New York women flock to convents — for the cheap rent: 'Nuns are awesome'

Amid sky-high prices for just a single room in New York City, living among nuns is becoming increasingly popular.

Average rent prices in the city have already jumped by almost $150 in 2026, sitting at just under $3,700 per month for June.

'It was the cheapest place I found in Manhattan.'

Rent could get as high as $4,000 by the end of August, trends on Zillow show, a long way from where studio apartments or even two-bedrooms were in 2021: $2,000 and $2,600, respectively.

Get thee to a nunnery

In the face of these prices, New Yorkers are reportedly filling up residences run by nuns, who offer cheaper prices but require tenants to adhere to a stricter set of rules — a polar opposite of New York City free-for-alls Americans saw during the NBA Finals, for example.

The Wall Street Journal reported on five different nunneries in New York that offer housing at a third of the price, or less, of the average NYC apartment. St. Agnes Residence on the Upper West Side starts at about $950; Centro Maria in the Bronx charges about $800; and St. Mary’s Residence on E 72nd St. is around $1,200 per month.

One former renter at Sacred Heart Residence in Chelsea, named Katie, paid $1,650 for her spot.

"Nuns are awesome," Katie told the outlet. "They be chilling."

Hannah remarked that the Menno House, a 10-person residence in Gramercy Park, had its smallest room listed for $580/month.

"It was the cheapest place I found in Manhattan," she said.

Cheap rent is not all the nuns are offering, either.

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Daily habits

At Centro Maria, five nuns live with 21 residents in a four-story building. The benefits of this show up in the form of a daily morning breakfast for the residents cooked by the nuns, including pancakes, eggs, sausage, fruit, and more.

The nuns not only clean the building, they host parties for residents to intermingle and even have karaoke in the dining room.

There are rules, of course, offering some stability to residents in the crazy city. Some had a reported curfew of 11 p.m. or midnight, while women's residences bar male visitors from bedrooms, as well as alcohol.

"I love living with the girls. They keep me young," said a Sister Rita. But as loving as the nuns can be, they are also strict, and they're not hiding it.

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Sister smackdown

One convent has a display board in the lobby that lists who is home and who is out; the nuns say they lie awake until everyone is home.

"I don't go to bed if I don't know where someone is," Sister Maria says. If a girl is late for her curfew — which she has likely informed her nuns of ahead of time, possibly out of fear — Sister Maria lies down and waits. The nun said she typically thinks, "I'm gonna kill her tomorrow," and then gets up when the door opens.

Sister Maria also conducts surprise room inspections twice per month.

"You don’t know the date, but I'll be there," she reportedly said with a smile.

As for Sister Rita, who loves her girls, she said that she vets any boyfriends who are brought to the building and tells the girls to their faces if she doesn't like them.

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