People are always like, “Growing up watching Disney movies gave me unrealistic expectations about romance!!!” Yeah, very true, but there are many other elements of television and movies that are complete BS. Obviously, we’re going to focus on the apartments. Come with us on this journey as we explain why you could never afford the apartments you’ve seen on iconic shows. We’ll measure the apartments and each character’s estimated salaries by current day averages and use the general rule of thumb for rent - that you should spend one third of your monthly pay on housing.

Sex and the City

Carrie Bradshaw is a freelance writer who somehow manages to live on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. The average salary for a freelance writer in Manhattan is $40,000 a year. In the show, Carrie pays $800 a month because the apartment is under rent control. An apartment that size, with a walk-in closet that big, in that neighborhood would actually cost around $3000 a month. She would need to make $108,000 a year to comfortably afford that.

While this one bedroom sixth-floor walk up may not have been kind to Carrie’s preferred footwear, it’s in the same neighborhood where she lived and available for less than $2,200 a month.

Gossip Girl

I admittedly love Gossip Girl, but have always rolled my eyes at the homes of the main characters. The Humphreys are portrayed as middle class Brooklynites who take the subway everywhere and can’t afford nice things, yet they live in a gigantic loft in Williamsburg. How does Rufus afford that when he owns a struggling art gallery? Even more confusing, the Van der Woodsen’s apartment is said to have been given to them as a gift “for tax purposes.” Sorry, I guess I’m not rich enough to understand what the hell that means. In real life, the apartment on the Upper East Side of Manhattan would sell for about $35 million dollars. That doesn’t include their insane art collection and expensive-ass furniture, either. Given that Lily Van der Woodsen doesn’t work and has money from her many divorces, it’s hard to give any exact calculation on this one.

This two-and-a-half bedroom in a luxury building is comparable to the Van der Woodsen home if you can look past the photos on the listing that show the living room full of cardboard boxes. It’s a steal at $8,500 a month.

Friends

Honestly, Monica’s apartment was incredibly ugly to me - the only thing I liked about it was the balcony situation. However, the living space and kitchen were huge and made it easy for all of the characters to have dramatic and funny interaction in one space. In the show, Monica “inherited” the lease for her apartment in Lower Manhattan from her grandma and the apartment is rent stabilized, although the cost is never mentioned. In real life, the place would be almost $4500 a month without rent stabilization. Monica works as a chef, where her salary would be an estimated $80,000. To comfortably afford an apartment with that price tag, she’d need to be making $162,000 a year - twice her actual pay.

This similarly-located apartment is available to sublet for only $4,000 a month. Like Monica’s spot, it has a huge living space. Unlike Monica’s place, it’s decorated in a chic and tasteful way.

Big

Okay, Big is a movie starring Tom Hanks, not a TV show. But his apartment is awesome - there are giant bunk beds, a pinball machine, a Pepsi vending machine, a trampoline, and huge windows. It’s located in Cliffside Park, New Jersey, across the Hudson River from Upper Manhattan. The rent would probably be around $2,900, which he could easily afford once he begins working as an executive at a toy company - executives at Toys R Us make over $1 million a year.

While this one bedroom in Hoboken might not have space for a trampoline, it’s similar to Big’s place, and can be sublet for only $2,750 a month.

Gilmore Girls

Venturing outside of the big city, we investigate Lorelai and Rory’s huge victorian home in the fictional town of Stars Hollow. A house that size in a similar picturesque New England town would sell for almost $3 million. Lorelai dropping out of high school at a young age when she got pregnant with Rory is a big part of the plot, and she works at a bed and breakfast. Her salary would probably be around $60,000 a year, making this home completely out of her price range. Why do two people need that much space anyway?

Seinfeld

The cost of Jerry’s digs are never mentioned in the show, but he’s already a pretty successful comedian when the show begins, so it’s likely he could afford it. The apartment is located on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, less than 2 blocks from Central Park. It’s not the prettiest place, but it’s estimated that it would cost about $3,000 a month in the current rental market.

This apartment is available to sublet for only $2,850 a month. It’s closer to Central Park and much cuter than Jerry’s iconic home.

By the way…

It’s an indisputable fact that Hey Arnold had the coolest bedroom of all time. This person on YouTube even made a 3D model of it. Runner-up goes to Cher Horowitz from Clueless, who had a custom computer program to plan her outfits.