New York Dollar

Heard of a New York minute? This term represents the financial equivalent.

Living in New York City is expensive. Maybe not compared to San Francisco or London, but show the average cost of living in Manhattan to a Dollar Store patron in Des Moines, and the shock might make them drop their bag of pork rinds.

A New York dollar is an intellectual conception meant to bring this fact home. It represents what a single buck will get you in NYC...compared to what it would get you anywhere else in that vast, meaningless nowheres-ville west of the Hudson River.

It tracks the relative purchasing power in New York City compared to the rest of the U.S., taking into account both the high cost of living there and the generally higher level of wages for New Yorkers.