I think the life of hard labor and worse nutrition played a role too. I looked at some old family photos from the 1970s with people who were in their 50s at the time. They look far older than people in their 50s look now.
On the subject of NYC, weren’t brownstones going for 50k for a while in the 70s and 80s?
It has the lowest population density of all the boroughs.
Now, while being “forced” to live in NYC is unlikely (given that my company has no presence there), I’ve been “forced” to live in the Greater Toronto Area, Nanjing (China), and Mexico City, and I’ve always been successful at avoiding the highest density areas, because, well, for me, density means way too many people for my taste. I acknowledge that everyone is different, and your tastes may vary.