Is life better in the US or Europe? NYC vs Paris

Auto-captioned from the film, lightly cleaned. Elena's words, not edited prose.

So, let's chat, shall we? USA versus Europe. I feel like it's a debate people love to have these days. Stereotypes all the way from politics to health to food to to tipping culture. That is incredibly broad to compare a country to a cluster of other countries. So, we're going to shrink it down a little bit all the way to not just US versus France, but specifically Paris versus New York City. I spent six years living in New York City between Brooklyn and Manhattan primarily. And now I spent the last year living in France.

And I'm not a French citizen, but I was actually born in France. I've spent many months here over the years. Paris is the city of love and light, terrace culture, and then we have New York, the city that never sleeps. There's the hustle culture, but at the end of the day, which one is better or offers a better life? After spending quite a bit of time in both places, there is a stark difference. So, let's break it down. Let's start off with work. In Paris, work life balance isn't just a buzz word.

It's like basically baked into their law. There's your roughly 35 hour work week. There are many many weeks of vacation each year and people take their lunch breaks very very seriously versus New York City. The place where you go to succeed to make money. It breeds ambition as well as burnout. There's long hours. Hustle culture is glorified but you also are often at the top of your industry globally. I think a primary difference is that for Parisians quality of life is the most important thing. Whereas in New York being successful and becoming the top of your game no matter what industry you're in is often what's crucial and super important to people.

Bear with me. There's going to be a lot of broad generalizations here. Obviously, both places are incredibly diverse and nuanced, and there's so many pockets of other ways of living, especially in New York City, but we're kind of jumping on the overarching stereotypes you feel you experience when you live in these places. So, one interesting angle to look at this is through vacation time in New York. There's a little cheeky something called unlimited PTO. I feel like that's the case with a lot of my friends, which basically means you get unlimited paid time off, which sounds great in theory, right?

But in actuality, it kind of puts pressure on you to never actually take any time off. There's this kind of unspoken rule that the less time you take off, the better worker you are, the more committed you are to the company, and the better you overall look. Whereas for prejudice, it's the exact opposite. Vacation time is very serious for them. It's sacred. It's so important. They actually view taking a lot of vacation time as valuable because when you do ultimately get back to work, you're well rested. You're recharged and usually do a better job.

Parisians on average usually have around 5 weeks of vacation. give or take. Whereas for New Yorkers and we're using my friends as example for a lot of this who work in very different industries from finance to tech to fashion to communications etc. roughly get around 2 weeks off per year and are usually excited about that but often don't even take that much off. So you might be wondering is that worth it? Like what's the point if you're not actually enjoying your life? But I will say in New York there's this incredibly unique energy.

You're allowed to dream about things that feel ridiculous or impossible. You can take risks. kind of feels like you can achieve anything and that could still be layered with, you know, privilege and equality depending on the industry. But at face value, there really is that feeling that like anything is possible in New York. In somewhere like the US and New York, it's generally easier to pivot careers, start something new, like a company. Many people don't even end up using their degree and work in a completely different field. And I feel like that mobility and ability to kind of always change and evolve can be quite inspiring.

Compare that to Paris where things feel quite rigid. When kids are about 17 and they're taking the Bach or the Bakalora, they kind of have to pick the area of study that they want to commit themselves to. You're kind of locked into that and that can really determine your career path. So, there's a lot less of that flexibility of changing careers. Also, if you want to get a little bit more into the nitty-gritty, it kind of comes down to capitalism versus socialism, which we're not fully going to get into. But in France, there's a little bit of like a financial threshold when it comes to most corporate careers.

And it's really hard to kind of like increase your salary over time without spending many, many years in the same job or in a certain job market where you're slowly getting raises versus like somewhere like New York again where you can start a business or, you know, you can change fields and find different ways to kind of create more income. there really is that feeling of you can start from nothing and build something huge. Whereas a lot of times in somewhere like Paris and France, it's kind of like you pick your field.

There's a certain amount of money that you'll be able to make and it's really difficult to ever cap that unless you're born into wealth. But let's just say Americans are very proud of their capitalism and French are very proud of their socialism. Ultimately, both cities offer you something powerful. I feel like New York pushes you outwards towards like connection and ambition and opportunity whereas Paris kind of pulls you inwards towards reflection and quality of life and beauty and both are great ways of living. I think it just depends on where you are in your life.

Let's talk about health. Parisian life feels slower. It feels more deliberate, more connected. People walk slower. meals are longer versus somewhere like New York where you have your wellness warriors, you have your six-packs everywhere, green juices, 45 to five minute workout classes, cake optimization at all times. There's a fascinating difference to me with the way people work out in the two cities. Workout culture in New York and fitness is not just a lifestyle, it's literally an identity. And as someone who did the rounds in New York, I had my Equinox Bond Street era, my Soul Cycle era back in like 2019, I did Berries, I did F45, I did the whole circuit.

It's intense in New York. I've never seen so many six-packs on men and women on the regular than at the gyms and workout classes in New York where yes, people work out here and people are healthy, but it's in a much much more organic way instead of going to the really intense fitness classes to try to pack in the best possible workout and burn the most amount of calories in the smallest amount of time. It feels a lot more natural. It's going on a long walk. It's doing soccer or football, you know, club team with friends after work.

People love their run clubs here. There are so many run clubs in Paris. And yes, there are workout classes. Pilates is definitely having a moment. There is one berries in Paris that I am very much guilty of going to. I literally went to this morning. But people would rather move in this more natural way than spend an hour at the gym trying to get those like perfectly toned arms lifting weights. At face value, groceries are really different here, too. In New York, I'd either get my groceries delivered for one, or I'd go to my Trader Joe's and go to that one mega grocery store where I pick up all my items for the next week or two weeks if I'm getting frozen food or prepackaged food.

Whereas Paris is the complete opposite. People generally shop multiple times a week. And yes, there are some stores like a mono pre where you can get all your bits, but it's really popular to go to individual stores for each thing you need like the foragerie, the bonerie, the busherie for your cheese, for your baked goods, for your wine, for your meat. I'm not going to lie, it just is a little inefficient to me. I miss my Trader Joe's dearly. But if you're a foodie, if you're a chef, if you like to take your time with these things, it is a beautiful way of living.

Eating culture is also very different between both cities. In somewhere like New York, it's very normal and it's very common to scarf down a meal in 5 minutes to eat while you're walking or somewhere like Paris that's almost illegal and it's sacriiggious. People love their long lunches. I often walk around on like a Tuesday at 1:00 p.m. And like somehow every restaurant is full of people having these big lunches and bottles of wine. I'm like, what's everyone doing around here? You do not see anyone except for tourists eating while walking or holding a coffee on the go.

Coffees, as my Parisian friends have taught me, are meant to be sat and enjoyed. Clear giveaway you're a tourist if you're walking with a beverage like a coffee. Whereas New Yorkers are often constantly optimizing all the way to skipping your lunch break to basically work harder and make more money. And again, generalization of kind of corporate culture New York, I think New Yorkers are obsessed with healthy living. And I feel like Parisians are just healthier more on default. It's just like baked into life a bit more. When you think of fashion in New York, you can wear anything and no one bats an eye.

I see the craziest outfits and honestly just things happening on the street and you just expect it and you just kind of go with it and you keep walking. People also wear workout clothes to restaurants and pajamas to the grocery store which you would never see in Paris. Definitely a bit of a Parisian dress code. And it's not that the Parisians are overdressed. I think they're just always look put together. People do not wear gym clothes outside of the gym. A lot of times it's just jeans and a turtleneck and a trench coat.

But like 90% of the time everyone just looks good. When it comes to overall kind of pop culture, New York is where trends start and industry booms. It's this hub of music, whereas Paris feels like the center of a different universe. One built on more localized art and food and fashion. Within this socializing of Paris versus New York is very different. I can speak as the primary candidate as someone who moved to New York without knowing anybody and moved to Paris with like barely knowing anyone. And Paris is considerably harder to make friends in.

Parisian friend groups are often super tight-knit. They've known each other a lot of times since they were kids. There's not a lot of openness to newness or new connections versus somewhere like New York, everyone's kind of an expat and people are generally quite friendly. You can make a friend at a workout class or chat up strangers at a bar and actually genuinely get to know them and hang out outside of it. It's interesting because in Paris people tell me a lot of times that Americans seem fake, too friendly or too bubbly or too quick to call someone a friend.

And yes, of course, there's a lot of just kind of surface level friendships. But this is actually something I've come to appreciate. That's my hot take is I would much rather be around overeager Americans, even if I'm not going to be friends with them for years than to be completely cold shouldered by because that has happened to me many a time. It's not that they're mean, it's more that once you're in, you're in. They can be incredibly loyal. They can be amazing friends. It just takes longer. There's more of this energy of like, who are you and why shall I let you in?

Of course, there's so many gems and so many amazing people. I'm not hating on allians. I love you. But across the board, I would say breaking in socially in Paris is a lot harder than New York. That being said, there's one thing I love about socializing in Paris is that people never talk about their jobs or lead with that versus in New York, that's like your first or second question. Paris, people care more about your opinions, about how they're connecting with you, and less about like what you do for your job.

That's the whole de here. your value for how you think, how you connect, how you live. And I think that's a really beautiful shift. Here's where there's a big difference as well is money. Rent can be so different in both cities. If you're comparing two popular areas that have a little bit of overlap, somewhere like Soho versus maybe Mar and the third island, in Soho and New York, you are depressed to find a nice decentish one-bedroom for under around $5,000 at this point. Whereas here in Paris, it's around €2,000 a month.

And that's not me saying that €2,000 is cheap. I understand that's still a ton of money for a one-bedroom. But the differences between the two are just still like astronomical. The cost of living in New York has just exploded in a way that feels impossible to keep up with. And I think across the board, Paris just does feel a little bit cheaper. Transportation, Ubers, etc. You can have an amazing meal with appetizers, two glasses of wine, an entree for like $40 here where that would easily be like $90 US in New York City.

So, all in all, obviously, these are two very different cities with very different cultures and ways of living. There's a lot of generalizations in this and none of these things are concrete. I think there's a lot of this is subjective in the way you interact and the way you experience a place. I would love for this to be more of a conversation than just one side sharing opinions. So, please let me know what you think in the comments. What are your thoughts? What are your feelings? What I do know is that both cities have shaped me in ways I'm still figuring out.

I think that's been the best gift of all is getting to live in between two worlds and just figure out what really matters.