You wont find a room for $400 in any of the 5 boros. You might share a 1-bdrm. Look at the local classified ads in the Village Voice or go to a broker. Thats how it's done.

No where in NYC is that cheap...neither is Boston. You're going to find multiple roommates or cram in with family. Its the only way...or move to upstate New York and commute back and forth.

People pay that for parking spots in garages.

Several years ago, my cousin - a doctor in NYC - paid more a month to garage his car, than we paid mortgage on a 2200 sq ft house 95 miles upstate. He bought a practice near Albany and wised up.

A cheap apartment in New York City would be one that is between $1000 and $2000 and doesn't have any of that stuff.

Even in a normal place, you wouldn't get all that stuff for $400 or under $400.

If you are looking for one that is $400 or under and is in New York City and has all that stuff, then it's a very short list.

Also, everywhere on it is free. There is nowhere in New York City meeting your criteria for $1 to $400.

One is on North Brother Island. It was previously used to imprison Typhoid Mary for several years and has never been decontaminated to modern standards. If you eat there, you might die.

Another was on Liberty Island. Hurricane Sandy destroyed most of it or washed it into the harbor.

Several were built illegally by the homeless in parks and the subway system. They don't have reliable electricity for the appliances. (The subways use DC, so they can't tap into that.)

Another is potentially haunted, because it was used to sort debris from 9/11, and some small parts of the bodes of the victims may have been left behind. It is on Staten Island, in Fresh Kills landfill. It's not a real apartment. But it does not lots of appliances and furniture. They're just sort of dumped there. And many of them are broken. Which makes sense, because it's a garbage dump.

There's one other catch. All of these places are owned by the government, and none of them are for rent.