Remembering a time of $100 rents in Brooklyn: MAP

Bay Ridge, Coney Island among pricier nabes of yesteryear

1940s Brooklyn Rent Map
1940s Brooklyn Rent Map (credit: Brooklyn Historical Society via Curbed)

A map from the Brooklyn Historical Society gives a striking visual of how rents were distributed across the borough in the 1940s, and reveals that Coney Island was once surprisingly upscale.

Created using census data from the time period, the map shows that the majority of apartments fell in the $20 to $49 range, where the blocks are shaded orange, green, and light blue. The darker red, purple, and blue areas are the ritzier neighborhoods, where rents reached $100 — including on Coney Island and in Bay Ridge. While Brooklyn Heights was on the high-priced end, today’s priciest neighborhood, Dumbo, barely registered back then, according to Curbed.

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1940s Brooklyn Rent Map

1940s Brooklyn Rent Map (credit: Brooklyn Historical Society)

In 1940s money, $100 translates to approximately $1,677 today, proving how much more affordable the borough once was, according to Curbed [Curbed] — Tess Hofmann