Is it possible to live (In the city) like Carrie Bradshaw in 2025?
My roommate started watching Sex and the City for the very first time a couple of weeks ago, so the other day I decided to join in for a few episodes. When I watched the series for the first time, Mr Big’s inconsistencies were what had me gasping. This time around, what got a gasp out of me was Carrie talking about how she ‘splurged’ on a $400 pair of Manolo Blahniks. What a dream! It sounded absurdly attainable compared to my impression of designer heels (usually $1000+). It’s made pretty clear in the series that Carrie lived paycheck-to-paycheck and is very irresponsible with her money. However, she lived a luxurious life beyond just the shoes, so it’s not like all her pocket change went solely towards them. I couldn’t help but wonder… How much was really written on each of Carrie’s paychecks?
Now, though Carrie is the main character of the show, I think it is important to note that she is the least realistic (career-wise… let’s set emotional relatability aside). So, it’s pretty funny that her lifestyle is the one that so many young women most desire nowadays. Miranda makes good money as a lawyer, and a big part of her character arc is climbing the ladder as a woman in a male-dominated field. Charlotte has a consistent career at an art gallery, using her job to support herself until she finds the perfect wealthy man who will guarantee her life remains as comfortable as she has made it for herself. Lastly, Samantha has the perfect personality to thrive in PR — no wonder she makes enough cash. The best thing about the show is that, despite its focus on the love lives of these women, their careers are highlighted as integral to each character and their goals in life.
Carrie, however…? We don’t hear that much about how she built her career in writing. We know she loves sitting at her computer at the end of each night, telling her audience about her meandering conclusions on love, life, and everything in between. We don’t see how or when her readership grows, how she keeps them interested (or whether she struggles to do so), or any changes in her approach to her job. I think it’s fair to assume she was far more successful than the writers of the show led us to believe. The reason her readership is never addressed is that they are loyal because they are parasocially invested in her life. There is a layer of mystique and intrigue to her career. So I’d like to propose that she was the very first mould for what we now call an ‘influencer’. She did not profit off of her writing style or skills, per se — she profited off of her personality, much like all the biggest female influencers today.
We don’t really know how much influencers make, but we see that the potential is high. Many make six figures, some make millions. There is also a difference between social capital and economic capital: influencers are invited to events they could never afford with their own money. They live off of a personality currency. I think Carrie did the same thing, and that’s why so many of her expensive endeavors go unexplained — she probably didn’t pay for them. She just knew the right people!
I came to this conclusion after doing some quick comparative math. If you look at pumps on Manolo Blahnik’s website today, they all range from $725 (for the plainest) $2.8k (for the ones with lace detail). Therefore, the median price of Manolo Blahniks in 2025 is $1.7k. Looking at Carrie’s collection, she definitely didn’t buy the cheapest/simplest pairs. So, let’s assume the $400 pair she mentioned was the median price at the time.
Let’s say she was living paycheck-to-paycheck, as the screenwriters want us to think. Say it’s 2000 (Season 2) and she was making the New York City minimum wage ($5.15/hr), and worked 9-to-5, five days a week: she would have made $824 a month. That would mean, if she bought one pair per month, she was supposedly blowing almost 50% of her paycheck on shoes! She wouldn’t have even been able to pay rent if that were the case. She would have had to make $4000 a month for the shoes to be a slightly reasonable purchase (10% of her paycheck). Or, $2000 a month (making the shoes 20% of her paycheck), if we’re going to follow the narrative that she was irresponsible with her money.
Let’s run with that number, then. $2000 in the year 2000 is equivalent to about $3800 in 2025, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Let’s bring back the 2025 Manolo Blahniks. Let’s be generous and say we’re buying a $1000 pair. More than 25% of someone’s monthly income goes to someone who makes about $50k a year… which is a pretty realistic income for someone writing a column of middling success. What isn’t realistic is the choice to buy a pair of Manolo Blahniks instead of paying rent. There’s no room for a daily (or even weekly) brunch with the girls if you’re making that little. There’s no way Carrie was making that little — and if she was, it’s because all her luxuries were paid for by her personality currency, just as successful influencers do today.
We, the audience of Sex and the City, are the hypothetical readers of Carrie’s column. We wouldn’t read it if she weren’t relatable, and that’s why the writers had to make us believe that she was really ‘splurging’ on those shoes at such an irresponsible level. A $400 pair was not cheap by Y2K standards, even though it sounds reasonable to the 2025 ear.
And just like that… I think I figured out the secret behind Carrie Bradshaw’s career. She was an influencer! The current global economic situation may not be the main reason the average young woman can no longer afford to live like her. She was just being dishonest about the reality of her job.