No way is it $5,495/month in NY for $100k. $4,829 at best for $100k. With the expiration of the payroll tax, your take-home for NYC for over 100k is roughly 58% for the year.

But then again there might be some tax magic I'm missing.

Yeah, I can't figure out how to use the internet.

In NYC, including city tax, it's $5,203 versus $5,289 in California. If you live in NJ or Westchester, it's $5,495.

That being said you can live in New York City and get much better public services than say living in Silicon Valley. $100 per month for a MTA pass versus $100 a month for car insurance alone, etc.