I Live In An NYC Studio Apartment — & It Costs $2,500 A Month

In Refinery29's Sweet Digs, we take a look inside the sometimes small, sometimes spacious homes of millennial city dwellers. Today, executive producer Angela Sumner shows us her West Village studio, where she pays $2,500 in rent.

In New York City, there's an oft-whispered phrase: "New York lucky." It basically means stumbling upon a seemingly impossible deal — a rent-stabilized apartment in a prime neighborhood, a discounted sample sale dress in your size, a roommate who isn't crazy (and is also clean and will sometimes make you breakfast).

R29 staffer Angela Sumner managed to find that with her apartment in West Village. After subletting in a neighboring building and getting noticed by the superintendent for recycling, she was offered first dibs on a rent-stabilized alcove studio in a fourth-floor walkup.

For $2,500, Angela occupies roughly 500-square-feet, two blocks from the Hudson River, with actual views from her window and plenty of natural light. "The building next to me is a historic building, so it will never go any higher," Angela says. "And if you crane out the fire escape, you can see the Hudson River. You can also get a peekaboo view of the Freedom Tower from my living room." And in West Village, with that much space, and a decent amount of natural light? Yeah, we'd say that's New York lucky.