By Cheryl Lewis.

We all love watching the antics of our favourite TV families. It’s hard not to laugh watching Joey from Friends trying to impress his Grandma after he realises that he’s been cut from a TV show, and who didn’t shed a tear when Will broke down in Uncle Phil’s arms after realising that his dad had abandoned him again?

But what is life really like for our favourite TV families? We’ve taken a look at their houses and their neighbourhoods to see how they’d live on our side of the screen.

The Fresh Prince’s ‘Kingdom’
Of course, we had to start with the Fresh Prince of Bel Air. The house used for filming was actually in Brentwood, a short walk from two Country Clubs. Brentwood’s high school graduation rate is 97%, which means that Will would have received an excellent education.
The median household income for the area is $162,406 and the median house value is $1,706,903. That said, life in the real Bel Air would have been even more luxurious with the median house values and household incomes being even higher. Bel Air’s 21:1 student-teacher ratio might have been low enough to keep even young Will out of trouble!

The Friends Apartment Building
Situated in New York, the apartment building used in the Friends series tells a slightly different story to the one told by one of the world’s favourite sitcoms. In reality, the apartment occupies a prime spot in a leafy New York neighbourhood surrounded by cultural hotspots and parkland. With the median rental rate at $1,566 and the median house value at $986,102, the apartment may well have been out of the budget for Monica.

The apartment building is in Greenwich Village – another premium location, with 97% high school graduation rates, low crime and, of course, plenty of coffee shops. The average coffee in the area costs $4.79 which, though cheaper than central New York’s $5.75 coffee, would soon leave Monica with a maxed-out credit card as she struggled from job to job and worked in relatively low-paying roles. Successful businesspeople will be much more in their element.

The Big Bang Theory Apartment Building
Speaking of ‘elements’ (sorry!), the Big Bang Theory apartment building is a better example of an apartment that suits its residents. Living in Pasadena, Leonard and Sheldon would have the California Institute of Technology and the Huntington Library right on their doorstep. High school graduation rates are at 95% and the average commute time is 30 minutes, which would be just about bearable with Sheldon in the passenger seat.

Whilst it’s convincing that scientists might have been able to afford the median rental price of $3,950 or the median house value of $1,098,000 however, we’re not sure that the same could be said for Penny. The median household income for the area is $154,962, and we’re not sure that the Cheesecake Factory tips will quite cover that.

The Cosby Show – The Huxtable House
In the 1980s, the Huxtable family had picked out the perfect family home in New York City. Living there today would provide excellent education opportunities, with a 97% high school graduation rate, and equally good opportunities for employment. The median household income in West Village, New York, is now $87,099 and the median housing value is $865,245. The median rental rate is $1,137.

The award-winning Cosby Show was praised for helping to break down the racial stereotypes that existed at the time, as it featured a successful African American family. Interestingly, the chosen neighbourhood of West Village is predominantly white with only 2% of the population being black.

Nightmare on Elm Street
Nancy’s house in the horror movie Nightmare on Elm Street is actually on Genesee Avenue in Los Angeles and not in the fictional town of Springwood, Ohio. This comparatively small family home, built in 1919, stands on a tree-lined road in the Hollywood area. With a median rental rate of $1,091 and a median housing value of $407,282 it’s certainly one of the more affordable areas. The median household income of the area is just $31,554 – a much more realistic figure for a family – and the high school graduation rate is 65%. Interestingly, the crime rate is 21% higher than central LA, with a 1 in 158 chance of becoming a victim of a violent crime.

Comparing the Lives of Will and Nancy
Of all the homes on our list, the Bel Air home of Will Smith is by far the most expensive. Nancy’s ‘Nightmare’ residence is a much more achievable family home. How would the lives of Will and Nancy compare?

Nancy and Will would have lived just 9 miles apart, which means that they might have spent their time in the same places. However, Will’s lavish lifestyle with money given to him by his aunt and uncle might have meant that a pizza and Coke for $10 would have seemed like a pocket money purchase. For Nancy, who lived in one of the cheapest family homes in West Hollywood with a likely household income of around $32,000, that meal would be a much more significant expense. Had the two been dating (poor Johnny Depp!), we expect that Will would have been the one paying.

It just goes to show that house prices aren’t the only thing to consider when you’re looking for somewhere to live. A good cost of living calculator could help you to visualise not just how much you’ll be paying for your house, but how much you’ll have left over for the occasional treat.

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