The couple moved to Rio, where their two-bedroom apartment near the beach is half the rent. We moved to NYC in summer 2018, and my partner had promised me "two winters." Brazil won me over when I realized my income would stretch five to six times as far there as in the US. In Rio, we pay 5,000 reals, or about $1,000, for a two-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment with a home office and 24-hour doorman. We split that cost, so rent costs me about 2,500 reals a month.

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