New York’s reputation for expense is deserved, but it is lopsided. Accommodation and attractions will take most of your money. Transport is cheap. Food ranges from three dollars to three hundred, and the three-dollar end is genuinely good. Understanding which is which lets you spend the money where it matters.
These are ranges rather than precise figures, and prices move — check anything specific before you budget around it.
Accommodation: the biggest line by far
Hotel rooms in Manhattan are small and not cheap. A basic chain room in Midtown sits in the low-to-mid hundreds a night on a normal weekday, rising sharply in September, October and December, and falling in January, February and the second half of the summer.
Ways to reduce it:
Stay outside Midtown. Long Island City in Queens is one subway stop from Grand Central and routinely 30 to 40 per cent cheaper. Downtown Brooklyn, Jersey City and Harlem are all well connected and cheaper again.
Travel in the low season. Mid-January to early March is the cheapest period and the city is at its most authentically itself.
Watch the resort fee. Many New York hotels add a mandatory nightly “facility fee” that is not in the headline rate. Check the total before booking.
City and state taxes add roughly 15 per cent plus a small nightly charge on top of the room rate. Budget for it.
Transport: cheap, and cheaper than you think
A single subway or bus fare is under three dollars, and OMNY caps automatically after twelve rides in a week, which means everything after that is free. Realistically, a week of hard sightseeing costs about the same as two taxi rides.
The Staten Island Ferry is free. The Roosevelt Island Tramway is a standard fare. NYC Ferry is slightly more than a subway fare and is the best transport bargain in the city.
Taxis and rideshares are where transport budgets die. A crosstown trip in Midtown at rush hour can cost twenty-five dollars and take longer than walking.
Airport transfers are the exception worth paying for if you are arriving late with luggage. See the airport guide for the specifics.
Food: the widest range of anything
You can eat extremely well for very little in New York, and this is the single biggest opportunity to control a budget without feeling deprived.
Cheap and good. A slice of pizza. A bagel with cream cheese. A halal cart platter. Dim sum in Chinatown. Tacos in Sunset Park or Chelsea Market. A deli sandwich. Most of these are under fifteen dollars and several are under eight.
Mid-range. A sit-down dinner in a neighbourhood restaurant, without drinks, is typically thirty to sixty dollars a head before tax and tip.
Expensive. Anything with a tasting menu, anywhere with a view, and anywhere within two blocks of Times Square.
Drinks are where meals get expensive fast. A cocktail in Manhattan is often eighteen to twenty-two dollars. A beer is eight to twelve. Wine by the glass rarely goes under fifteen.
Two habits that save real money: eat your main meal at lunch, when the same restaurants run set menus at a fraction of dinner prices; and eat in the outer boroughs or the immigrant neighbourhoods, where the food is better and half the price.
Attractions
This is the second-biggest line and the easiest to overspend on.
Observation decks run from about forty to eighty dollars per person, more with add-ons. Major museums are in the twenties and thirties. The 9/11 Museum, the Statue of Liberty ferry and Broadway are all significant.
Free things that are genuinely good: the Staten Island Ferry, the Brooklyn Bridge, Central Park, the High Line, the 9/11 Memorial plaza, Grand Central, the New York Public Library, Trinity Church and St Paul’s Chapel, the Chelsea galleries, Brooklyn Bridge Park, Green-Wood Cemetery, and the Sculpture Garden at MoMA before opening.
Free entry windows: MoMA on Friday evenings, the Whitney on Friday evenings and second Sundays, the Guggenheim on Saturday evenings, and the Bronx Zoo on Wednesdays. All are ticketed online in advance and go fast.
Pay what you wish applies at the Met and the American Museum of Natural History for New York State residents only, with ID. It is not available to out-of-state visitors, whatever older guides say.
Broadway through the digital lotteries costs around thirty to fifty dollars instead of two hundred, and entering costs nothing.
Attraction passes — CityPASS, Go City, the New York Pass — save money only if you use them hard. Work out what you would actually visit at full price first; for most people doing three or four paid attractions in a week, the pass is roughly break-even and constrains the itinerary.
Tipping, which is not optional
This is the cost that catches non-American visitors hardest, because it is not in any of the prices.
- Restaurants with table service: 18 to 20 per cent of the pre-tax bill.
- Bars: a dollar or two per drink, or 18 to 20 per cent on a tab.
- Taxis and rideshares: 15 to 20 per cent.
- Hotel housekeeping: a few dollars a night, left in the room.
- Bellhops and porters: a couple of dollars a bag.
- Counter service: the card machine will ask. It is fine to decline for a coffee.
Assume tipping and sales tax together add about 28 to 30 per cent to any restaurant bill you are quoted.
Sales tax in New York City is 8.875 per cent and is added at the till, not shown on the shelf price. Clothing and footwear under $110 per item are exempt.
A rough weekly shape
For two people on a mid-range trip, the biggest number will be the hotel, the second biggest will be food and drink, the third will be attractions, and transport will be a rounding error. If you need to cut, cut the hotel location and the drinks before you cut the museums.