Living the Hip Life on a $1,200 Budget

You have $1,200 in your pocket and a messenger bag on your back. What is that going to get you? Well, it depends on which neighborhood you plan on parking your fixie in. Take a look at these hipster hotspots around the country and figure out which one is right for you.

$1,200 Apartments for Rent in All Sorts of Cool Cities

Williamsburg, Brooklyn, New York

$1,200 can get ya: Studio apartment, maybe a one bedroom, definitely a few blocks from the heart of hipsterdom. 450 – 700 square feet. If you’re lucky you’ll be near a subway stop, but don’t count on it. Let’s face it: you probably are in Bushwick – which isn’t so bad – but you still say “Williamsburg.”

You moved here because: You are an artist, musician, or writer, or want to rub elbows with artists, musicians, and writers.

You might look like:

Fremont, Seattle, Washington

$1,200 can get ya: A 2-bedroom should be a cake walk in Fremont. Chances are it’ll be one floor of a renovated house or a unit in an 80s apartment complex. If you’ve got $1,200 to spend, you’ll probably have a few hundred a month extra to splurge on espressos; turn your second bedroom into a yoga/meditation room.

You moved here because: You like to ride your bike with or without your clothes on. Zombie marches, cross-dressers, and statues of trolls are just another day in the neighborhood.

You might look like:

Santa Fe, New Mexico

$1,200 can get ya: That kind of money can go a long way in the Land of Enchantment. The only problem: there isn’t a whole lot on the market to choose from. Forget the hunt for a studio apartment, though – try 3 bedrooms and a yard. One room for painting, one for throwing pots, one for sleeping. It’s a boho life without the boho squalor.

You moved here because: For you, hip means not having to try. Especially when it comes to showering. You embrace the desert air, channel the spirit of Georgia O’Keeffe, and get a kick out of burning down giant structures of boogiemen once a year in the name of community.

You might look like:

Silver Lake, Los Angeles, California

$1,200 can get ya: You’re not going to get much more than a 1 bedroom from the 70s in Silver Lake for that price, but on the upside you can probably squeak out gated parking and a shared concrete patio with the price of rent. Having a parking space is a must. LaLa Land is not particularly pedestrian friendly.

You moved here because: It’s downtown and Hollywood without actually being downtown and Hollywood. The potential for celebrity sightings is through the roof, and it’s the closest you could come to living 500 Days of Summer for yourself.

You might look like:

Downtown, Lexington, Kentucky

$1,200 can get ya: Pretty much everything Lexington has to offer. Seriously. If that $1,200 is hot in your pocket you can go whole hog and move into a massive 4-bedroom historic home that looks like it came out of a picture book. Save $600/month and you can have a perfectly delicious 2 bedroom apartment, probably renovated from some epic mansion.

You moved here because: You graduated from Transylvania and you didn’t want to leave. The city is not overrun with lookalikes, so your hipness still stands out (the way it should). And people here are just nicer than those Yankee scenesters up north.

You might look like:

Downtown, Asheville, North Carolina

$1,200 can get ya: It may only be a 1 bedroom, but it pays to be in the pulsing heart of a city with more national accolades than pretty much any other. (I know, it surprised me too!) And besides, isn’t everything in the South bigger? So really, it’s like a 2 bedroom, just with no walls.

You moved here because: After you read glowing reviews by Modern Maturity, Self, Rolling Stone, Outside Magazine, and PETA you decided to pack up and move to the hipster hub of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Why not?

You might look like:

SoCo, Austin, Texas

$1,200 can get ya: Anything from a tiny studio to a 2 bedroom. There’s a lot of new development so you could be living a glamorous, all hard-wood-and-stainless-steel (as opposed to vintage) hipster life. And you’ll definitely have a pool.

You moved here because: Even if you’re not a musician, you have a vast and deep appreciation for it. You like it when people call you “weird” and like that your Texas isn’t like the rest of Texas.

You might look like:

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