With their help, we calculated a rough estimate hardly exhaustive of the annual costs of living there, and, consequently, how much income a young ambitious family would need to fit in. The first thing a newcomer notices about the Upper East Side is how quiet, clean, and tranquil it is. There is a palpable sense of well-being. People are polished and put-together. They walk slowly and confidently, or ride in the back seats of their own cars or in those of private car services.
Children are everywhere.
On weekday mornings, you see them in a processional on their way to private schools. Wearing perfectly pressed uniforms, holding Mom's hand or that of their Dad in pinstripes, they are weighed down by backpacks, hockey sticks, and violin cases. It's a flawless picture, though some find it a bit pallid, lacking the vitality of other New York neighborhoods. What keeps it so nice, clean, and fresh-smelling isn't oxygen, it's money. And so it has been since the early 19th century, when wealthy magnates living in lower Manhattan began building rural summer retreats along the East River.