Why Some Would Rather Live in Tiny Apartments Than Move from Manhattan

With some of the most expensive rent in the world, Manhattan gives new meaning to "you get what you pay for."(Nicolás Boullosa/Flickr)

Dorm-sized apartments once again show why NYC is nation's most expensive city

New York City — "The true New Yorker," said Updike, "secretly believes that people living anywhere else have to be, in some sense, kidding."

Despite the smug tone, Updike was merely highlighting why Wikipedia describes the City That Never Sleeps as follows:

New York City is a global cultural, financial, and media center [...] and is sometimes described as the capital of the world.

NYC is the most photographed city in history! And Manhattan is the very heart of the city. Yet being the so-called "capital" of the world comes at the steep price of — requires spending the most capital in the world.

Because in Manhattan the demand for living is so high, the supply for living is so low. This leads to incredible tales of renting apartments small enough for touching fingertips, wall-to-wall, with an extended wingspan.

Tales of how Manhattanites get such little rental "bang for the buck" seemingly circulate daily in the news cycle. "Man pays $1,100 a month for 95-square-foot NYC apartment and shares a bathroom down the hall with neighbors," Jordan Hart writes, in Business Insider.

To live in Manhattan, residents can expect to pay a whopping 154% higher than the national average.

No wonder in his 46-second viral clip, AJ Webber showcases his tiny, 75 sq ft, low-ceiling West Village apartment. There's barely enough room for a sink, microwave and bed.

As for why some New Yorkers would rather live in apartments which, quite frankly, in some areas can fit neatly into spacious living rooms, perhaps John Updike answered best:

The true New Yorker secretly believes that people living anywhere else have to be, in some sense, kidding.