Could don draper afford his mad men apartment?

Photo: AMC (Gothamist)

Don Draper returns to TV screens this week for Mad Men's final ever episodes. An equal star of the show, though, has been his New York apartment. The property even has its own Twitter account: @dondrapersapt.

As the ad man gets closer and closer to the present day, could he actually afford his home in 2015?

Draper's apartment for a long time now has been number 17B in 783 Park Avenue. The Upper East Side property is fictional, but real estate site Trulia has done some research to work out its price. Taking the median home values from New York in the 1960s, they concluded that his apartment would have been worth $75,000. With an estimated salary of $45,000 as Creative Director and Junior Partner in Sterling Cooper & Partners, the stylish pad is one that would have suited his budget to a tee.

In 2015, though, the New York market has seen values skyrocket. Values in the apartment blocks occupied by Don and Megan cost closer to $16.5 million. Draper's salary, meanwhile, would be approximately $154,838 a year.

The mismatch is far from the American dream of homeownership that Draper has been selling to consumers for several seasons.

Indeed, New York luxury home prices jumped 19 per cent in 2014, according to Knight Frank. Just this week, billionaire Leonard Blavatnik bought an apartment on Fifth Avenue for $77.5 million, a new record price for a co-op in Manhattan.

Homeownership rates in America, meanwhile, fell to 64.5 per cent in 2014, according to the Census Bureau, the lowest level in 20 years, as younger buyers choose to rent instead of purchase homes to expensive to own.

"The modern day Don Draper would be better off in an apartment in Midtown or this one in the Financial District," Trulia tells Gothamist, recommending a 1 bed unit instead. Now that would be a shocking final season twist.