TV Characters Way Too Poor To Realistically Afford Their Lifestyles

TV Show: SATC

Okay, so a lot of ink was spilled over this one. Carrie is a columnist for a weekly newspaper who basically only writes four articles per month, but somehow can afford to live in a fancy Manhattan apartment, buy tons of designer clothes, and wear Manolo Blahniks. While the show did devote an entire episode to Carrie’s disastrous finances, it’s a mystery how she never thought about getting a side hustle until she was faced with losing her home.

Someone actually estimated how much Carrie’s lifestyle would cost these days and figured she would spend around $6,954/month, while earning only around $3,166. Of course, her income would increase once she starts writing successful books. But for the first few seasons, viewers are left baffled.  

TV Show: Girls

In an episode of Girls in Season 6, Hannah gets pregnant and starts listing reasons why it’s insane to think she could have the baby. One of them was pretty straightforward - “I will make less than 24K this year.” Ever since her parents cut her off in the first episode of the series, her financial life has been a bit unrealistic especially because she abruptly quit her high-paid GQ job. But with less than $24,000 per year, it’s hard to imagine she could afford to live in a New York apartment, even with Elijah as a roommate.

And then, she suddenly gets a high-paid teaching job with health care and enough cash for her to afford a big house somewhere upstate? Talk about unrealistic.

TV show: Glee

Rachel and Kurt’s Bushwick apartment apparently costs only $1800 per month in the Glee universe. Let’s say that's believable, even though being able to ride your bike in your New York apartment would obviously mean the rent would be higher. Still, when first moving there, Rachel is a student and Kurt is an unpaid intern. How could they possibly swing nearly two grand a month?

Their parents might have helped, sure. But it still would have been incredibly tough when you bring day-to-day expenses into the mix.  

TV show: Don't Trust the B in Apartment 23

Here’s another classic sitcom case of rent being explained in terms of some weird landlord/tenant control deal. The only issue? Chloe’s sole stream of steady income comes from providing entertainment to diplomats at the United Nations once a year. Other than that, scams which often land her in trouble also provide her with free food and spending money from time to time.

Meanwhile, June works at a coffee shop and it's a question of whether if she can even cover utilities. Even if the rent were zero, Chloe and June would both have a hard time living in the city. Luckily, June eventually gets a job with a Wall Street firm. 

TV show: Master of None

Dev Shah is an underemployed commercial actor who spends most of his time with his friends and eating at restaurants. He lives alone in a gorgeous apartment (seriously, that kitchen is the stuff dreams are made of) and he moves to Italy on a whim after his girlfriend breaks up with him. 

Now, commercial actors do make a good bit of money, but Dev is often shown working as an extra, not principal talent. That means he makes $366.37 for a full day's work during the week. That's a healthy wage, to be sure, but Dev only works sporadically, and he spends cash like it's going out of style. Even with his mid-Season 2 career move to host on Clash of the Cupcakes, there is just no way he has "screw it, I'm moving to Italy" money. He'll surely be spending all those cupcake checks on credit card interest for a while.

TV Show: The Big Bang Theory

As a waitress at the Cheesecake Factory, it’s doubtful Penny had the cash to pay for a one-bedroom apartment back when she was single, let alone afford all those bottles of wine and extremely cute clothes. While she did hang with the geeks next door mainly for the free food and was often portrayed to be struggling financially, Penny never really seemed to be in dire trouble with money. Maybe her parents helped her out?

Thankfully, she later finds a better-paying job and lives with Leonard. We can only hope she’s paying down the debt she must have accumulated in the show’s early years.