American television personality and game show executive Jack Barry (1918-1984) was quoted in a newspaper entertainment column by Earl Wilson (1907-1987) in January 1951:
   
“EARL’S PEARLS. ‘The main trouble with New York,’ says Jack Barry, ‘is that it’s so convenient to everything I can’t afford.’”
 
Wilson used the same quote in two 1978 columns, but credited it to two different people. American actor Don Porter (1912-1997) said about Hollywood in 1953, “It’s so convenient to everything I can’t afford.”
 
   
Wikipedia: Jack Barry (game show host)
Jack Barry (born John Barasch; March 20, 1918 – May 2, 1984) was an American television personality and executive who made a name for himself in the game show field. Barry served as host of several game shows in his career, many of which he developed along with Dan Enright as part of their joint operation Barry & Enright Productions.
 
Barry’s reputation became tarnished due to his involvement in the quiz show scandals of the 1950s and the ensuing fallout affected his career for over a decade.
         
9 January 1951, The Delta Democrat-Times (Greenville, MS), “It Happened Last Night” by Earl Wilson, pg. 4, col. 5:
EARL’S PEARLS. “The main trouble with New York,” says Jack Barry, “is that it’s so convenient to everything I can’t afford.”
 
Old Fulton NY Post Cards
29 July 1953, The Morning Herald (Gloversville and Johnstown, NY), Erskine Johnson’s “In Hollywood,” pg. 4, col. 6:
Don Porter’s unhappy with Hollywood—“It’s so convenient to everything I can’t afford.”
 
Google Books
Cue
Volume 23, Issues 1-26
1954
Pg. 35:
“The trouble with New York is that it’s so convenient to everything I can’t afford.” — Jack Barry
 
Google News Archive
19 July 1978, The Blade (Toledo, OH), “Off the Grapevine” by Earl Wilson, pg. P-3, col. 1:
TODAY’S BEST LAUGH: “The trouble with New York,” sighed a city dweller, “is that it’s so convenient to everything I can’t afford.”
 
Google News Archive
29 December 1978, The Blade (Toledo, OH), “Off the Grapevine” by Earl Wilson, pg. P-7, col. 1:
EARL’S PEARLS: (...) Charlie Caine explained that he loves living in New York City: “Trouble is, it’s so convenient to everything I can’t afford.”
 
Google Books
New York:
The Big Apple Quote Book
Edited by Bob Blaisdell
Mineola, NY: Dover Publications, Inc.
2011
Pg. 105:
The trouble with New York is it’s so convenient to everything I can’t afford. —Jack Barry (1952)
   
Google Books
The 2,548 Wittiest Things Anybody Ever Said
By Robert Byrne
New York, NY: Touchstone
2012
Pg. ?:
1,677
The trouble with New York is that it’s so convenient to everything I can’t afford. —Jack Barry (1918–1984)
 
Vulture
February 19, 2016 11:07 a.m.
150+ Classic Jokes About New York and Los Angeles
By Matthew Love and Ramsey Ess
(...)
“The trouble with New York is that it’s so convenient to everything I can’t afford.” —Jack Barry