Digital Nomad and Remote-Worker Guide to New York City
I lived in NYC almost completely full-time from 2003 to 2020…Almost half my life. While I had some short stints traveling around Europe twice and some brief travels in South America, NYC was my home base, where I would return after all of my traveling.
I initially moved to NYC in 2003 to pursue my music, which quickly took a back seat to the daily grind of just trying to simply keep my head above water. I know, painfully cliche.
In 2008, I built my first fully online income stream, selling landing pages that I would actually code by hand in HTML. Remember HTML? I bet you don’t.
In 2008, nobody used the term "digital nomad". People might have just called you a loser, weird, or a freelancer at best.
So, you might say I’m a bit of an OG in the ‘digital nomad’ space, having worked from the side of a girl’s bookshelf in Munich to a tent in the backyard of a misunderstood anarchist guy in Lisbon to a questionable hostel in Palermo, after just getting robbed. All of this, before Obama was elected.
After all of that, though, I went back to NYC to get back to the grind.
My Experience in NYC Remote Life
While NYC is probably not on your best digital nomad cities list, it is good to still get an idea of how you can leverage it when you’re traveling through or are actually living in NYC as a remote worker.
What makes NYC very viable for working online, whether you're a remote worker or digital nomad, is the sheer volume of places that have WiFi. Everything from cafes, restaurants, libraries, parks, and even the subway has Wifi. This isn’t exactly jaw-dropping in 2025, but it’s good to know that you’ll be connected wherever you go in NYC.
I've worked everywhere, from back storage rooms of print shops to defunct co-working spaces to parks, cafes, and libraries, where I built an e-commerce store with over $700K in sales, while sitting next to homeless people for months.
You do what you gotta do.
Pros and Cons of Living in NYC
I love NYC, I hate NYC.
I love the food, the convenience, the no-bullshit attitude (which is my natural state), the walkability, and the fast pace. I hate the cost, the holier-than-thou-ness, the endless grind, and the politics.
As you would expect, NYC has many pros and many cons. It's up to you to decide which of these is more important to you.
Pros
Wifi Accessibility
The sheer volume of places that have WiFi, like coworking spaces, cafes, restaurants, bars, libraries, and even underground in the dirty subway.
Food
Any food you want from every corner of the planet: $6 Lamb over rice (with white sauce) from local street vendors, Indian, Thai, Mexican, Italian, Ethiopian, Russian, and, of course, bagels.
Endlessly Walkable
I’ve walked from Harlem all the way to the Seaport in Manhattan and Coney Island to Brooklyn Heights in Brooklyn, by foot alone. You can walk pretty much from end to end, if you are as crazy as I am.
Convenience
Everything is very convenient, almost too convenient. It shouldn’t be this convenient to buy an egg and cheese on a roll, get cash from the ATM, do your laundry, and get a happy hour special all within 5 blocks of each other.
Cons
It's Expensive as Hell
Food can be very expensive if you don’t establish some go-to spots that you like.
It's Distracting as Hell
That might excite you, or it might repel you into a fetal position. Given the amount of noise from ambulances, the street, and traffic, it can be a very difficult place to find quiet and focus. For this reason, you have to become one with the noise and embrace it. It will slowly melt into the background while you either listen to music or something else to stay focused.
It’s Dirty as Hell
It’s dirtier than a witch’s ass. Garbage on the street, homeless camping out and increased crime rates have made it all go downhill more and more since DeBlasio took office in 2012. This is a pretty big con that would deter many people. After all, we’re talking NYC here, not Bora Bora.
What’s the Cost of Living in NYC?
There’s nothing newsworthy about the fact that the cost of living in NYC is absurd.
No thanks to empty ‘luxury condos’ sitting vacant that were built for overseas millionaires to park their money, the low supply of housing in general, and an increased wave of demand to live there, the cost of living is the stuff of nightmares.
For people living in it, they are well aware of the costs you undertake by being in one of the biggest metropolises in the world.
Rent
Rent can range from $1,500 a month in a not-so-great neighborhood far out in Queens, Brooklyn, or the Bronx, all the way to $3,000 to $4,000 a month or more, depending on how many bedrooms and the neighborhood.
Food
You can expect an average meal to run you anywhere from $15 to $30 for one person, depending on what you get. You can get some decent Thai food for around $20 during lunchtime.
Despite that, there are unique, cheap spots where I've continually gotten entire meals for five bucks.
Transportation
For transportation, you're most likely going to be taking the subway. The subway is a very divisive thing for people. I personally rode it all the time. It was convenient as hell and sucked, all at once. You even talk about the train lines as if they have their own quirks and personalities…weird.
Back in 2004, I used to bartend till 3 am in Manhattan and take the train all the way down to Southern Brooklyn, where I lived, and would often miss my stop after being lulled to sleep, only to wake up at the very last stop in Coney Island.
But we are humans. We weren’t meant to live our lives underground like rats, or so I’ve been told by my surface-dwelling, suburban girlfriend.
If you don't want to pay the $132/month for the unlimited NYC MetroCard, you'll have to walk (which I recommend), ride a bike, take a cab, Uber or slog over to the nearest bus stop like the peasant that you are.
Drinks
At a local neighborhood bar, you can expect to pay $6 to $9 for a beer and anywhere from $12 to $16 or more for cocktails, if you want to bouge it up.
Entertainment
There is no shortage of entertainment in NYC. You can find bands playing in the Lower East Side or Brooklyn for a $10 to $20 cover, or you can pay for expensive Broadway tickets to see your favorite musical.
Of course, there is plenty of entertainment for free if you just simply walk around observing the city. There are plenty of shows, theater performances, art galleries, and anything else you want.
If you don’t want to spend anything, a good walk across the Brooklyn Bridge is completely free.
Working Remotely in NYC
Working remotely in NYC is no problem. WiFi is everywhere, as you’d expect.
If you're like me and you carry a laptop wherever you go, you can simply dip in and out of random places all day. You can grab a quick coffee or drink while working from a cafe or the dark back room of a bar.
While not all of these spots are conducive for focused work, they get the job done for low-mental-load work, like responding to emails or scheduling your week ahead.
Of course, this can add up with the amount of coffee or drinks you buy, so make that $6 coffee stretch!
If you are easily distracted by sounds of someone puking on the street, an ambulance stuck in traffic, or an entitled, screaming 3-year-old dominating his parents into buying that $6 macaron at the cafe you're sitting at…Simply wear noise-canceling earbuds with ocean waves or lyric-less music playing while you work, among other remote worker tips you can try.
Depending on the neighborhood, you can usually find a cafe within range to work from.
Internet and WiFi
Wherever you go, the speeds are good.
There's an endless sea of places you can work from. Cafes, restaurants, libraries, coworking spaces, parks, and beaches are all available for some makeshift work. You could probably even work on the Staten Island ferry all day if you wanted to, though I’ve never tried it.
Where to Work
Coworking Spaces in NYC
I’m not going to name-drop specific dedicated coworking spaces because I never actually used them (aside from a free trial I was given to one that no longer exists). My ‘coworking space’ was wherever I wanted to go. You can find mustaches with a simple search, but be aware that they can be pricey.
Laptop-Friendly Cafés in NYC
I'm not going to tell you about the places in Williamsburg or Northern Brooklyn that you've probably read about on endless hipster blogs written by people who don’t dare leave their hipster echo chamber for fear of meeting people without handlebar mustaches who don’t care about the pretentious ingredients in their drink.
Instead, here are some spots I’ve personally worked from, either casually or consistently:
- Fifth Avenue in Brooklyn (from Atlantic all the way to 36th st). This area is full of restaurants and cafes and it's just a short subway ride from Manhattan.
- The cafe I would go to multiple times a week is on 5th avenue and 17th st in Brooklyn, across from Freddies. It’s now rebranded, so I can’t speak to the current ownership.
- Industry City: 3rd ave and 36th st has nice open spaces for finding somewhere to sit down and get to work. This was within walking distance of my apartment, which was very convenient to use as a makeshift ‘office’.
- Brooklyn Public Library: This is where I built my Ecommerce store that went on to do $700K in sales.
Where to Stay as a Digital Nomad in NYC
If you're coming through as a digital nomad into NYC, you want quick access with some degree of separation from the chaos. Here are some good places to stay if you are coming through as a nomad.
Park Slope
If you come in through JFK, Park Slope is a good option, while it is very expensive, it is full of restaurants and cafes that all have WiFi and is only a quick 15 to 25 Minutes to Manhattan. It’s very safe and near Prospect Park, which is huge and great for walks.
Sunset Park
Industry city is in Sunset Park and has nice open spaces in the back of certain buildings where you can sit down and get some work done for free. Sunset Park (the actual park) itself has a great view of Manhattan and has yet to be hipster-ified (knock on wood).
Chelsea
Chelsea has great restaurants, is safe, and for NYC standards, not disgustingly dirty. Chelsea is where I stayed in a hostel back in 2002 before deciding to move to NYC. I did also bartend there in my early days.
Astoria
If you come in through La Guardia, Astoria is full of restaurants and cafes, and is only about five to ten minutes from Midtown Manhattan on the 7 train.
Top Tips for Working in NYC
Digital Nomads
As someone who lived half their life in NYC, here are my top tips, both for digital nomads and remote workers. For digital digital nomads, just be mindful that you're in a large city. Act like you know where you're going, and don't be stupid.
Walk with intention and purpose and avoid questionable neighborhoods after dark (like anywhere else).
If you are in NYC for a month and will need to get around a lot, the unlimited MetroCard is not a bad option. Of course, you'll have to deal with the subway antics that come along with taking the train, so get ready for ‘it’s showtime!’
There are also Citi Bikes, or my personal favorite, your own two feet! Just walk. You get built-in exercise and get to see NYC on the surface.
Try not to stare at people in the eye like a psycho when you walk, and definitely don't block the sidewalk. Stick to Manhattan, Western Brooklyn, and Western Queens. This is where you will find yourself anyway, due to the proximity to Manhattan.
Go to Coney Island to ride the Cyclone.
Go to Brighton Beach to get some borscht.
Go to Freddy's on Fifth Avenue in Brooklyn to watch the schizophrenic films that are played on a loop while you drink your IPA and listen to open-mic comedy in the backroom.
Go to Bay Ridge and walk around the promenade near the Verrazano Bridge.
Go to Industry City to get some work done.
Go to Punjabi Deli on E 1st st in Manhattan for a big plate of delicious Indian (vegetarian) food for $5.
If you want a more consistent, stable experience, the Brooklyn Public Library has many tables and desks on the second floor, where you can sit down and get some work done. Just be aware the homeless have figured this out as well.
Remote Workers
I don't need to tell you that the name of the game is finding a place where you can actually focus.
When I started my last e-commerce store, I went to the library almost every day and focused hard on building my store. After working at the library for months, I went on to grow it to be one of the biggest brands in its niche and eventually sell it to a competitor. I was able to do this by finding some much-needed quiet space where I could actually focus. Crazy huh?
As unsexy as libraries are, I'm a huge fan of them for this reason. Find one you like, with a good amount of desks and get to work! They are the next best thing after hourly rentals, which can be very expensive.
And guess what? Just like cafes, libraries are everywhere!
Digital Nomad Communities in NYC
There is no hiding it, NYC is probably the antithesis of a friendly place for the ‘digital nomad’ lifestyle. Despite that, there are plenty of people who still live, work and pass through NYC, who are doing the laptop thing (you’re looking at one right now).
There are plenty of meetup groups revolving around entrepreneurship, remote work, tech, business, marketing, etc. The city is so vast with so many options that you have to be very intentional with what you are looking for.
While there probably isn’t the same level of community as there would be in a place like Bali or Costa Rica, there are plenty of people doing the remote ‘lifestyle’ in NYC. You can find them working from any cafe you stumble into.
Laptop life can even lead to dating. I’ve had women hit on me while I was working from my laptop at random cafes, because, as it turns out, ‘what are you working on?’ is an easy ice breaker.
When all is said and done, you need to find the space, the peace, and the configuration that works best for you. Once you find what works best for you, then you’ll be able to focus more on your work and less on the logistical uncertainties that come from living the laptop life.
Ready To Make New York City Your Next Nomad Destination?
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