How Much Would Jess's Apartment In New Girl Cost?

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We're a few years removed from its ending, but "New Girl" had a very healthy run on Fox, airing seven seasons from 2011 to 2018. The vast majority of those 146 episodes centered on Zooey Deschanel's hijinks as Jess in her loft apartment in Los Angeles alongside her roommates, Nick (Jake Johnson), Schmidt (Max Greenfiled), and Winston (Lamorne Morris).

The apartment in question is, in some ways, the typical sitcom apartment, much like the ones from "Friends," in that it seems far too expensive for the characters to actually afford. But this is television, after all, and it doesn't have to obey the laws of reality. Still, for fans of the show, it's probably worth wondering how much Jess and the gang would have had to pay to actually live in that apartment. Los Angeles is famously one of the most expensive cities in the U.S., making that nice apartment seem even more out of reach.

For starters, we need to try and figure out where, exactly, that apartment was located. Fortunately, the IAMNOTASTALKER blog tracked down the apartment building that was used for "New Girl." The building in question is the Binford Lofts and, though the interior of the building is not an exact match for the apartment as depicted in the show itself, this can help get us in the ballpark.

A current listing on Apartments.com for the Binford Lofts lists a 1 bathroom studio clocking in at 930 square feet for $2,490 per month. When we take into account that the loft in the show had a guest room and was certainly bigger than 930 square feet, the cost would probably increase to the $3,000 range. That would make it roughly as expensive of Sheldon and Leonard's apartment in "The Big Bang Theory," give or take.

Again, because the apartment in "New Girl" is ultimately a fictional location that used a real building's exterior as the basis for what appeared on screen, we can only get in the general ballpark when it comes to pinpointing a real-world price. But somewhere between $3,000 and $3,500 gives us some idea of what it would cost to live in a place like that. It also helps us try to understand how Jess could afford to live there — or, more importantly, if she could realistically afford to live there.

Jess is a teacher in the show and, according to Salary.com, the median salary for a teacher working in Los Angeles is around $58,000. That's not a great deal of money, particularly by 2025 standards. Let's also not forget that rent is just one part of the equation. After utilities and other living expenses, even with roommates, living there would probably be a stretch for Jess. Maybe Megan Fox's Reagan from "New Girl" season 5, a pharmaceutical sales rep, would have had an easier time managing that rent.

Fortunately, Deschanel isn't likely as hard up for cash as her on screen counterpart would be. Aside from the residuals from this show, Deschanel plays Bridget in the very lucrative "Trolls" movie franchise, in addition to appearing in movies like "Harold and the Purple Crayon." She's also a working musician as part of the band She & Him, in addition to appearing as herself on shows like "What Am I Eating?"

You can grab your favorite season of "New Girl" from Amazon.