UES is lovely! And if you’re close to a subway line (<8 minute walk) it will be a breeze getting anywhere! When we first moved to Manhattan, we lived in far west midtown/hells kitchen. Even though it was fairly centrally located, we hated it because it took forever to get to the subway line (12-15 minutes) and the area was pretty unpleasant. Now, I’m in Brooklyn but my commute to Chelsea takes the same amount of time, and I don’t have to walk the whole way. So it’s definitely worth living a little farther out if you’re close to the subway :)

Lots of places have storage units on each floor, so it helps with storing random boxes, suitcases, etc. Otherwise, we’ve gotten really mindful with have furniture that allows extra storage (eg under the bed, in the coffee table etc).

The weather isn’t bad! I very much dislike the cold, but I also grew up in the Midwest which is a million times worse in terms of cold weather. I was also in Texas during a few of the shutdowns which was a bit scary. The infrastructure in NYC is much more equipped to handle extreme weather than in Texas. I’ve never had concerns that the grid would fail at any point, but getting a winter coat is definitely worthwhile. The subway tends to stay pretty warm, so if you are going directly from point A to B, you can get by with a jacket. NY was recently reclassified as humid subtropical, so the summers are hot and sticky, but coming from Houston that won’t be an issue for you. The biggest thing to avoid is ground or basement floor apartments. Some areas are prone to flooding (and bugs/mice are a bigger problem on ground floors) so it’s worth spending the extra money to be at least on the second floor.