are not just round bread. And real New Yorkers don’t toast or scoop their bagels, they eat them fresh with a schmear of cream cheese and probably smoked fish.
Related: 20 of the Best Bagel Shops Across the Country
You Never Go to Times Square
Times Square and other touristy places are places to avoid at all costs, even if it means switching trains in order to dodge the crowds.
You Know Where the Best $1 Pizza Is
If you’ve lived in NYC long enough, you know which $1 pizza places are good and which ones are just “meh.” Pro tip: F&M Slice Pizza on Avenue C is very good.
Related: Best Hole-in-the-Wall Pizza Joints Across America
You Don’t Remember Fresh Air
The smells of New York are unique and pungent, like a fine cheese, except more gross. It’s common for a New Yorker to get outside of the city and exclaim, “What’s that smell, it’s so nice!” upon breathing fresh air for the first time in a while.
You Hit the Weeknight Happy Hour
Going out on the weekends is for bridge-and-tunnelers; we go out on the weeknights to avoid the crowds.
Related: Best Happy Hours Across the Nation
You Know at Least a Little Spanish
Spanish is the unofficial second language of the city, and even if you’ve never worked or lived with Spanish-speaking people, you’ve picked up a few words here and there.
Your Decor Includes Sidewalk Furniture
You own at least one thing you found on the sidewalk, either on bulk trash day, or toward the end/beginning of the month when people move.
You Understand Real-Estate Relationships
You would, or have, dated someone just because their apartment was really nice and/or in a great location. It’s okay, there’s no shame.
You Can Move in 15 Days
You are able to pack up your entire life and move your home within 15 days. Moving in New York can’t be planned too much in advance and has to happen quickly.
Seeing Celebrities Doesn’t Surprise You
You don’t get star struck when you see a famous person out and about, and even if you do, you play it cool so you don’t embarrass yourself.
Related: 22 Places to Hang Out Where You’re Most Likely to See a Celebrity
Your Biggest Fear Is Bedbugs
Worse than losing your job, worse than getting the flu, bedbugs are pretty much the worst thing that could happen to you. If you let a friend who had bedbugs stay with you while they clean their apartment (i.e. burning everything they own and finding a new place to live), you are an amazing friend.
Related: 22 Cheap, Natural Ways to Rid Your Home of Pests
You Look Down When Walking
You always look down, never up, to avoid stepping in dog poo or other gross unidentifiable puddles on the sidewalk.
You Work 70 Hours a Week
New Yorkers have ambition, and we’re all basically workaholics. It’s the city that never sleeps because everyone who lives here is always awake trying to take advantage of the infamous opportunity that abounds here.
You Have Roommates
Everyone who lives in New York has a roommate at one point or another. Apartments are expensive and space is limited, which means college-style housing with lots of friends is usually the way to get started.
You Lack Patience
New York moves fast, and so do its people. Waiting more than 5 minutes for anything feels like an eternity and will probably results in loud complaining, likely with another language mixed in; Spanish and Yiddish are most common.
Nothing Fazes You
You’ve seen it all, literally all. A clown on a tricycle with a pet lemur could ride down the block blasting Ace of Base’s music, and it wouldn’t faze you, because you’ve seen it all, and that’s nothing compared to the person, or people, you’ve witnessed doing obscene things on the train.
You Have a Sense of Community
Even though you ignore your fellow New Yorkers, have probably yelled at them and been yelled at by them recently, you know that if anything happened that threatened the community in a serious way, everyone would band together in an even more serious way.
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