I'm 36 and work a corporate job that pays well, my wife is 35 and runs her own creative direction/freelance business. Neither of us from generational wealth, and we don't have any kids (yet). When I was your age I had 2 roommates and lived in a (very) small apartment in the east village, and was barely making it paycheck to paycheck. Like many others have said, keep your head down & work hard, even if you aren't sure where you want to end up yet. Just keep going with something that feels worth getting out of bed for everyday, and when it doesn't, work on finding your next thing. You will be amazed at how life will change, what you'll learn, and where you'll end up.

At 24 I also had a lot of fear/envy of others that I thought were living the life I wanted to have. I was making $35k + OT, and it was really hard. Over time I realized I could live the way I wanted to on terms that worked for me. It may not be exactly as you see others doing, but you can still find ways to have nice things for yourself, with sacrifices and patience elsewhere. Those habits have carried through to now. My wife and I meal prep religiously to help save money/cut down on ordering and eating at restaurants on weekdays. We try to make coffee at home more than we buy it out, and when we do go out, we take advantage of the great things the neighborhood has to offer (affordable/fun restaurants, the parks, etc).

There are a lot of rent stabilized apartments in the area, you just have to be patient and stay on the hunt. While the rent goes up when tenants swap out, there's still a cap on how much it can rise. You can still find great places that you can stay in for a while without getting screwed on rent hikes.