10 Most Unrealistic TV Show Apartments

Summary TV show apartments are often huge to accommodate large casts, camera equipment, and give the audience a view.

Most TV show apartments are out of the price range of the characters living in them.

Some of the most unrealistic TV show apartments include the loft from New Girl and Monica's rent-controlled space in Friends.

There are many unrealistic things in television: superheroes, ghosts, Big Bads out to start the apocalypse approximately once a season, just to name a few. But there’s one thing that tops all of these ridiculous TV tropes, easily winning the most unrealistic feature of modern day television: the myth of the incredibly large, beautiful apartment in the center of a city, somehow paid for by a group of underemployed mid-20-somethings.

The history of unrealistic apartments in television shows is long and storied and is largely the result of studios building large sets to accommodate ensemble casts, camera equipment, and, in the case of sitcoms, give the studio audience a decent view. The most unrealistic TV show apartments are largely determined because they are simply too big and too expensive for the characters that inhabit them.

The Big Bang Theory

The Big Bang Theory is not a case of the main characters not being able to afford their apartment. At least, that's not the case for all of the main characters. Leonard and Sheldon’s rent for their large Pasadena two-bedroom can easily be covered by the combination of the two scientists’ salaries; however, their across-the-hall neighbor, Penny, is a little more suspect. The average rent in Pasadena today is close to $3,000 a month, which means it would have been just a little lower when the series began in 2007.

Penny’s apartment is only slightly smaller than the boys’, with only one bedroom, and yet for the earlier seasons of the show, she was somehow able to afford to live in it by herself on a waitress’ salary, even when the tips are not generous. Even with a little extra cash from her few and far between acting jobs, it’s unlikely that the show’s perky blonde would actually have been able to afford that pad alone. It is hammered home that Penny is a struggling actress numerous times.

Related The Big Bang Theory Ending: Everything That Happened In The Series Finale The Big Bang Theory finale brought the show's record-breaking 12-year run to an end. Here's everything that happened in the last two episodes.

30 Rock

The audience will remember that Liz Lemon has the top job on TGS, but with the show’s questionable popularity, it’s unlikely that she would make enough money to afford her beautiful apartment in the Upper West Side of New York City. The average cost for a studio apartment roughly the size of a closet in 2006 was nearly $2,000 a month according to the NYC Rent Guidelines Board. Liz's apartment isn't a studio, and it even has an office annex. It's likely she would have still been able to scrape by on the rent.

However, the most unrealistic aspect of Liz’s apartment is how clean it is. With how messy the audience sees Liz being in her office (and her personal life), how does she manage to keep her place so pristine? The audience can ignore the occasional found-under-the-couch Pop Tart, but they cannot ignore the fact that there's no way she has the time to keep her apartment clean herself. Add in the cost of a weekly maid service, and it’s even more unrealistic that she could afford to stay in that apartment.

Daredevil

Matt Murdock may try to explain away his ridiculously huge loft by saying that no one who isn’t blind would be able to live there with the multi-story light-up billboard next door, but it's still hard to swallow that idea. His apartment is in midtown Manhattan, after all, and Daredevil has managed to get himself at least a few thousand square feet with little to no income coming in from his and Foggy’s struggling law firm. The duo have been taking on cases for free and can't even afford to keep their law office neat and tidy.

People would kill for an apartment like his - and then swiftly be dealt with by Daredevil, of course. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like there’s very much money in saving the world either, so Matt might want to consider an apartment downgrade when he makes the move to the Disney+ series Daredevil: Born Again.

Chuck

Chuck’s huge Burbank pad made sense when he was rooming with his doctor sister and her fiancé, but after they moved out and fellow minimum-wage earner Morgan moved in, it became less realistic. Chuck and Morgan work in retail. Yes, the two also work in tech support to a degree, which might mean they have a higher-than-minimum-wage paycheck, but it wouldn't be much more than that.

With its prime position right outside of Los Angeles and its popularity as a destination for the entertainment industry, Burbank is one of the most expensive neighborhoods in the United States when it comes down to housing prices. Actors are known to take retail and service industry jobs while rooming with four or five other people to afford to pay the bills while auditioning.

Chuck had a lot of extra money coming in from his spy job, but Morgan didn’t know that when they moved in together; Chuck picking up such a large share of the rent should have been his first tip-off that something wasn’t right.

Happy Endings

Like The Big Bang Theory, Happy Endings features a large ensemble cast with characters who have some very nice living spaces. They also have varying degrees of financial success. Although Brad and Jane could probably manage to pay for their beautiful Chicago apartment and Penny could realistically afford to own a home by herself, it’s unlikely that limo driver Max, food truck owner Dave, and clothing store owner Alex would actually be able to afford their places.

Max and Dave’s loft is huge, and, even though it’s mostly unfurnished and even a little bit gross, it would probably draw a nice chunk of change on the rental market. Meanwhile, while Alex is a small business owner, her store never seems to be very successful, and it’s suspect that she would be able to afford her gorgeous apartment all by herself after Dave moves out.

Related Why Happy Endings Season 4 Never Happened Why didn't Happy Endings season 4 ever get made? Here's what went wrong and why the popular comedy TV series may continue in the 2020s.

Hey Arnold!

Not every unrealistic apartment on television is from a live-action series. The beauty of animation is that animators can bring just about anything to life, including a great apartment.

There’s probably not another nine-year-old in the world with a room as cool as Arnold’s. Made entirely out of glass windows, Arnold’s room in the attic of his grandparents’ boarding house in the fictional city of Hillwood was only accessible by ladder. The entire room, from lights to alarm clock to pullout wall sofa, is controlled by one remote control, making it incredibly high-tech for such a young kid. It raises the question of just who built it all for him?

Arnold's room is really ahead of its time. In addition to how tricked out it is, the room is also the biggest in the house and has a great view to boot, making it a pretty crazy place for a young kid to get the chance to live in.

How I Met Your Mother

Ted and Marshall’s huge two-bedroom is just the start of How I Met Your Mother’s questionable apartment choices. Lilly, on a school teacher's salary, while helping to support her fiancé through law school and living his dream of being an environmental lawyer, was somehow basically living with Marshall and yet still keeping her own place in Chinatown for the earlier seasons of the show. That means she was paying the rent in one of the most expensive states in the USA for not one, but two, apartments on a teacher's salary.

Meanwhile, Robin lives alone in a beautiful building, somehow supporting herself and her five dogs, even though her early season job as a television reporter on MetroNews One probably wouldn’t pay upwards of 50K per year. Robin is not a producer and she isn't a morning show anchor, so it's hard to believe she could afford to support five dogs and pay for her apartment - and go out for drinks with her friends almost every night.

Seinfeld

For an apartment where a whole lot of nothing happened, they sure needed a whole lot of space. The large NYC apartment became so iconic over the course of the series that Hulu recreated it for a fan experience tour when the series came to the streaming service in 2015. It's spacious, it's got an excellent view.

Even if fans decide to believe that Jerry Seinfeld’s career as a successful stand-up comic may allow him to afford the place, it’s even more unlikely that his neighbor Cosmo Kramer would have been able to afford to live in the same building, with his dubious employment record. He never seemed to be getting a steady paycheck, so it's unclear how he could afford his apartment, which right across the hall, was more or less a mirror image of Jerry's.

New Girl

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Yes, there are four, sometimes five, people living in the New Girl loft at any given time. However, at any given time, one of those people is unemployed, sometimes two, and when Jess is working in the early seasons, she's a teacher who has only been at the job a few years. Nick works as often as he doesn't, and, when Winston movis in, it takes him a while to find steady employment. It appears that advertising associate Schmidt would be shouldering most of the rent for the apartment in the early seasons.

What likely contributes to this particular apartment being affordable with its massive living space, four bedrooms, and a balcony, is that very few things work in the first season of the show. Nick essentially holds the plumbing together with some duct tape and a soda bottle while the group has to jam a broomstick into the garbage disposal to get it to work. One of the light switches may electrocute those who use it. The lease also says only two people can live there.

All of that likely means the apartment is being rented for way below market value when the series begins, which might make it a little easier to understand how such an expensive space is picked up by Schmidt and Nick right out of college - and why they stay there for so long.

Related New Girl Season 8: Will A Revival Happen? Cast Comments & Everything We Know New Girl ended with its seventh season back in 2018 but is there any chance Fox will revive the sitcom for an eighth season? Here’s what we know.

Friends

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The mothers of all unrealistic TV show apartments are the various apartments of the Friends gang in the West Village. The location, the size of the apartments, and the lack of steady employment for the characters make it nearly impossible for them to afford them.

Monica and Rachel’s apartment, even though it was rent-controlled, still would have forced the waitress and (for a while, unemployed) chef to shell out a good chunk of change each month. Meanwhile, Joey and Chandler’s place, even with most of the rent being saddled by Chandler, must have cost them a pretty penny with its two large bedrooms and inexplicably huge common area. They also would have had to pay for their duck and chicken to stay there when they had pets.

Then there’s Phoebe’s place, which she was still able to afford alone on the small salary of a masseuse after her grandmother passed. The only realistic tenant would be Ross in the former apartment of Ugly Naked Guy, but even that place might be a little bit too nice for a university professor who was lecturing pretty regularly, but rarely participating in any academic research that would give the university publicity. The Friends apartments certainly take the cake when it comes to unrealistic apartments on television.