All these years after the end of the show, fans are still confused as to how the working-class couple could afford their Rego Park home. Let’s solve that mystery.
‘King of Queens’ was a simple, light-hearted, family-oriented sitcom that starred Kevin James and Leah Remini in the lead roles and premiered in 1998, eventually running for a good nine seasons and ending in 2007. About a working-class couple Doug and Carrie Heffernan, whose lives are thrown into upheaval after Carrie’s father comes to live with them, the show was a hit that drew over 10 million viewers regularly, mainly because of the bickering dynamic between the characters of James and Remini.
How did Doug and Carrie afford their luxurious house in ‘King of Queens’?
Even after all these years since its end, fans are still nostalgic about the show. But the one thing that still confuses most fans is how a couple with blue-collar jobs – Carrie works as a legal secretary and Doug as a delivery driver for a global parcel services company – could afford their lifestyle and the house they lived in.
Highlights —
- Where the Heffernans lived
- How likely is it that Doug and Carrie could afford that home in real life?
Where the Heffernans lived
Throughout the show, Doug and Carrie live in a one-family house in Rego Park, Queens, which is supposed to be a locality with a mix of several cultures. The neighborhood is close to Manhattan. Besides, it is also easily accessible through the subway, which actually makes the locality quite desirable on the market. A house in Rego Park would cost roughly over $375,000.
But the outside shots of the ‘King of Queens’ house were the stock footage of a different home, one that is located in Cliffside Park in New Jersey. This was a lavish 1,700 square feet house, whose rough value is stipulated at around $480,000. In Rego Park, the ‘King of Queens’ house would likely cost $1.1 million today. But, in 2011, it would have cost about $600,000.
How likely is it that Doug and Carrie could afford that home in real life?
Now, here’s the thing. We know that housing prices exploded at the turn of the new century. So, if Doug and Carrie bought their house before this happened, chances are that they actually could afford to live in Rego Park in that house.
Working as a delivery driver and legal secretary as Doug and Carrie did, even on their pay, the couple could make their lifestyle pretty much work. If the couple bought the house in 1998, they likely paid approximately $300,000 for it. Their combined income could come up to $120,000 a year, at least as long as Carrie worked as a legal secretary. In the later seasons, after Carrie loses her job, things could have gotten difficult for the couple financially.
So, while it seems impossible in today’s time for them to have afforded their house and lifestyle, it was possible back then.
