So I decided to do a little math...and come up with the following numbers, in order to see what the difference would be between living in NYC, compared to living in Dallas.

I figure rent in NYC (astoria, queens) would run me about $1000 + utilities sharing a 2BR or a smaller 1BR. Rent in Dallas would be probably $750 + utilities. My car payment is around $400/month and insurance another $150/month. So just looking at these factors, I took $1000 for NYC and $1300, so thats a $3000 between Dallas/NYC, not counting other factors like food/utilities (NYC is probably higher, but for this calculation I am assuming the same).

I used a tax calculator and found that for the year, the difference between NYC and Dallas, TX is ~$2,100 after incorporating the rent/car/tax differences (cheaper in Dallas).

If I max out my 401k (using the # $15,000), the difference would actually only be ~$500 (cheaper in Dallas) after incorporating the rent/car/tax differences.

Now, If we are talking living at home and not paying any rent (or utilities), I would end up saving about $13,000/year.

With, 401k, the savings would be about $11,000/year between living at home in Dallas.

The living at home would be a temporary situation, probably a year at the most....if I were to save that $12,000 in that year, and get 4% interest on it each year (conservative number), after 40 years, it would be worth ~$60k.

Not even sure why I am writing out all these numbers...but looking at these numbers, at least I've pretty much figured I can choose NYC without losing much money, as opposed to getting my own place in Dallas. (of course going out in NYC is more expensive...and I'm sure groceries are too!)