Devonte Duncan, 27, is a software engineer based in Brooklyn, NYC.
Business Insider
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation for our Cost of Living video series with Devonte Duncan, 27, a software engineer living in Brooklyn, New York City. It has been edited for length and clarity.Watch the full Cost of Living video here.When I started making six figures, I remember my friends and I would go out to eat, and the first thing I would do was say, "guys, I got it." I would put my card down and pay for like 10 people.That can't be an all-the-time thing anymore. Dropping $300 on a bill every couple of weeks — it starts to add up.I work as a software engineer, with an annual base salary of $159,000, and I live in Brooklyn, New York City, where I was born and raised.Brooklyn feels like home to me. It has been a little disheartening to see the cost of living rise over the years. My family's first apartment was rented for $900. Today, my apartment is up to $3,450.That's for my two-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment with included parking that I share with my fiancée. Since I make more as a software engineer than she does as a school teacher, she contributes a flat $1,000, and I cover the remaining rent and around $500 a month of utility bills.
