From the price of a gallon of milk to the cost of educating our children, we break down the County by the numbers.

By Ben Brody and Maddy PerkinsWith Philip Garrity

CostsWhat Westchester

A round of golf at a County-owned club

Greens fees for an 18-hole weekend round

without a park pass, $45; weekdays, with a park

pass, $31.

Cart rentals: $18 for 18 holes

Movies/entertainmentCity Center 15: Cinema de

Lux (White Plains): $12.25

(general admission), $16.25 (IMAX), $16.75 (3D), $17.25 (IMAX 3D)

Greenburgh Multiplex Cinemas (Elmsford): $12

(GA), $16.50 (3D)

Cross County Multiplex (Yonkers): $12.25 (GA),

$16.75 (3D)

Jacob Burns Film Center (Pleasantville): $12 (adult,

non-member); $7.50 (child, non-member)

Westchester Broadway Theatre (Elmsford):

Dinner and a show ranges between $54 and $80; weekday matinees $64

Westchester park passes $60 per person for three

years, or $120 for two adults and any children

(12-18)

Dinner at Blue Hill at Stone Barns

(Pocantico Hills)$208 for the “grazing,

pecking, rooting” pairing$148 for the “farmer’s

feast” pairing

Haircuts at Supercuts (White Plains)

Unisex haircut: $15.95

Seniors and children under 10: $13.95Median home values

in 2012 Westchester: $516,600

New Rochelle: $553,400White Plains: $517,000Port Chester: $437,000

Cortlandt: $428,000Yonkers: $411,800

Median rent Westchester: $1,302

New Rochelle: $1,303White Plains: $1,412Port Chester: $1,402

Cortlandt: $1,325Yonkers: $1,161

Repaving one mile of I-287

$1.5 million

Commuting to Grand Central from (monthly/weekly/one way, peak/

one way, off-peak) New Rochelle:

$222/$71/$10/$7.50

North White Plains: $249, $79.75/$11.25/$8.50

Croton-Harmon: $289/$92.50/$13/$9.75

Yonkers: $222/$71/$10/$7.50

Piano lessonsForbes Music Company

(White Plains): $20-$90 for a one-hour, private

session (914-607-2605)

Harrison School of Music: $102 per hour

(914-698-1500)

Westchester Home Music: $90-$110 per hour (914-

262-5474)

Organic food (at Whole Foods Market in Port

Chester)

1 gallon organic milk: $3.79

1 gallon Organic Valley (Local) milk: $6.99

Large brown eggs: $3.99Vermont Bread Company

whole-wheat bread: $4.50

Manolo Blahniks$595-$1,495 at

Nordstrom

$495-$1,695 at Neiman Marcus

(both in White Plains)

SAT tutor/prep courseKaplan Test Prep: from

$299 for the online course to $1,099 unlimited prep

for all tests (SAT, ACT, PSAT)

The Princeton Review: from $299 for “self-

paced” online prep to $1,699 for an unlimited,

30-hour, small-group course

Politicos (2013, unless otherwise noted)

Mayor of Yonkers Michael Spano: $156,099

Mayor of White Plains Thomas Roach: $145,741

Chairman, County Board of Legislators Michael

Kaplowitz: $89,200 (plus stipends, 2014)

Former Mayor of Peekskill Mary Foster: $13,015

Police and fire officials (2013)

City of Yonkers Police Commissioner Charles

Gardner: $174,553

City of Yonkers Fire Department Chief of

Operations Kyran Dunn: $180,080

Town of Eastchester Police Chief Timothy

Bonci: $156,501

Town of Greenburgh Chief of Police Joseph DeCarlo:

$178,391

New Rochelle Fire Chief Louis DiMeglio $161,428

JudgesCity Court Judges’ salaries

ranged from $122,928 to $154,398 in 2012. Specially appointed

Acting City Court Judges made $61,464.

Superintendents make an average of

$250,021, with a median salary of $249,124.

TeachersA first-year teacher in the

the White Plains Public School District makes

$54,781 per year.

The highest-paid teachers in the district, who have PhDs, make

$137,250.

What It Costs

f you’re a regular reader of Westchester Magazine, you know that, in 2011, we found out that the County is worth “a cool trillion” dollars. Not bad for a suburb, right? But we wanted to know more, and we’ve dug into the topic again.

We took on the big issues: How much do our politicians make and what’s the new Tappan Zee going to cost? We took on little ones: What should we pay for Johnny Jr.’s piano lessons—and Johnny Sr.’s golf game? We found out what our billionaires are worth and talked to everyday people about how they spend their money. We even found some things you can get, or do, for free.

The result is our deepest look yet into what Westchester costs, from the price of a train ticket at the Putnam County border to the salary of the New Rochelle mayor—and everything in between.

CoST PeR PuPil iNScarsdale

union Free School District: $27,219

Katonah-lewisboro School District:

$27,876

Yonkers Public Schools: $19,604

White Plains Public School District:

$25,466

$0.54 an hour

AveRAge ToWN

PARKiNg

HAiRCuTS, eTC., AT vASKeN

DeMiRJiAN SAloN (WHiTe

PlAiNS) Women’s haircuts

begin at $85

Men’s begin at $60

A blow-dry begins at $40

Styling begins at $70

updos begin at $125

Who Makes What

$160,144

CouNTY exeCuTive RoBeRT P. ASToRiNo $88,630

MAYoR oF NeW RoCHelle

NoAM BRAMSoN

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Lawyers Entry-level lawyers in

Yonkers earn a median salary of $92,114. In

Bedford, it’s $88,896.More experienced attorneys in White

Plains earn a median of $120,418; a senior attorney might make

$161,979; a senior tax attorney, $183,927.

Business Vice president, HR:

$247,582

Financial director: $183,814

Financial systems analyst: $79,192

Entry-level credit analyst: $50,167

IBM Chairman, President, and CEO Virginia M.

Rometty: $16.2 million*

PepsiCo Chairman and CEO Indra Nooyi: $12.6

million*

MasterCard President and CEO Ajay Banga: $11.3

million**total compensation, 2012

Healthcare

Heart transplant surgeon: $576,036

Plastic surgeon: $378,237

Dermatologist: $336,085

Pediatrician: $194,658

Nurse practitioner: $105,129

Nurse: $75,192

Our billionairesChair and CEO of Och-Ziff

Capital Management Group LLC Daniel Och

(Scarsdale): $2.9 billion

David Rockefeller, Sr. (Sleepy Hollow):

$2.7 billion

CEO of First Manhattan Co. David Gottesman

(Rye): $1.7 billion

Bloomberg L.P. co-founder Thomas Secunda

(Croton-on-Hudson): $1.4 billion

CEO and founding partner of Trian Fund

Management L.P. Nelson Peltz (Bedford):

$1.2 billion

Parking At the Goldens Bridge

Metro-North station on weekends

A one-hour session at The Yoga Sanctuary

(951 E Boston Post Rd, Mamaroneck 914-381-

9642; yogasanctuary.net) When you help clean the

studio for an hour

Haircuts When you go to training

nights at Le Collage Salon (200 E Main St, Mount Kisco 914-241-0084;

lecollagesalon.com), held every other Tuesday, and Paulo’s Atelier Hair Salon (725 Bedford Rd, Bedford Hills 914-666-2800; pau-losatelier.com), on select Wednesdays. For both,

call in advance to find out what is offered.

A second area museum When you print out the

same-day pass from the Westchester/Fairfield Museum Alliance and get it validated. Just

pay admission at the first museum — any one

of eight, including the Hudson River Museum,

the Katonah Museum of Art, and the Neuberger

Museum of Art—and head to a second one that day. See hrm.org/fwma.html

for details.

Live acoustic music On Thursday nights at The Bayou Restaurant (580

Gramatan Ave, Mount Vernon 914-668-2634;

bayourestaurantny.com)

Sail on the Hudson River Sloop Clearwater Join

Clearwater’s crew for a week, a month, or longer by volunteering, appren-ticing, or interning with

the organization.

Tours of the brewery at Captain Lawrence

Brewing Company (444 Saw Mill River Rd, Elmsford 914-741-2337;

captainlawrence brewing.com)

Value of an apartment at The Residences

at The Ritz-Carlton, Westchester

$744,500 to $5,200,000

Average price per square foot of commercial real

estate $27.75

Total value of all industrial real estate

$181 million

Real estate value of public parks $432 million

Value of all the ships in slips at Nichols Yacht Yard in Mamaroneck

basin$25 million

Recent auction prices for works by artists featured at the Neuberger Museum

Edward Hopper: Blackwell Island,

$19 million (2013);

East Wind Over Weehawken, $41 million (2013)

Mark Rothko: No. 1,$75 million (2012);

Orange, Red, Yellow, $87 million (2012)

What It’s Worth

What You Can Get for Free

How did we get these numbers? Home values came from the uS Census; Costs per pupil from New York State department of education’s School Report Card Fiscal Accountability Supplements; repaving costs from NYSDoT; train commuter tickets from MTA; average cost of town parking is based on a sampling of the hourly meter rate in 11 cities and towns in the County; golf fees and park fees from westchestergov.com; salaries of politicians, teachers, fire and police, etc. from SeeThroughNY; salaries of healthcare workers, lawyers, etc. from salary.com; net worth of Westchester Ceos and billionaires from Forbes; the Clintons’ net worth from lA Times.

HeDge FuND MANAgeR geoRge SoRoS (BeDFoRD)

$20 billion net worth

CliNToNS (CHAPPAquA) $109 million

net worth

Tappan Zee Bridge $3.9 billion

(That’s the minimum it’s going to cost to replace.)

live MuSiC AT gRACe CHuRCH (33 Church St, White Plains 914-949-0384)

$0on Wednesdays from September through May, starting at 12:10 pm, as part of the

Downtown Music in White Plains (dtmusic.org) Noonday getaway Concerts program

TouRS oF ST. PAul’S CHuRCH

(897 S Columbus Ave, Mount Vernon; nps.gov/

sapa)

$0See one of the nation’s oldest cemeteries, the site of a Revolutionary War hospital, and the

flashpoint of one of the nation’s first battles over

a free press.

PeTTiNg Zoo AT STeW leoNARD’S

(1 Stew Leonard Dr, Yonkers 914-375-4700; stewleonards.com)

$0Renderingof the new bridge

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Kristin Schauber knows Westchester isn’t her cheapest option—or even the one that people her age normally choose—but she knew she

wanted to come back to live here when her lease in the Riverdale section of the Bronx ended.

“Overall, my apartment in Rye is more expensive than my apartment in Riverdale overall was,” says Schauber, a 27-year-old sales director for a small business. “But at this point, it’s something I feel like I want to do.”

Schauber, who grew up in White Plains, says that, even though many of her friends from high school and the University of Delaware live elsewhere, her family is here. “I didn’t really want to stay that far away,” she says.

Besides, Westchester could have been even more expensive for her. She considered buying, but when she found a co-op she thought was perfect, the maintenance fees turned out to be “really, really high. I thought it might be better to wait a few years and maybe save up some money.”

Still, Schauber, who lives alone, does have to live on a budget. “I definitely don’t go out and do whatever I want,”

she says. “I feel like everything overall has gotten so ex-pensive.”

She explains that she doesn’t take on some of the traditional young-person costs that might make a nice apartment out of reach for others. “I’m not a big shopper in terms of going to the mall and buying clothes,” she says. “I like to spend my money on cooking for my friends and family.”

Plus, her parents help with car insurance, and she works within the County. “I don’t have to spend $250 a month on Metro-North,” she says. “I mainly looked for jobs in Westchester and Fairfield, because I didn’t want to commute into the City.”

When looking for her apartment, Schauber says she researched the areas in central Westchester, as well as some Sound Shore locations, including Larchmont. She figured going north of I-287 would be an odd choice for a young single, even one who lives in Westchester.

“I just think it’s a lot more families with younger kids,” Schauber says. “I don’t feel like there’s a whole lot going on up there for people my age.”

Andrea Braunstein says that, before she and her husband, Rory, moved to Westchester, they asked themselves questions that she had

often heard from clients and friends before.“Do I move to an area that has a better school sys-

tem and pay higher taxes? Or do I send the children to a private or Catholic school?” says Andrea, 37, a part-time real estate agent.

She and Rory, 46, have chosen the latter option. They pay Yonkers taxes for a house near the city’s border with Bronxville and send the kids—a 5-year-old daugh-ter and a 21/2-year-old son—to parochial school.

“Private school isn’t an option,” she says. “Hackley starts at $33,000 for kindergarten for one child. You could buy a house in Larchmont and pay $30,000 for taxes.”

Still, she says, their budgets are tighter than they used to be.

“We used to order in or go out all the time, but we don’t really do that as much anymore,” Andrea says. “The cost of living right now just feels crazy to me.”

She’s quick to point out that living in Westchester is only part of that craziness. Having kids added ex-penses, of course, and the couple is trying to put money away right now. “We were single and now have children, which equals less free time and energy, but we also more financially conservative these days.”

And, she says, they do get a lot for the cost of living in Westchester.

“Westchester has wonderful things to offer: won-derful restaurants, shops, entertainment and close proximity to beaches and parks, ” she says. “Everything is at your fingertips.” The idea of having a yard was enough to lure Rory, a lifelong apartment dweller, into a house, she says, especially since he didn’t have to give up proximity to the City.

Andrea, meanwhile, gets to be close to family and friends from her time growing up in Eastchester, many who have their own kids.

“My children are going to school with my friends’ children,” she says. “That’s really special. There’s a nice sense of community, and I think that’s important. It makes your home feel even homier.”

She also says that, for them, Westchester may be expensive, but it’s no worse than anywhere else they were considering. Yes, their two-bedroom apartment in Riverdale cost less per month than their house does. Once Andrea became pregnant with their son, though, they knew they were going to have to move up to a three-bedroom anyway.

Of course, she says, that balance may change, as she and her husband, who is the group creative direc-tor of an advertising agency, are hoping to move up in their careers.

THe SCHAuBeR BuDGeT

Rent and local taxes 44.4%

Home maintenance and utilities (electricity, Internet, etc.) 6.2%

Insurance 0.0%

Tuition0.0%

Car payments0.0%

Food and clothing 8.4%

Savings/investments 0.6%

Remainder (federal taxes, discretionary income, etc.)40.6%

What We Spend— and How

“I like to spend my money on cooking for my friends and family.”

Young Single: Kristin Schauber, Rye

THe BRAuNSTeIN BuDGeT

Mortgage and local taxes 26% Home maintenance and utilities (electricity, Internet, etc.) 4.1%

Insurance 1.0%

Tuition 5.4%

Food and clothing 5.5%

Savings/investments 13.7%

Entertainment 7.7%

Summer camp 2.9%

Car payments2.9%

Remainder (federal taxes, pocket change, discretionary, etc.) 30.8%

“The cost of living right now just feels crazy to me.”Parents of Young Kids: Andrea and Rory Braunstein, Yonkers

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“I’m no longer in the school system”Empty Nester: Susan Rubin, Bedford

Susan Rubin of Bedford says that she plans to modify her budget now that her kids have left the nest. A single mother, Rubin, 55, used to live in Armonk, where she currently owns and co-directs the Sage Yoga studio.

“I raised my kids in Armonk, but I moved to Bedford because the taxes are lower,” says Rubin. “But taxes here have crept up too. I’m no longer in the school system, so I am considering moving into another town in Westchester that has lower taxes.”

Rubin says she’s aware that Westchester is an expensive place to live, especially since she’s still helping one of her kids financially, but she wants to stay here.

She plans on finding something smaller, though, because she says that, in addition to taxes, maintaining her home is expensive and represents her main cost concern.

“I’m planning on downsizing so that I can continue affording life in Westchester,” Rubin says. “I might move somewhere with less maintenance costs: Instead of living in a larger house with a pool, I might live in a townhouse.”

A child of Tuckahoe, Ben Brody is a freelance journalist and graduate student who now lives in Riverdale, New York. He’s glad to hear that some of those interviewed

for the article moved back and forth between the County and his current neighborhood.

Five-year Bronxville resident and Sarah Lawrence College alumna Maddy Perkins is a freelance journalist and graduate student. She thinks that the perks of living in

Westchester is worth the cost.

Mortgage and local taxes 20%

Home maintenance and utilities (electricity, Internet, etc.) 13.8%

Insurance 10.5%

Car payments 4.4%

Tuition (minus portion paid from savings) 7.3%

Food and clothing 9.8%

Entertainment and travel 4.7%

Savings/investments5.0%

Remainder (federal taxes, pocket change, discretionary, etc.) 24.5%

THe RuBIN BuDGeT