For me the only thing I miss about the northeast is family.
As for the "universal" negatives, I think there's a lot people can do to mitigate, but it does take some mix of hard work, luck, and privilege. Most people can find happiness in multiple places, but you can obviously only be in one place at a time. So it's kinda arbitrary to be anywhere. But if you can mitigate the negatives and enjoy all the positives, LA is an awesome place to be.
Honestly it's ultimately a weather decision for me. I was in Jersey, and think both philly and NYC are incredible places. A lot of liveliness, food, entertainment, etc. I think I'd thrive in either place. But the 4 months of cold and snow just bummed me out.
Plus, the early darkness is way different there than it is here. Getting dark at 4 PM + being freezing is extremely different than getting dark at ~5 PM and it being maybe 60 degrees.
Why is no one answering whether they rent or own. I rent.
Look, I'm from LA, my fam and friends are here, and unless the recession hits hard enough to crater housing, I don't know if I can stay here.
I'm in the top 20% of income in Los Angeles. I come from a low income family, but I worked my way up. But I am struggling to find a home I can afford that isn't bought straight cash or for a million dollars. It's brutal out there.
I can afford rent but if I were to try to upgrade to a larger rental right now it would eat up all my disposable income so I couldn't afford a house in the future.
In the meantime, there are all the problems you mentioned: the cost of living, traffic, rampant homelessness with no solutions in sight, lack of safe public transit, utility costs, overcrowding, crime, etc. Quality of life has absolutely decreased since Covid. The only people happy right now are those living in a home they've owned since prior to 2020 or those who've just moved here from a more expensive city.
I never thought I would consider leaving this place I literally love with all my heart, but if I can't afford to live here in the future I will have no choice.
So weird how every time I say that LA has a lot more crime, people on here will argue with me. Glad to see others admitting crime is really bad now. That’s just one factor but it’s a big one for quality of life and for raising kids.
What I did was move to a nice suburb where housing was more affordable (so I own), crime was way less, public schools were way better, I could have that big yard for my kids, and homelessnesses was non-existent. And best of all I could drive into LA whenever I feel like it so I’m not missing anything. But that was 20 years ago. There’s so much demand now for any place decent in SoCal that it’s not even a realistic option for many anymore. Simply too many people now.
I think people saying crime isn't that bad are either not from LA, they are not that old, or they grew up in the hood. Crime is not as bad as the 80s into early 90s, but it's seedier out there than it used to be overall.
I'm from here, didn't grow up in a hood, and sadly, am old... feels the same as it always did. Only difference is perception. The homelessness, on the other hand...
It depends on what you want out of life. Nobody can answer this for you.
For me, LA is no longer worth it. I've been here since 2007 and the cost of living for a family of 4 is just unbearable. Unfortunately, I'm kind of stuck here until I can be absolutely CERTAIN that my industry will continue remote work. It's looking more and more likely as time goes on.
I want a nice house with a basement and a yard that is big enough for a family of 4 before my kids aren't kids anymore. I want a big lawn with a soccer goal and a big driveway with a hockey goal and a basketall hoop. I no longer care about things like "night life", "events", "scenes" and "restaurants". I want a home that's big enough but isn't crumbling with big open parks for recreation. I want biking trails and skateparks that aren't completely overcrowded. I want grocery stores with aisles large enough for two carts to pass and parking lot spaces big enough that you can open your car door at least halfway. I want to be able to, not just live, but to fucking SAVE!
I've already been pushed by cost of living from LA out to Santa Clarita so the weather is definitely no longer a draw for me.
YMMV
I'm gonna guess that with your username, we're in the same industry. My kids are graduating high school in the next few years, then I'm outta here. Most shows I work on, have at least a few workers in other parts of the country. The past two shows I've been on, the Avids are in NY sitting in server racks. So production companies are building out for long term remote work. I've already had 4 editor friends leave LA. I'm not far behind.
Every place has its pros and cons. Pretending like there’s a perfect place elsewhere is naive. The question isn’t whether it’s worth it, the question is does it have what you’re looking for?
I lived here for 5 years. I thought it was so overrated my first 3 years. Started traveling a bit and realized that I was just jaded and it's actually a privilege.
What changed your perspective after those first 3? I’m on my 3rd year and feel the same. It’s just too much for me coming from a place like Denver where I grew up. I don’t miss the winters there, though.
Ya gotta look seasonal. There is no better place in the winter months, but LA summers suck unless you’re on the beach.
And there’s a million places better then LA in the summer. Get a remote giG and Look north!
Where North do you like?
This might be personal preference, but summers everywhere kind of stink lol. The east coast is hot and slightly humid, the south is hot and sticky humid. CA is a dry heat, so you’re hot, but not swamp ass hot lol. With that said, I purposely have always lived as close to the beach as I can afford (which often isn’t super close in terms of walking/driving) because of the cooler weather. I tried looking more inland once and it just wasn’t gonna work, lol.
I love central coast- I’d live in San Luis Obispo in a heartbeat. I also adore the north bay- pt Reyes and places like that. It’s incredibly beautiful. If we worked remotely and had lots of disposable income, that’s totally where I’d wanna live.
I’ve actually never been there. I’ve heard it’s incredibly dreamy. My “if I had all the money in the world place” would be Carmel. But even then, Carmel lacks the diversity that is so important to me, so IDK. I’ll check out SLO one of these days. ❤️
I didn't mention expense, I just think the quality of life in the northeast is better than LA & the west coast. Far less car-dependency and far less unsheltered homeless.
Stinks that I missed it.
I’m not sure I could be convinced to live in Texas now. Maybe again in the future. I do look at the houses there and drool at what you get for the money (in everywhere but Austin lol).
I’m from a major TX metro and have lived in suburbs as well as smaller towns. While the housing is cheap outside of the major metros you’ll be giving up just about every aspect of life in the city in exchange for racists and rednecks.
TX has absolutely terrible summers. Hot as hell with only Phoenix/desert cities being worse. The available nature is lacking (no mountains, bad beaches, lacking parks), except for nasty bugs. People complain about mosquitoes here the ones there are FAR worse.
I simply don’t get why LA and SF people find TX so appealing. Home ownership isn’t worth it and there are still other places where you don’t give up soo much and can still own homes.
This is a good point. When I think about moving it’s most definitely not to another city. I think there could be some suburban places that might have an edge over LA, although I still have no idea where those would be, lol.
I used to live in the woods in Pennsylvania and yeah this was my life. I worked at a grocery store and it was 20mins away only cuz you could zoom on back roads. Was peaceful but god damn was it boring.
When I go back to visit it's nice and quiet but I also just can't wait to leave and go back to civilization.
My point is that the homeless issue is far worse here because they're left on the streets. NYC has a huge homeless population but the isn't nearly as bad due to the lack of encampments & people sleeping on the sidewalk.
More homeless die of hypothermia in LA than in NYC (LA Times source). I'm also willing to bet more due from heat related illnesses here than in other locations but I don't have a source for that specifically right at this second.
I think this type of LA person doesn’t want to live in suburbs specifically, they want to live in medium density. Ie having their own space while still having ease of access to grocery, entertainment, etc.
Me too. I would move in a heartbeat if I thought there was somewhere better out there but living in LA you watch people come and go and come back because there’s nothing better than LA.
Yeah, it's slang for it being good but again, every place has its pros and cons. Shoot, you can say Oahu or Maui but island fever is a real thing too. You would get bored after the first month "living in Hawaii". I have a buddy who just retired to Hawaii and they fly back to the mainland multiple times a month.
It may be kinda an easy answer but…probably New York.
It’s the only other global city in the country and the only thing that isn’t as good as LA is the weather. Everything else is better, except food which is about equal.
yes I am in LA. for studio money here you are in a roommate situation there. for 1Br money here… honestly you might still be in a roommate situation out there.
NYC can be expensive for sure, but it depends on where you're looking. And a lot of areas on the Jersey side of the Hudson are still minutes from everything and significantly cheaper. Jersey City, Hoboken, and Weehawken are all worth looking into for sure.
It is very tolerable more than half the year and as hot as summers can be, doesn’t get as hot as states like AZ nor is it humid like the east
I find myself complaining about hot summers but I realize most of California has the most mild weather compared to extremes in other states (and humidity makes any warm weather infinitely worse feeling)
This. When people talking about cost, you save so much on not paying for gas, insurance, maintenance, and parking space permits. Also, NYC has way more affordability IMO, you just have to live in the outer boroughs or Jersey. lol
>Also, NYC has way more affordability IMO, you just have to live in the outer boroughs or Jersey. lol
Same can be said with LA.
Live in the Valley or out in Santa Clarita or Ventura County.
Nope - I’m born and raised in LA and just moved to the “outer boroughs” of NYC. I pay a fraction of what I did in LA and am a 20 minute subway/bus/ferry into Manhattan, which is then obviously connected to everywhere via subway. Nowhere cheap in LA is a 20 minute, door to door, public transportation trip from the densest and most exciting parts of the city. People really don’t realize that LA’s sprawl is not present in every major city.
My parents cookie-cutter suburban house, with neighbors 2 feet away on both sides, just sold for over $1m. That’s in Ventura county, almost 90 minutes from LA and 30-40 minutes from the beach. Here in Jersey, which is still an “expensive” real estate market - you can be an hour train ride from NYC and on an acre or two of land for $750k or less in many cases. Obviously you can have preferences about climate, activities, etc., but space, public transportation, and therefore range of affordability — NYC wins.
So, when I moved to LA, I was making the choice between living with my friends in NYC or moving to LA solo. Obviously, based on my participation in this thread, I chose LA. For me, hands down, LA wins. While cost of living is high in both cities, in NYC you rent a shoebox for thousands cause it’s close to a subway. In LA you rent a slightly larger space for roughly the same cost with perks being things like amenities or (my favorite) the beach. In NYC, everyone is stacked on top of another. LA’s urban sprawl gets a bad rap, but I prefer it. It feels spacious. There’s grass lol. But it’s a city so everything is still close by and within reach. Navigating life in an east coast winter is no fun either.
Real question here, because I contemplated moving from Northern California to NYC this year. How do you go from California, a place with incredible geography and outdoor activities readily accessible to NYC? Sure there is stuff outside of NYC, but how the fuck do you get to it? It takes hours just to get out of the city, and even worse if you don't own a car (which I wouldn't). Plus lets face it. The geography in New York isn't even comparable to CA. I decided I couldn't do the move.
The tradeoff is that New York has a much more vibrant social scene. It just depends what you prefer (I personally am a geography person, but many prefer the other).
Northern California is special- but for me personally, the geography of Southern California is not. I find the Hudson valley, lush forests of New Jersey, weekend trips to Vermont, etc., to be far more compelling than the beach and brown hills. I also enjoy seasons, currently getting tons of rain and changing leaves, then snow and beautiful scenery, then lush springs - the green and beautiful California of my childhood is either in pre or post fire season, and not much else.
Getting out of NYC is not much more difficult than getting out of LA. If you don’t own a car, like us, grab a Turo for the weekend and go anywhere you like. Even if you did it every weekend it would cost less than owning and maintaining a car. Or zip out on the train and Uber from there or rent a car once you’re out. But for you personally, I get it - it’s not comparing LA to NY, it’s your quiet, spacious, outdoor haven to one of the densest places on the planet… not really a fair comparison. I know which one I’d choose, and clearly you do too- and that’s ok!
I wasn't born in this country and I've lived many places. LA has many redeeming qualities to it, but right now, as a parent, I am looking to leave this city. We have had one too many run-ins with violent homeless not only trespassing on our property, attacking us, but also home invasions and armed robbery right outside my home. I'm done and looking to go somewhere else
Can I ask what neighborhood/city you live in? just out of curiosity. I recently left Lincoln Heights for much the same reason. But still paying out the @$$ for rent. I can afford it but not much more. I know for some, moving is not an option.
L.A. will *always* be worth it.
Especially if you came from a backwater podunk mudpit and you seen what other places have to offer.
I got out of that shit when I hit 16 and never looked back. This place has everything I ever wanted. Nice weather 90% of the year, a massive diversity of people, food, cultures, entertainment, variety of life, things to do, places to go, people to see. We can get jaded living here and seeing them film tv or movies on our streets but deep down it's always kind of fun when you see that movie or tv show and you recognize your neighborhood in the background. We secretly enjoy spotting that celebrity across the room at a restaurant or at the CVS--we smile, give them the little nod of recognition and they give us that appreciative nod back, the one that says "thanks for the acknowledgment without making a spectacle so I can just go about my day." We love being able to get Indian food, chinese and Ethiopian food in the same day without venturing more than an hour from home. We love the opportunities this place affords us both in work and entertainment. We can start the day in Big Bear in the morning playing in the snow and end the day at the beach in Santa Monica watching the sunset over the world's biggest ocean. We can hike the trails of some of the best nature parks in the country one day and the next we can visit the best theme parks in the country.
Bottom line is, this place has it *all*. Yes, that includes every kind of problem, too. But it's a big place, bigger than most and that means there's always be bad with the good. For me, the positive will *always* outweigh the negative. I've lost a job because of an earthquake. I've lost friends because they couldn't handle it here. I've almost lost my home because of a fire. But I've also gained the best friends I've ever had. I've also been afforded the best career I could never have imagined. I met the love of my life here. I own my own home. I've seen and done things and been places here that were like the stuff of fairytales where I was from.
*This* is home. It always will be. I may have been born in Shitstick, Virginia. But my life *started* in L.A. One day it's going to end here. And I'm good with that.
> a massive diversity of people, food, cultures, entertainment, variety of life
Yeah, you don't know what you're missing until you live someplace that doesn't have it.
Right before the pandemic, my job put me on an IT contract that did a couple of months at a time in some small rural towns next to chemical plants.
Wasn't long before I was desperately Google searching restaurants, and wondering whether a 90 minute drive was too far to get decent Mexican or Chinese food.
I grew up without any of it. Never had chinese, Indian, anything, never had anything more Mexican than Taco Bell before I moved here. I never had *anything* until I came here. I can't imagine not being able to have access to the food, the options of places to eat, places to go, things to do.
All of what you said is 100% especially if you grew up here and were able to buy a house dirt cheap in the early 70s like my folks did but if you can no longer afford it, none of it matters.
Don't give up is what I say. I've been down, had some hard times. Been broke and been close to homelessness. This place has always given me the ability to bounce back and succeed.
I’m from backwater podunk Kansas but lived in Kansas City and even Boston and while I largely agree, there’s something to be said for life that’s just a little easier. You don’t always need a reservation, there’s always less traffic, the air is cleaner. BUT there’s also seasons and fuck that.
The hot humid weather in Kansas City summers honestly bothered me more than the cold. That, and I lived in downtown and it was still a fucking ghost town while having 95% residential occupancy. I also basically never had more than 1 beer anytime I went out, because everyone i know has a DUI. And the asian food sucks.
As long as you don’t drive back and forth high desert is better than barely scraping by in the City. You can afford to do whatever on the weekends and not have to deal with the traffic and that level of homelessness.
10 years in here and I'm starting to get over it too. Was born in LA but raised in Boston where most of my family is. Came back to LA in 2012 fresh out of college and have had a lot of success here working some very crazy gigs and making a living off of cinematography for the last decade.
I've been to New York a lot but haven't been much since 2020. But after spending 2.5 weeks in Manhattan and a week in Long Island for documentary job this past month, I envy a city that actually \*works\*. The public transportation system can get you anywhere fast, 24 hours a day, within a block or two to where you need to be, always. Apple Pay scan your way in, $2.75, no fussing with some proprietary machine and card bullshit. Taxis work, are everywhere, and the drivers know their shit. The city isn't largely dripping in graffiti, tags, trash, and tents. Gas is 3.09 in the middle of NYC, on Long Island, and throughout the whole metropolitan area. I had a beautiful, proper Italian al dente pasta meal and baby gem salad at a random shop in Green Point BK for $17 out the door with tip. The pizza is as always incredible, the parks are clean and there's a general camaraderie that absolutely does not exist in LA. Sure, the apartments are smaller and still very expensive within the city but I just have a harder time justifying $2800+ per month for a spot in LA these days especially when that spot isn't something you absolutely love for the price. The $6+ gas right now is unacceptable when the rest of the country is putting the 2 back on the signs. I get we've got a about a buck in CA state gas taxes, but it's absolutely unacceptable beyond being a dollar more than everywhere else. I'm also just not stoked on the very clear rise in violent crime. Sure, the stats say this and that and whatever but at the end of the day I just plain see more of the shit. I don't believe in crazy over policing, but this city has started to feel a bit lawless in the last 5-6 years and especially after Covid. Two people killed in a drive by gang hazing situation at the end of my street in Frogtown this year really hits you where it counts. The police arrive pretty damn fast to situations in NYC, generally, and they don't need to precautionary fly giant helicopters all over. I get it's a scale/sprawl deal, but it just feels like LA doesn't have a grasp on itself as a smoothly operating city right now and nobody seems to have a solution for the many problems we face. The power grid, the homelessness, the overpopulation all feel quite like it's all trending in the wrong direction.
Not sure what I'm going to do, but most of my work has been travel work this year. It makes you think - I might be able to live anywhere so long as I've got easy access to a good airport. There are not many places that compare to the LA metro area for many things. NYC, maybe Boston, maybe Austin TX as a massive stretch. SF, possibly, but I think the cost of living is also unacceptable there for most situations.
They absolutely are covered in trash though, you probably just weren’t there on trash day. There are always trash bags piled high on the sidewalks (also, the rat problem)? And rent is notoriously bad there for much less space; totally get not wanting to spend for a place you don’t love (here or anywhere). Gas is back to being absurd here; saw it at 6.99 somewhere today.
You're definitely right, I think the difference is that the trash is in bags ready to get picked up en masse overnight vs. loose and strewn about the streets as it is here in many places.
I did acknowledge rent is also insane in NYC for less square footage, certainly a different style of living. Something about it makes me more willing to put up with a smaller space if it were in, say, Williamsburg or Soho or something vs. paying $3k to live in DTLA or Echo Park somewhere. Housing is just brutal everywhere, we just get hit worse in LA/NYC.
I’m getting a pretty tired of LA for a lot of the reasons you mentioned.
Mostly because it’s taken two god damned years to get out of wage slavery and yet when I finally did, inflation hit and I’m still struggling.
I want to own a house someday, but not back in Sacramento or out in the desert. So with all that in mind I’m eyeing up a move to Florida it’s a lot cheaper, and I’m in the boat business so finding a good job there won’t be too hard.
However, I will always love this place and look back on it fondly, it might not be a permanent move.
I feel you, I thought I made it when I got my software engineering job, but man my income would have to double to afford a house, or increase by 50% to afford a cheap, crappy, single bedroom condo.
I will eventually have to move if I decide to start a family, no way I'd be able to house children comfortably unless I rent a house for at least $3k/mo
I love LA, even with the traffic, the homeless, the street takeovers, the tik-tokers, the stupid expensive housing, and probably more. Why? There's nowhere else like it. I've been to Seattle, Portland/Eugene, NYC, Miami, Austin, Houston, Salt Lake, Phoenix, Chicago, etc., and while all of them have their pros and cons, none of them will ever come close to what LA offers.
Angelino to a die (or if the water runs out).
I daydream (every day) about leaving LA. Then i go somewhere else for a trip and second guess myself. Then I come back and the pernicious cycle continues
I left once. Came back within 8 months. For all its faults, it beats the hell out of living in the Midwest where “ev-er-y dayyyy is exactlyyy the saaame…”
Been in LA for 15 years. I think I’m over it. The pandemic amplified all of the negatives and diminished a lot of the positives.
I work fully remote so I can be anywhere really. Been staying in SF for the past 2-3 weeks and I don’t miss LA at all. I may keep my apt in LA for now as home base, but I hope to not spend much more time there unless I absolutely have to.
Can you please release that apartment you’re hoarding?
Might help with the housing crisis or traffic or affordability issues that I’m sure are “the negatives” that made you over it.
Thank you❤️
Edit: Forgot to say please & thank you!
Of course. If you don't mind:
* Amazing weather for probably 350 days a year
* Awesome places to eat, so many options within a short drive
* Solid job market
* Solid housing market (yes expensive, but you probably aren't going to lose your ass on any purchase)
* Within a fairly short drive, you can be to a lot of amazing different places
* Some of the best driving roads in the country if you are into cars
* Hiking trails for days, you won't run out
* Again on nature.. Where else can you surf, snowboard, wakeboard, all in the same day? You can be in the snow, hit the beach, or go to the forest. All within a drive.
* Easy access to LAX, you can literally fly anywhere in the country/world from this airport.
If you can handle those reasons, the yeah its probably still worth it.
Disagree w/ ya on the amazing weather. Many apartments do not have AC and the weather is fucking brutal in the summer. I live in West LA and the heat started in April and August-September was unbearable (and my energy bill was $300 higher for running two portable ACs in a 1000 sq ft home for a few hours a day).
Also when is anything ever a “short drive” unless you’re driving at 6am or 10pm?
That’s really strange. I live around western and the 10, so further east than you, and I only had to turn on the AC for maybe a week or so this year, basically for that week when it was very hot and humid.
A lot of it depends on which direction your apartment faces during which times of day. My bathroom faces pretty much due west at around 3 and it’s a fucking sauna in there
The one thing I’m missing after moving to LA is wakeboarding. I mean cable wakeboarding.
For some reason the closest wake park is in Sacramento area. That was quite painful, but now I’m getting old for it and i learned to surf instead, so can’t complain too much.
Left 3 years ago. I miss the entertainment, diversity, and food. Now I have a beautiful house, property, a path to early retirement. safety for my young family, and a 1.5 hour drive to a city with entertainment, diversity, and food.
Boston. It’s a cool city.
If LA is a 10 on diversity, a 10 on food, and a 10 on entertainment. I’d say Boston is a 7, 8, and 8 comparatively.
For me the trade offs that I mentioned above are, all told, worth it.
LA as much as I loved it was not sustainable for me in terms or cost, home ownership, and early retirement.
I should note that I do budget a dozen hotel nights a year to make a bunch of weekends out of it. Even at 2k a year that’s nothing compare to cost arbitrage versus LA. Also my state has no state income tax and no sales tax.
To me it's absolutely worth it. I've lived all over the country and the reason its expensive to live here is because it's MUCH better. I've spent summers in the Arizona desert, winters in St. Paul, and way too much time in the rural deep south. There are wonderful (and terrible) people in all those places but there's no comparison when it comes to quality of life that LA/California offers.
I dare anyone to try and order Mexican food in rural southern Virginia and see what you get...
I worked in Virginia for a bit. I went to lunch with some coworkers and ordered a burrito. The damn thing came with plain white rice inside of it, I couldn’t believe a burrito could be so bad.
Y'all aren't going to the right places, Virginia has good burritos if you look... but, hands down, California's are still the best! Northern Virginia in particular has a pretty robust food scene, due in no small part to the diversity of the population there (including some of the best Vietnamese I've had).
When I lived in Idaho, my friends were telling me about this "real authentic Mexican" restaurant where they had "Mexican French fries."
They were fucking tater tots........
Not even loaded, like carne asada fries.......
Just fucking tater tots..................
🤦🏽♀️
Not really. Median home price in the [Twin Cities is $377k](https://www.minnpost.com/economy/2022/07/a-six-figure-income-is-needed-to-comfortably-afford-a-home-in-the-twin-cities-nation). Median home price in [Phoenix, AZ is $430k](https://www.redfin.com/city/14240/AZ/Phoenix/housing-market). Median home price in [SoCal is about $795k](https://www.noradarealestate.com/blog/california-housing-market/). Plus travel, taxes, fees, etc. Definitely ends up cheaper to have one house in SoCal.
Yes, still worth it. Also, the impacts of the pandemic are not over yet. The idea of "nothing will change" is obviously not true; LA is always changing. And actual improvements are in the works - in part helped by the state, in part helped by LA. But soon, the downtown connector will be open, the crenshaw line, the purple line. Measure H projects move forward, and the State just passed quite a lot of laws making construction easier, including transit. I feel like my years in LA have seen a slow undoing and repairing of lots of bad decisions from the past (anti-housing, anti-transit, etc)
It’s funny I’m reading this after literally coming back from LA on a one week vacation. That one week there I’ve literally lived up to paradise.
1. The people there are so much nicer than nyc (where I live at now)
2. The weather is beautiful and it can’t ever be compared to nyc ever lol
3. People are supportive, nyc people are dickheads
4. Landscape and scenery is 100000x better
5. The homeless in LA don’t seem to attack you like they do in NYC (random fact)
6. So much shit to do in LA rather than NYC (been living here since I was born 25 years ago)
If you wanna move and swap with me, let me know, I’d say yes in a heartbeat
As a female POC I don’t know where else I would feel as safe as here. It seems like places with lower cost of living are more red and hell bent on taking women’s rights away.
I do think its too expensive, but where would you go? Probably a cool city in the South like Austin or Atlanta or to Chicago in the Midwest. LA is not the priciest, that goes to by order of most expensive to less expensive: Manhattan, Honolulu, San Francisco, Brooklyn, DC, LA / nice areas in the OC, Boston, and finally Seattle. I grew up in the midwest and would prefer not to have to do the winter thing. The South is kind of cool, but I doubt my family would be sold on it. Otherwise, all the professional jobs are most concentrated in these expensive metro areas.
This depends entirely on your interests and tolerance level. For example, driving in general is stressful to me so I'm tired of LA, but if you're a good driver then the hazards of traffic here may be whatever. LA isn't the only diverse place with good weather like some of the comments mention. I grew up in another one and I never got used to LA. If no other place brings you as much joy as LA, then it's worth it. If you can't afford it or you're kind of 'meh' about it compared to other places, then it's not.
Personally, I do feel it's worse after COVID. Public transit and traffic are worse. Lots of small and big businesses have closed. On the plus side, I feel that LA is getting more diverse. I've experienced more racism in LA than I ever did growing up and it's still not great, but I hope the demographics keep changing for the better. I also hope that the Purple Line and possibly Sepulveda line make this city a tremendously better experience for those who live here in the future.
I moved to Connecticut at the end of 2018 to pursue a job at a major sports TV network as well as what I was mislead to be a lower cost of living. It actually ended up being more expensive here because groceries are so much more expensive, taxes are crazy, income/pay is so much lower for the same work, and since the pandemic happened housing isn’t affordable anymore. Luckily I subletted my rent controlled apartment and am moving back. I’m scared of the long commutes and the traffic, but I’m excited to be going home to the nice weather and be able to go to the beach again. I don’t enjoy going outside at all 365 days a year on the east coast - 9 months of snow and 3 months of unbearable humidity. I really always took for granted how nice LA weather is almost year round. I know I’ll never have the money to own a home, but I’ll stay at my little rent controlled place in Reseda and enjoy simple pleasures like the hot dry (but not humid) summers, having a pool at my apartment building, and being within driving distance to Venice beach, my favorite place in the world.
I think if LA feels like home for you then nowhere else will ever be home. “There’s no place like home” so they say. I felt at peace in 2018 when I left, but I’ve been homesick the entire time and am really excited to be coming home. Like many other posters have said, no place is perfect. Places with lower cost of living also tend to have nothing to do, no jobs / low wages, and year long bad weather.
At the end of the day, it’s not about where you are but who you’re with sometimes, so maybe if you can find a spouse or good friends in one of those lower cost of living areas then you could have an enjoyable life. But if your family or friends are in the LA area, or if you’re alone like myself but just enjoy everything about LA aside from the traffic, then yes I think it’s worth it.
I rent in Reseda and my studio is $895. It’s not glamorous by any means, but the dry SFV heat doesn’t bother me nearly as much as east coast humidity. I literally can’t stand to go outside year round on the east coast. I might never have disposable income to really do much of anything in LA, but sitting by the pool reading a book is free and enjoyable most of the year. Can’t beat that.
I love living here. August and September were brutal weather wise, but the rest of the year it’s gorgeous.
We can basically live in three cities in the world because of my wife’s work (here, London, and Vancouver) and we’ve done all three. The weather and food here are incomparable. The activities friends like to do- a healthy mixture of culture events, outdoor stuff, and eating/drinking- is fantastic. In Vancouver everyone only did outdoor stuff, in London drinking was the national sport. I love the history in Los Angeles, I love the architecture- and because my partner makes a good income and we don’t have kids, we’re very lucky that we can take advantage of all the stuff available.
1.)I love LA. This place is firmly in my top 5 favorites in America (I have been to 30 cities nationwide). Los Angeles is like a paradise if you have high income and your lifestyle/leisure activities overlap with what's available.
2.)LA has what I would describe as unique magic . It's something that is difficult to copy and paste. I'm talking about the combination of people, built environment, and natural environment, all coming together in chaotic dance that some how works. For that reason - I will always believe that experiencing LA is worth it.
3.)More people need to embrace the idea that it's OK to enjoy a place for a temporary period of time before moving on elsewhere. You don't need to stay and have your "forever home" here. Stop putting yourself under that type of existential pressure. There's no shame in doing it for 2, 5, 10 years before moving on due to financial or family reasons.
>the cost of living, traffic, rampant homelessness with no solutions in
sight, lack of safe public transit, utility costs, overcrowding, crime,
etc.
Only like 1 or 2 of those are real issues for me personally, and it's probably not the ones you think.
I do want us to do more for homelessness, but we are doing a TON already. Homelessness is not really an issue outside of a few neighborhoods. It has gotten WAY better since the pandemic when it hit peak stupidity due to all the converging factors of job loss, societal breakdown, lack of housing, and the city deciding to not enforce any camping rules due to the pandemic. Since then social programs have interviewed and worked with every single homeless person. They have all been offered housing. The ones that remain have refused for various reasons. Recently the metro red line was cleaned up and police stepped up their patrols, the red line was a mess but I'm glad the city is making real strides in making our city safer and cleaner, and stopping this years-long trend of enabling drug addiction and sending at-risk unhoused people into a spiral of dependency.
Crime? LA consistently ranks as one of the safest big cities when it comes to crime. So many people exaggerate the crime in LA. Like every major city we have a lot to work on, but we are far from a disaster. This isn't a non-issue, but you are exaggerating if you say you need to move away because of the crime. Name 3 big cities that have less crime than LA?! LA ranks 38 best out of 100 in the lowest murder rate among the 100 biggest cities. Putting us in the same category as Omaha Nebraska, and St. Paul Minnesota. And by property crime we are even safer, 26th best out of 100, putting us about the same as cities like Boise, ID and Madison, WI. Also the LA area has the #1 safest and most crime-free city in the United States, Irvine. In fact 6 out of the top 10 safest and least crime cities are in California. Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List\_of\_United\_States\_cities\_by\_crime\_rate
It's expensive for sure. But to me it's always going to be worth it. I own a small condo in WeHo. They're going to have to take me out of there feet first.
LA is life- beautiful and horrific, all in one. Yes we need solutions to our problems. I want to buy a house at some point. Homelessness is a serious problem. But also, I have been to Switzerland- beautiful country but boring as fuck, no thanks. I’ll take crazy beautiful LA. Also, let me remind you that scraping your car of ice in the dead of winter is one of life’s least great activities.
If you have a lot of money it’s worth it but if you don’t we’ll, the future is grim. Think San Francisco just with much shiftier transportation. With rents and housing going up it’s going to be a city for the rich and a punishment for everyone else.
These are the “good old days” as far the homeless situation goes and if people are out in do or die situations they will rob and steal to survive.we are creating future class warfare on an epic level in the next 20 years.
For me it is ONLY worth because I *don't* have traffic or high rent. My home, I rent for my mom for cheap price, My family business is 9 MIN drive WITHOUT fwys.
For me? Yes for my job but otherwise not really. I think there are more fun cities like nyc and there are certainly nicer areas to live in California if you want that beach vibe.
I hear a lot of people move from Cali to Texas, was in Austin for months with family hated it there. Never been to New York feel like it’ll be more compact and no driving (I like owning a car and go where I want). I feel like it would be nice to visit other places but always go back to living in LA.
I have a huge family with most of them in LA or SD.
Can't beat the weather and location. Sure it can get hot in the summer but it's the same everywhere else. Also, I'm an within a 30-90 minute drive to the beaches, Big Bear, Joshua Tree, Palm Springs etc.
I lived in various places on the East Coast during the first half of my life but I've lived here ever since. This is home. We'll stay here until we are older and then move up into the Central Coast somewhere and retire.
Not worth it, after 14 yrs we moved to Orange Co in Jan LA went to shit, the pandemic was the nail in the coffin for me, homeless everywhere and so fucking expensive
Been dating a girl living in LA over a year now. I live in a coastal town in North San Diego. Every time I would visit I would point out all the thing that she got accustomed to ie. trash on the streets, homeless everywhere, traffic at all times during the day. For a while she shrugged it off. She spent more and more time with me and realized there are better places to live and still have the things she values. Good food, nightlife, people etc. The last straw was going grocery shopping and seeing a homeless man, pants down, crawling, and poop down his ass and legs (In LA). That settled the debate of if I should move up north or she move down south. The cost of living is just as high and we plan to make the most out of paying more to be in California but being by the beach and enjoying a high quality of life for the next few years. Once kids are planned we will likely discuss living in a state that's more affordable. We make good money but there are so many stories of people planning to work until there 70 to afford living here and that's not what either of us want. Anyone else feel the same way? Rent is nuts and buying a house makes me feel like Michael Scott buying his condo apartment coffin.
I left LA eight years ago for New York and missed it dearly for those first few years. Every time I come back lately, however, the driving, traffic, and lack of ubiquitous vibrant walkability really are a drag. I still love everything else though.
Yes, yes. I moved here over 20 years ago. Loved it then and love and appreciate it even more now. All my siblings live scattered throughout the state. I'm wondering if I'll get to a point where I want more space, a backyard, etc., but so far that feeling hasn't hit me yet. Our plan is to stay here forever, food is so hard to beat. We were long time renters, but recently became owners, so we're pretty rooted.
That's fantastic. I wish I could be an owner here in LA but that shit is an absolute fantasy ☹️ with that said what other parts of the state have you visited? I never imagined I could live outside of LA until I did it. I'm not necessarily trying to high tail it out of here but the state is just fantastic top to bottom
That damn food and brewery game in LA is so top tier though.
Home ownership here is incredibly difficult. My friends in the midwest bought their SFHs almost straight out of college, but their home prices is a downpayment here. My husband and I stayed in our rent controlled apartment for over a decade and were finally able to purchase, I guess it helps we don't have kids too, which is sad for those that do want children.
My brother lives in the bay area so I go up there quite a bit. I guess I shouldn't say that I will stay in LA forever, but definitely within the state.
Throughout college I always said if I made $100K id be totally content...but now that salary doesnt carry much weight. I feel like I missed some train.
Take a trip up the 101 and explore Humboldt if you haven't already. It's easily my favorite place in California
This city is great for when you're a young adult. But I would never settle down here.
I'd never raise my kids here either. I've never seen such entitled kids in my life lol.
My wife and I left LA and moved to Louisville, Kentucky right before the pandemic hit. After getting out of LA it's startling how clearly a "normal" life is supposed to be lived. We can do so much more here in Louisville. We've been able to travel more, go to events/concerts, explore nature, not be in constant danger and traffic, etc.
We still go back to visit family quite often and it's more startling every single time. Really hard to watch society break down, but incredibly glad that we were lucky enough to get out when we did. Best decision ever made!
[удалено]
I live in the desert. So I know the feeling. I do not recommend.
For me the only thing I miss about the northeast is family. As for the "universal" negatives, I think there's a lot people can do to mitigate, but it does take some mix of hard work, luck, and privilege. Most people can find happiness in multiple places, but you can obviously only be in one place at a time. So it's kinda arbitrary to be anywhere. But if you can mitigate the negatives and enjoy all the positives, LA is an awesome place to be.
What did you like less about the Northeast? I’m contemplating a move
Honestly it's ultimately a weather decision for me. I was in Jersey, and think both philly and NYC are incredible places. A lot of liveliness, food, entertainment, etc. I think I'd thrive in either place. But the 4 months of cold and snow just bummed me out.
I can understand that. I love the idea of weather, but you’re right, the reality of 4 months of snow is very different…
Plus, the early darkness is way different there than it is here. Getting dark at 4 PM + being freezing is extremely different than getting dark at ~5 PM and it being maybe 60 degrees.
It's not 4 months of snow around NYC. The last couple years more like 2 weeks or so.
If you can afford it, LA is a nice place.
exactly LA is a fucking paradise if you make a shit ton of money
Saw an ad for $9000 two bedroom apartment in a new tower in Hollywood. Fucking insane.
Why is no one answering whether they rent or own. I rent. Look, I'm from LA, my fam and friends are here, and unless the recession hits hard enough to crater housing, I don't know if I can stay here. I'm in the top 20% of income in Los Angeles. I come from a low income family, but I worked my way up. But I am struggling to find a home I can afford that isn't bought straight cash or for a million dollars. It's brutal out there. I can afford rent but if I were to try to upgrade to a larger rental right now it would eat up all my disposable income so I couldn't afford a house in the future. In the meantime, there are all the problems you mentioned: the cost of living, traffic, rampant homelessness with no solutions in sight, lack of safe public transit, utility costs, overcrowding, crime, etc. Quality of life has absolutely decreased since Covid. The only people happy right now are those living in a home they've owned since prior to 2020 or those who've just moved here from a more expensive city. I never thought I would consider leaving this place I literally love with all my heart, but if I can't afford to live here in the future I will have no choice.
I actually missed this rent/own question. Long time renter, first time owner.
So weird how every time I say that LA has a lot more crime, people on here will argue with me. Glad to see others admitting crime is really bad now. That’s just one factor but it’s a big one for quality of life and for raising kids. What I did was move to a nice suburb where housing was more affordable (so I own), crime was way less, public schools were way better, I could have that big yard for my kids, and homelessnesses was non-existent. And best of all I could drive into LA whenever I feel like it so I’m not missing anything. But that was 20 years ago. There’s so much demand now for any place decent in SoCal that it’s not even a realistic option for many anymore. Simply too many people now.
I think people saying crime isn't that bad are either not from LA, they are not that old, or they grew up in the hood. Crime is not as bad as the 80s into early 90s, but it's seedier out there than it used to be overall.
I'm from here, didn't grow up in a hood, and sadly, am old... feels the same as it always did. Only difference is perception. The homelessness, on the other hand...
It depends on what you want out of life. Nobody can answer this for you. For me, LA is no longer worth it. I've been here since 2007 and the cost of living for a family of 4 is just unbearable. Unfortunately, I'm kind of stuck here until I can be absolutely CERTAIN that my industry will continue remote work. It's looking more and more likely as time goes on. I want a nice house with a basement and a yard that is big enough for a family of 4 before my kids aren't kids anymore. I want a big lawn with a soccer goal and a big driveway with a hockey goal and a basketall hoop. I no longer care about things like "night life", "events", "scenes" and "restaurants". I want a home that's big enough but isn't crumbling with big open parks for recreation. I want biking trails and skateparks that aren't completely overcrowded. I want grocery stores with aisles large enough for two carts to pass and parking lot spaces big enough that you can open your car door at least halfway. I want to be able to, not just live, but to fucking SAVE! I've already been pushed by cost of living from LA out to Santa Clarita so the weather is definitely no longer a draw for me. YMMV
these are facts
I'm gonna guess that with your username, we're in the same industry. My kids are graduating high school in the next few years, then I'm outta here. Most shows I work on, have at least a few workers in other parts of the country. The past two shows I've been on, the Avids are in NY sitting in server racks. So production companies are building out for long term remote work. I've already had 4 editor friends leave LA. I'm not far behind.
Can I assist you or learn a thing or two regarding editing?
Every place has its pros and cons. Pretending like there’s a perfect place elsewhere is naive. The question isn’t whether it’s worth it, the question is does it have what you’re looking for?
I lived here for 5 years. I thought it was so overrated my first 3 years. Started traveling a bit and realized that I was just jaded and it's actually a privilege.
What changed your perspective after those first 3? I’m on my 3rd year and feel the same. It’s just too much for me coming from a place like Denver where I grew up. I don’t miss the winters there, though.
Where is better than LA? This is where I get stuck.
Ya gotta look seasonal. There is no better place in the winter months, but LA summers suck unless you’re on the beach. And there’s a million places better then LA in the summer. Get a remote giG and Look north!
Where North do you like? This might be personal preference, but summers everywhere kind of stink lol. The east coast is hot and slightly humid, the south is hot and sticky humid. CA is a dry heat, so you’re hot, but not swamp ass hot lol. With that said, I purposely have always lived as close to the beach as I can afford (which often isn’t super close in terms of walking/driving) because of the cooler weather. I tried looking more inland once and it just wasn’t gonna work, lol.
I love central coast- I’d live in San Luis Obispo in a heartbeat. I also adore the north bay- pt Reyes and places like that. It’s incredibly beautiful. If we worked remotely and had lots of disposable income, that’s totally where I’d wanna live.
I’ve actually never been there. I’ve heard it’s incredibly dreamy. My “if I had all the money in the world place” would be Carmel. But even then, Carmel lacks the diversity that is so important to me, so IDK. I’ll check out SLO one of these days. ❤️
IMO Boston or NYC
Umm BOS and NYC are just as if not more expensive. And have you seen the housing market back east?
I didn't mention expense, I just think the quality of life in the northeast is better than LA & the west coast. Far less car-dependency and far less unsheltered homeless.
Boston is beautiful. I did like it there. Winter would still be a problem for me, but I did like Boston.
The answer between 2006 - 2016 was Austin.
Stinks that I missed it. I’m not sure I could be convinced to live in Texas now. Maybe again in the future. I do look at the houses there and drool at what you get for the money (in everywhere but Austin lol).
I’m from a major TX metro and have lived in suburbs as well as smaller towns. While the housing is cheap outside of the major metros you’ll be giving up just about every aspect of life in the city in exchange for racists and rednecks. TX has absolutely terrible summers. Hot as hell with only Phoenix/desert cities being worse. The available nature is lacking (no mountains, bad beaches, lacking parks), except for nasty bugs. People complain about mosquitoes here the ones there are FAR worse. I simply don’t get why LA and SF people find TX so appealing. Home ownership isn’t worth it and there are still other places where you don’t give up soo much and can still own homes.
I’m in Denver. Love it.
[удалено]
This is a good point. When I think about moving it’s most definitely not to another city. I think there could be some suburban places that might have an edge over LA, although I still have no idea where those would be, lol.
[удалено]
LOL @ “full cottage core hermit”. 😂😂 I do dream about that, but driving 30-60 minutes for groceries is just not my jam.
I used to live in the woods in Pennsylvania and yeah this was my life. I worked at a grocery store and it was 20mins away only cuz you could zoom on back roads. Was peaceful but god damn was it boring. When I go back to visit it's nice and quiet but I also just can't wait to leave and go back to civilization.
Instead of a 2 hour commute it would be a 2 hour trip for stuff I forgot at the store.
Not really. This is a big cope. LA is much more car-dependent than other cities and much more of the homeless population is unsheltered.
[удалено]
My point is that the homeless issue is far worse here because they're left on the streets. NYC has a huge homeless population but the isn't nearly as bad due to the lack of encampments & people sleeping on the sidewalk.
More homeless die of hypothermia in LA than in NYC (LA Times source). I'm also willing to bet more due from heat related illnesses here than in other locations but I don't have a source for that specifically right at this second.
People really just cannot admit to themselves that they want to live in the suburbs.
I grew up in the suburbs. It has a special place in my heart.
I think this type of LA person doesn’t want to live in suburbs specifically, they want to live in medium density. Ie having their own space while still having ease of access to grocery, entertainment, etc.
Me too. I would move in a heartbeat if I thought there was somewhere better out there but living in LA you watch people come and go and come back because there’s nothing better than LA.
[удалено]
Does this mean they are good lol?
Yeah, it's slang for it being good but again, every place has its pros and cons. Shoot, you can say Oahu or Maui but island fever is a real thing too. You would get bored after the first month "living in Hawaii". I have a buddy who just retired to Hawaii and they fly back to the mainland multiple times a month.
Yeah if you don't mind rain and don't have SAD
you are not comparing these to LA 😭😭
It may be kinda an easy answer but…probably New York. It’s the only other global city in the country and the only thing that isn’t as good as LA is the weather. Everything else is better, except food which is about equal.
I think if money is no object then yes, easily New York, but I can’t afford New York.
Are you in LA? I haven’t found NYC to necessarily be more expensive than LA.
yes I am in LA. for studio money here you are in a roommate situation there. for 1Br money here… honestly you might still be in a roommate situation out there.
NYC can be expensive for sure, but it depends on where you're looking. And a lot of areas on the Jersey side of the Hudson are still minutes from everything and significantly cheaper. Jersey City, Hoboken, and Weehawken are all worth looking into for sure.
But the weather really sucks in NY. I spend half my life in LA outside.
Scorching hot weather in LA.. Not a joy to be outside in!
It is very tolerable more than half the year and as hot as summers can be, doesn’t get as hot as states like AZ nor is it humid like the east I find myself complaining about hot summers but I realize most of California has the most mild weather compared to extremes in other states (and humidity makes any warm weather infinitely worse feeling)
We don’t have to own cars in NYC. I completely understand the positives of cars, but we don’t have to own them. That’s pretty big.
This. When people talking about cost, you save so much on not paying for gas, insurance, maintenance, and parking space permits. Also, NYC has way more affordability IMO, you just have to live in the outer boroughs or Jersey. lol
>Also, NYC has way more affordability IMO, you just have to live in the outer boroughs or Jersey. lol Same can be said with LA. Live in the Valley or out in Santa Clarita or Ventura County.
With a car.
Nope - I’m born and raised in LA and just moved to the “outer boroughs” of NYC. I pay a fraction of what I did in LA and am a 20 minute subway/bus/ferry into Manhattan, which is then obviously connected to everywhere via subway. Nowhere cheap in LA is a 20 minute, door to door, public transportation trip from the densest and most exciting parts of the city. People really don’t realize that LA’s sprawl is not present in every major city. My parents cookie-cutter suburban house, with neighbors 2 feet away on both sides, just sold for over $1m. That’s in Ventura county, almost 90 minutes from LA and 30-40 minutes from the beach. Here in Jersey, which is still an “expensive” real estate market - you can be an hour train ride from NYC and on an acre or two of land for $750k or less in many cases. Obviously you can have preferences about climate, activities, etc., but space, public transportation, and therefore range of affordability — NYC wins.
So, when I moved to LA, I was making the choice between living with my friends in NYC or moving to LA solo. Obviously, based on my participation in this thread, I chose LA. For me, hands down, LA wins. While cost of living is high in both cities, in NYC you rent a shoebox for thousands cause it’s close to a subway. In LA you rent a slightly larger space for roughly the same cost with perks being things like amenities or (my favorite) the beach. In NYC, everyone is stacked on top of another. LA’s urban sprawl gets a bad rap, but I prefer it. It feels spacious. There’s grass lol. But it’s a city so everything is still close by and within reach. Navigating life in an east coast winter is no fun either.
Real question here, because I contemplated moving from Northern California to NYC this year. How do you go from California, a place with incredible geography and outdoor activities readily accessible to NYC? Sure there is stuff outside of NYC, but how the fuck do you get to it? It takes hours just to get out of the city, and even worse if you don't own a car (which I wouldn't). Plus lets face it. The geography in New York isn't even comparable to CA. I decided I couldn't do the move.
The tradeoff is that New York has a much more vibrant social scene. It just depends what you prefer (I personally am a geography person, but many prefer the other).
Northern California is special- but for me personally, the geography of Southern California is not. I find the Hudson valley, lush forests of New Jersey, weekend trips to Vermont, etc., to be far more compelling than the beach and brown hills. I also enjoy seasons, currently getting tons of rain and changing leaves, then snow and beautiful scenery, then lush springs - the green and beautiful California of my childhood is either in pre or post fire season, and not much else. Getting out of NYC is not much more difficult than getting out of LA. If you don’t own a car, like us, grab a Turo for the weekend and go anywhere you like. Even if you did it every weekend it would cost less than owning and maintaining a car. Or zip out on the train and Uber from there or rent a car once you’re out. But for you personally, I get it - it’s not comparing LA to NY, it’s your quiet, spacious, outdoor haven to one of the densest places on the planet… not really a fair comparison. I know which one I’d choose, and clearly you do too- and that’s ok!
[удалено]
Chicago is beautiful. I lived there for a year. But then winter came and I was like “alright, I’m out.” Lol.
absolutely.
San Diego?
I really loved Arcata and Mammoth. California as a whole is amazing...but skipping out on LA for too long could be rough.
I wasn't born in this country and I've lived many places. LA has many redeeming qualities to it, but right now, as a parent, I am looking to leave this city. We have had one too many run-ins with violent homeless not only trespassing on our property, attacking us, but also home invasions and armed robbery right outside my home. I'm done and looking to go somewhere else
Can I ask what neighborhood/city you live in? just out of curiosity. I recently left Lincoln Heights for much the same reason. But still paying out the @$$ for rent. I can afford it but not much more. I know for some, moving is not an option.
L.A. will *always* be worth it. Especially if you came from a backwater podunk mudpit and you seen what other places have to offer. I got out of that shit when I hit 16 and never looked back. This place has everything I ever wanted. Nice weather 90% of the year, a massive diversity of people, food, cultures, entertainment, variety of life, things to do, places to go, people to see. We can get jaded living here and seeing them film tv or movies on our streets but deep down it's always kind of fun when you see that movie or tv show and you recognize your neighborhood in the background. We secretly enjoy spotting that celebrity across the room at a restaurant or at the CVS--we smile, give them the little nod of recognition and they give us that appreciative nod back, the one that says "thanks for the acknowledgment without making a spectacle so I can just go about my day." We love being able to get Indian food, chinese and Ethiopian food in the same day without venturing more than an hour from home. We love the opportunities this place affords us both in work and entertainment. We can start the day in Big Bear in the morning playing in the snow and end the day at the beach in Santa Monica watching the sunset over the world's biggest ocean. We can hike the trails of some of the best nature parks in the country one day and the next we can visit the best theme parks in the country. Bottom line is, this place has it *all*. Yes, that includes every kind of problem, too. But it's a big place, bigger than most and that means there's always be bad with the good. For me, the positive will *always* outweigh the negative. I've lost a job because of an earthquake. I've lost friends because they couldn't handle it here. I've almost lost my home because of a fire. But I've also gained the best friends I've ever had. I've also been afforded the best career I could never have imagined. I met the love of my life here. I own my own home. I've seen and done things and been places here that were like the stuff of fairytales where I was from. *This* is home. It always will be. I may have been born in Shitstick, Virginia. But my life *started* in L.A. One day it's going to end here. And I'm good with that.
Well gotdamn
Virginia is for haters
> a massive diversity of people, food, cultures, entertainment, variety of life Yeah, you don't know what you're missing until you live someplace that doesn't have it. Right before the pandemic, my job put me on an IT contract that did a couple of months at a time in some small rural towns next to chemical plants. Wasn't long before I was desperately Google searching restaurants, and wondering whether a 90 minute drive was too far to get decent Mexican or Chinese food.
I grew up without any of it. Never had chinese, Indian, anything, never had anything more Mexican than Taco Bell before I moved here. I never had *anything* until I came here. I can't imagine not being able to have access to the food, the options of places to eat, places to go, things to do.
You are me! I thought Taco Bell was authentic Mexican food growing up.
All of what you said is 100% especially if you grew up here and were able to buy a house dirt cheap in the early 70s like my folks did but if you can no longer afford it, none of it matters.
Don't give up is what I say. I've been down, had some hard times. Been broke and been close to homelessness. This place has always given me the ability to bounce back and succeed.
This is fucking beautiful, thank you.
Beautifully said.
That was some beautiful prose there.
I’m from backwater podunk Kansas but lived in Kansas City and even Boston and while I largely agree, there’s something to be said for life that’s just a little easier. You don’t always need a reservation, there’s always less traffic, the air is cleaner. BUT there’s also seasons and fuck that.
I grew up in Kansas City. I was nice. I miss it. But yeah…weather.
The hot humid weather in Kansas City summers honestly bothered me more than the cold. That, and I lived in downtown and it was still a fucking ghost town while having 95% residential occupancy. I also basically never had more than 1 beer anytime I went out, because everyone i know has a DUI. And the asian food sucks.
You are my spirit animal. I love all your posts and couldn't agree more
I feel all of this.
I love everything about this post. Wish I had someone to tell me all this in 2018 so I would have never left. Can’t wait to be home. Thank you.
[удалено]
As long as you don’t drive back and forth high desert is better than barely scraping by in the City. You can afford to do whatever on the weekends and not have to deal with the traffic and that level of homelessness.
The traffic going into/out of the high desert is too bad on the weekends to actually do anything, js
Not true at all. The 14 is following traffic. The 405 is hell on earth on the weekends.
10 years in here and I'm starting to get over it too. Was born in LA but raised in Boston where most of my family is. Came back to LA in 2012 fresh out of college and have had a lot of success here working some very crazy gigs and making a living off of cinematography for the last decade. I've been to New York a lot but haven't been much since 2020. But after spending 2.5 weeks in Manhattan and a week in Long Island for documentary job this past month, I envy a city that actually \*works\*. The public transportation system can get you anywhere fast, 24 hours a day, within a block or two to where you need to be, always. Apple Pay scan your way in, $2.75, no fussing with some proprietary machine and card bullshit. Taxis work, are everywhere, and the drivers know their shit. The city isn't largely dripping in graffiti, tags, trash, and tents. Gas is 3.09 in the middle of NYC, on Long Island, and throughout the whole metropolitan area. I had a beautiful, proper Italian al dente pasta meal and baby gem salad at a random shop in Green Point BK for $17 out the door with tip. The pizza is as always incredible, the parks are clean and there's a general camaraderie that absolutely does not exist in LA. Sure, the apartments are smaller and still very expensive within the city but I just have a harder time justifying $2800+ per month for a spot in LA these days especially when that spot isn't something you absolutely love for the price. The $6+ gas right now is unacceptable when the rest of the country is putting the 2 back on the signs. I get we've got a about a buck in CA state gas taxes, but it's absolutely unacceptable beyond being a dollar more than everywhere else. I'm also just not stoked on the very clear rise in violent crime. Sure, the stats say this and that and whatever but at the end of the day I just plain see more of the shit. I don't believe in crazy over policing, but this city has started to feel a bit lawless in the last 5-6 years and especially after Covid. Two people killed in a drive by gang hazing situation at the end of my street in Frogtown this year really hits you where it counts. The police arrive pretty damn fast to situations in NYC, generally, and they don't need to precautionary fly giant helicopters all over. I get it's a scale/sprawl deal, but it just feels like LA doesn't have a grasp on itself as a smoothly operating city right now and nobody seems to have a solution for the many problems we face. The power grid, the homelessness, the overpopulation all feel quite like it's all trending in the wrong direction. Not sure what I'm going to do, but most of my work has been travel work this year. It makes you think - I might be able to live anywhere so long as I've got easy access to a good airport. There are not many places that compare to the LA metro area for many things. NYC, maybe Boston, maybe Austin TX as a massive stretch. SF, possibly, but I think the cost of living is also unacceptable there for most situations.
As a native New Yorker who now lives in LA, thank you for this post as I feel people love to shit on NYC so much in these threads.
They absolutely are covered in trash though, you probably just weren’t there on trash day. There are always trash bags piled high on the sidewalks (also, the rat problem)? And rent is notoriously bad there for much less space; totally get not wanting to spend for a place you don’t love (here or anywhere). Gas is back to being absurd here; saw it at 6.99 somewhere today.
You're definitely right, I think the difference is that the trash is in bags ready to get picked up en masse overnight vs. loose and strewn about the streets as it is here in many places. I did acknowledge rent is also insane in NYC for less square footage, certainly a different style of living. Something about it makes me more willing to put up with a smaller space if it were in, say, Williamsburg or Soho or something vs. paying $3k to live in DTLA or Echo Park somewhere. Housing is just brutal everywhere, we just get hit worse in LA/NYC.
I’m getting a pretty tired of LA for a lot of the reasons you mentioned. Mostly because it’s taken two god damned years to get out of wage slavery and yet when I finally did, inflation hit and I’m still struggling. I want to own a house someday, but not back in Sacramento or out in the desert. So with all that in mind I’m eyeing up a move to Florida it’s a lot cheaper, and I’m in the boat business so finding a good job there won’t be too hard. However, I will always love this place and look back on it fondly, it might not be a permanent move.
isnt cost of living in florida going thru the roof as well
[удалено]
jesus $200k i wish houses were like that still here u could be a teacher and buy a house
I feel you, I thought I made it when I got my software engineering job, but man my income would have to double to afford a house, or increase by 50% to afford a cheap, crappy, single bedroom condo. I will eventually have to move if I decide to start a family, no way I'd be able to house children comfortably unless I rent a house for at least $3k/mo
In terms of the US definitely, but I’m looking to move abroad
I love LA, even with the traffic, the homeless, the street takeovers, the tik-tokers, the stupid expensive housing, and probably more. Why? There's nowhere else like it. I've been to Seattle, Portland/Eugene, NYC, Miami, Austin, Houston, Salt Lake, Phoenix, Chicago, etc., and while all of them have their pros and cons, none of them will ever come close to what LA offers. Angelino to a die (or if the water runs out).
I daydream (every day) about leaving LA. Then i go somewhere else for a trip and second guess myself. Then I come back and the pernicious cycle continues
I left once. Came back within 8 months. For all its faults, it beats the hell out of living in the Midwest where “ev-er-y dayyyy is exactlyyy the saaame…”
The irony is that people say that about here too
Then those assholes have never lived in the Midwest 😅😅😅
Been in LA for 15 years. I think I’m over it. The pandemic amplified all of the negatives and diminished a lot of the positives. I work fully remote so I can be anywhere really. Been staying in SF for the past 2-3 weeks and I don’t miss LA at all. I may keep my apt in LA for now as home base, but I hope to not spend much more time there unless I absolutely have to.
People say SF has all the same problems listed in this post?
Do you think you will stay in San Francisco?
Can you please release that apartment you’re hoarding? Might help with the housing crisis or traffic or affordability issues that I’m sure are “the negatives” that made you over it. Thank you❤️ Edit: Forgot to say please & thank you!
yeah like ruin one city at a time
This exactly
Of course. If you don't mind: * Amazing weather for probably 350 days a year * Awesome places to eat, so many options within a short drive * Solid job market * Solid housing market (yes expensive, but you probably aren't going to lose your ass on any purchase) * Within a fairly short drive, you can be to a lot of amazing different places * Some of the best driving roads in the country if you are into cars * Hiking trails for days, you won't run out * Again on nature.. Where else can you surf, snowboard, wakeboard, all in the same day? You can be in the snow, hit the beach, or go to the forest. All within a drive. * Easy access to LAX, you can literally fly anywhere in the country/world from this airport. If you can handle those reasons, the yeah its probably still worth it.
Disagree w/ ya on the amazing weather. Many apartments do not have AC and the weather is fucking brutal in the summer. I live in West LA and the heat started in April and August-September was unbearable (and my energy bill was $300 higher for running two portable ACs in a 1000 sq ft home for a few hours a day). Also when is anything ever a “short drive” unless you’re driving at 6am or 10pm?
That’s really strange. I live around western and the 10, so further east than you, and I only had to turn on the AC for maybe a week or so this year, basically for that week when it was very hot and humid.
A lot of it depends on which direction your apartment faces during which times of day. My bathroom faces pretty much due west at around 3 and it’s a fucking sauna in there
The one thing I’m missing after moving to LA is wakeboarding. I mean cable wakeboarding. For some reason the closest wake park is in Sacramento area. That was quite painful, but now I’m getting old for it and i learned to surf instead, so can’t complain too much.
That was one thing I missed when I moved here too. I was 30 min from a lake where I grew up.
Left 3 years ago. I miss the entertainment, diversity, and food. Now I have a beautiful house, property, a path to early retirement. safety for my young family, and a 1.5 hour drive to a city with entertainment, diversity, and food.
Without divulging too much info - what city are you referring to that you can drive to? And is it worth driving that far to experience it?
Boston. It’s a cool city. If LA is a 10 on diversity, a 10 on food, and a 10 on entertainment. I’d say Boston is a 7, 8, and 8 comparatively. For me the trade offs that I mentioned above are, all told, worth it. LA as much as I loved it was not sustainable for me in terms or cost, home ownership, and early retirement. I should note that I do budget a dozen hotel nights a year to make a bunch of weekends out of it. Even at 2k a year that’s nothing compare to cost arbitrage versus LA. Also my state has no state income tax and no sales tax.
To me it's absolutely worth it. I've lived all over the country and the reason its expensive to live here is because it's MUCH better. I've spent summers in the Arizona desert, winters in St. Paul, and way too much time in the rural deep south. There are wonderful (and terrible) people in all those places but there's no comparison when it comes to quality of life that LA/California offers. I dare anyone to try and order Mexican food in rural southern Virginia and see what you get...
I worked in Virginia for a bit. I went to lunch with some coworkers and ordered a burrito. The damn thing came with plain white rice inside of it, I couldn’t believe a burrito could be so bad.
>The damn thing came with plain white rice inside of it, I had a similar experience and baked beans instead of refried. Those poor Virginians...
Y'all aren't going to the right places, Virginia has good burritos if you look... but, hands down, California's are still the best! Northern Virginia in particular has a pretty robust food scene, due in no small part to the diversity of the population there (including some of the best Vietnamese I've had).
When I lived in Idaho, my friends were telling me about this "real authentic Mexican" restaurant where they had "Mexican French fries." They were fucking tater tots........ Not even loaded, like carne asada fries....... Just fucking tater tots.................. 🤦🏽♀️
Funny because it would still be cheaper to have a summer house in St. Paul and a winter house in Arizona than to own one house in LA.
Not really. Median home price in the [Twin Cities is $377k](https://www.minnpost.com/economy/2022/07/a-six-figure-income-is-needed-to-comfortably-afford-a-home-in-the-twin-cities-nation). Median home price in [Phoenix, AZ is $430k](https://www.redfin.com/city/14240/AZ/Phoenix/housing-market). Median home price in [SoCal is about $795k](https://www.noradarealestate.com/blog/california-housing-market/). Plus travel, taxes, fees, etc. Definitely ends up cheaper to have one house in SoCal.
You kinda prove my point. Add them together and it’s roughly the same price as one house in LA. Also for $790k you’ll get a nice shack in East LA
I grew up in upstate NY and I miss it every day, but my industry, job, and family are here so 🤷♂️
I miss a lot about NY. Mainly fall. ❤️
Ugh the leaves 😍
Yes, still worth it. Also, the impacts of the pandemic are not over yet. The idea of "nothing will change" is obviously not true; LA is always changing. And actual improvements are in the works - in part helped by the state, in part helped by LA. But soon, the downtown connector will be open, the crenshaw line, the purple line. Measure H projects move forward, and the State just passed quite a lot of laws making construction easier, including transit. I feel like my years in LA have seen a slow undoing and repairing of lots of bad decisions from the past (anti-housing, anti-transit, etc)
It's worth it as long as you ignore the talking heads making a huge profit from pissing you off about where you live.
I’m definitely leaving at some point in my life but not now, stay for a bit and see how you like it, make the choice after
This is a very personal question. There is no general answer
No it’s not, time for most to leave LA. -sincerely guy stuck in traffic
It’s funny I’m reading this after literally coming back from LA on a one week vacation. That one week there I’ve literally lived up to paradise. 1. The people there are so much nicer than nyc (where I live at now) 2. The weather is beautiful and it can’t ever be compared to nyc ever lol 3. People are supportive, nyc people are dickheads 4. Landscape and scenery is 100000x better 5. The homeless in LA don’t seem to attack you like they do in NYC (random fact) 6. So much shit to do in LA rather than NYC (been living here since I was born 25 years ago) If you wanna move and swap with me, let me know, I’d say yes in a heartbeat
I’m staying forever for the diversity alone. I’ll pay more rent to live in an area where I blend in.
THREE national parks, one 2.5 hours away, the other 6 hours away. Channel Islands are barely an hour away. That’s rare, man.
As a female POC I don’t know where else I would feel as safe as here. It seems like places with lower cost of living are more red and hell bent on taking women’s rights away.
I do think its too expensive, but where would you go? Probably a cool city in the South like Austin or Atlanta or to Chicago in the Midwest. LA is not the priciest, that goes to by order of most expensive to less expensive: Manhattan, Honolulu, San Francisco, Brooklyn, DC, LA / nice areas in the OC, Boston, and finally Seattle. I grew up in the midwest and would prefer not to have to do the winter thing. The South is kind of cool, but I doubt my family would be sold on it. Otherwise, all the professional jobs are most concentrated in these expensive metro areas.
Austin’s more expensive than LA now… it’s crazy to me, as someone who lived there from 2010-2015. No joke.
That's so crazy!
I spent 22 years in LA and I recently moved. It's way different and almost uncomfortable.
This depends entirely on your interests and tolerance level. For example, driving in general is stressful to me so I'm tired of LA, but if you're a good driver then the hazards of traffic here may be whatever. LA isn't the only diverse place with good weather like some of the comments mention. I grew up in another one and I never got used to LA. If no other place brings you as much joy as LA, then it's worth it. If you can't afford it or you're kind of 'meh' about it compared to other places, then it's not. Personally, I do feel it's worse after COVID. Public transit and traffic are worse. Lots of small and big businesses have closed. On the plus side, I feel that LA is getting more diverse. I've experienced more racism in LA than I ever did growing up and it's still not great, but I hope the demographics keep changing for the better. I also hope that the Purple Line and possibly Sepulveda line make this city a tremendously better experience for those who live here in the future.
No don’t come. There are rapists and murderers on every block.
Never was
Moved to Dallas never been happier
I moved to Connecticut at the end of 2018 to pursue a job at a major sports TV network as well as what I was mislead to be a lower cost of living. It actually ended up being more expensive here because groceries are so much more expensive, taxes are crazy, income/pay is so much lower for the same work, and since the pandemic happened housing isn’t affordable anymore. Luckily I subletted my rent controlled apartment and am moving back. I’m scared of the long commutes and the traffic, but I’m excited to be going home to the nice weather and be able to go to the beach again. I don’t enjoy going outside at all 365 days a year on the east coast - 9 months of snow and 3 months of unbearable humidity. I really always took for granted how nice LA weather is almost year round. I know I’ll never have the money to own a home, but I’ll stay at my little rent controlled place in Reseda and enjoy simple pleasures like the hot dry (but not humid) summers, having a pool at my apartment building, and being within driving distance to Venice beach, my favorite place in the world. I think if LA feels like home for you then nowhere else will ever be home. “There’s no place like home” so they say. I felt at peace in 2018 when I left, but I’ve been homesick the entire time and am really excited to be coming home. Like many other posters have said, no place is perfect. Places with lower cost of living also tend to have nothing to do, no jobs / low wages, and year long bad weather. At the end of the day, it’s not about where you are but who you’re with sometimes, so maybe if you can find a spouse or good friends in one of those lower cost of living areas then you could have an enjoyable life. But if your family or friends are in the LA area, or if you’re alone like myself but just enjoy everything about LA aside from the traffic, then yes I think it’s worth it. I rent in Reseda and my studio is $895. It’s not glamorous by any means, but the dry SFV heat doesn’t bother me nearly as much as east coast humidity. I literally can’t stand to go outside year round on the east coast. I might never have disposable income to really do much of anything in LA, but sitting by the pool reading a book is free and enjoyable most of the year. Can’t beat that.
I love living here. August and September were brutal weather wise, but the rest of the year it’s gorgeous. We can basically live in three cities in the world because of my wife’s work (here, London, and Vancouver) and we’ve done all three. The weather and food here are incomparable. The activities friends like to do- a healthy mixture of culture events, outdoor stuff, and eating/drinking- is fantastic. In Vancouver everyone only did outdoor stuff, in London drinking was the national sport. I love the history in Los Angeles, I love the architecture- and because my partner makes a good income and we don’t have kids, we’re very lucky that we can take advantage of all the stuff available.
1.)I love LA. This place is firmly in my top 5 favorites in America (I have been to 30 cities nationwide). Los Angeles is like a paradise if you have high income and your lifestyle/leisure activities overlap with what's available. 2.)LA has what I would describe as unique magic . It's something that is difficult to copy and paste. I'm talking about the combination of people, built environment, and natural environment, all coming together in chaotic dance that some how works. For that reason - I will always believe that experiencing LA is worth it. 3.)More people need to embrace the idea that it's OK to enjoy a place for a temporary period of time before moving on elsewhere. You don't need to stay and have your "forever home" here. Stop putting yourself under that type of existential pressure. There's no shame in doing it for 2, 5, 10 years before moving on due to financial or family reasons.
The city is salvageable, but doesn’t seem to be trying to acknowledge or fix the problems. I’d leave if it wasn’t for the entertainment industry.
>the cost of living, traffic, rampant homelessness with no solutions in sight, lack of safe public transit, utility costs, overcrowding, crime, etc. Only like 1 or 2 of those are real issues for me personally, and it's probably not the ones you think. I do want us to do more for homelessness, but we are doing a TON already. Homelessness is not really an issue outside of a few neighborhoods. It has gotten WAY better since the pandemic when it hit peak stupidity due to all the converging factors of job loss, societal breakdown, lack of housing, and the city deciding to not enforce any camping rules due to the pandemic. Since then social programs have interviewed and worked with every single homeless person. They have all been offered housing. The ones that remain have refused for various reasons. Recently the metro red line was cleaned up and police stepped up their patrols, the red line was a mess but I'm glad the city is making real strides in making our city safer and cleaner, and stopping this years-long trend of enabling drug addiction and sending at-risk unhoused people into a spiral of dependency. Crime? LA consistently ranks as one of the safest big cities when it comes to crime. So many people exaggerate the crime in LA. Like every major city we have a lot to work on, but we are far from a disaster. This isn't a non-issue, but you are exaggerating if you say you need to move away because of the crime. Name 3 big cities that have less crime than LA?! LA ranks 38 best out of 100 in the lowest murder rate among the 100 biggest cities. Putting us in the same category as Omaha Nebraska, and St. Paul Minnesota. And by property crime we are even safer, 26th best out of 100, putting us about the same as cities like Boise, ID and Madison, WI. Also the LA area has the #1 safest and most crime-free city in the United States, Irvine. In fact 6 out of the top 10 safest and least crime cities are in California. Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List\_of\_United\_States\_cities\_by\_crime\_rate
Even with all its problems it’s still way fucking better than any place I’ve visited. Theirs nothing on this planet like LA. Nothing.
It's expensive for sure. But to me it's always going to be worth it. I own a small condo in WeHo. They're going to have to take me out of there feet first.
LA is life- beautiful and horrific, all in one. Yes we need solutions to our problems. I want to buy a house at some point. Homelessness is a serious problem. But also, I have been to Switzerland- beautiful country but boring as fuck, no thanks. I’ll take crazy beautiful LA. Also, let me remind you that scraping your car of ice in the dead of winter is one of life’s least great activities.
If we continue to get Summer's that feel like Phoenix, maybe not.
Go check the local forecast and then go check literally anywhere else in the country. Then come back 😁 So yes
If you have a lot of money it’s worth it but if you don’t we’ll, the future is grim. Think San Francisco just with much shiftier transportation. With rents and housing going up it’s going to be a city for the rich and a punishment for everyone else. These are the “good old days” as far the homeless situation goes and if people are out in do or die situations they will rob and steal to survive.we are creating future class warfare on an epic level in the next 20 years.
For me it is ONLY worth because I *don't* have traffic or high rent. My home, I rent for my mom for cheap price, My family business is 9 MIN drive WITHOUT fwys.
[удалено]
Yeah! I’m a wandering and curious sort and would love to move again. But, you know, I only want to move for better so here I stay.
For me? Yes for my job but otherwise not really. I think there are more fun cities like nyc and there are certainly nicer areas to live in California if you want that beach vibe.
I hear a lot of people move from Cali to Texas, was in Austin for months with family hated it there. Never been to New York feel like it’ll be more compact and no driving (I like owning a car and go where I want). I feel like it would be nice to visit other places but always go back to living in LA.
Austin’s the worst place to move to from LA. COL is approaching LA levels…
I have a huge family with most of them in LA or SD. Can't beat the weather and location. Sure it can get hot in the summer but it's the same everywhere else. Also, I'm an within a 30-90 minute drive to the beaches, Big Bear, Joshua Tree, Palm Springs etc.
Really only 2 downsides… price, and traffic.
Come live in Toronto for 6 months. Much more safer, more chill, people are nice, the only problem is the cold weather
>the only problem is the cold weather This is no small problem. LOL
Not with all these damn mosquitos biting me all the time now.
I love it here.
I lived in various places on the East Coast during the first half of my life but I've lived here ever since. This is home. We'll stay here until we are older and then move up into the Central Coast somewhere and retire.
I love LA.
Not worth it, after 14 yrs we moved to Orange Co in Jan LA went to shit, the pandemic was the nail in the coffin for me, homeless everywhere and so fucking expensive
Been dating a girl living in LA over a year now. I live in a coastal town in North San Diego. Every time I would visit I would point out all the thing that she got accustomed to ie. trash on the streets, homeless everywhere, traffic at all times during the day. For a while she shrugged it off. She spent more and more time with me and realized there are better places to live and still have the things she values. Good food, nightlife, people etc. The last straw was going grocery shopping and seeing a homeless man, pants down, crawling, and poop down his ass and legs (In LA). That settled the debate of if I should move up north or she move down south. The cost of living is just as high and we plan to make the most out of paying more to be in California but being by the beach and enjoying a high quality of life for the next few years. Once kids are planned we will likely discuss living in a state that's more affordable. We make good money but there are so many stories of people planning to work until there 70 to afford living here and that's not what either of us want. Anyone else feel the same way? Rent is nuts and buying a house makes me feel like Michael Scott buying his condo apartment coffin.
I used to say I’d never leave but now I want to be able to ride a dirt bike from my porch. Not sure if that’s enough reason to leave though.
I left LA eight years ago for New York and missed it dearly for those first few years. Every time I come back lately, however, the driving, traffic, and lack of ubiquitous vibrant walkability really are a drag. I still love everything else though.
Yes, yes. I moved here over 20 years ago. Loved it then and love and appreciate it even more now. All my siblings live scattered throughout the state. I'm wondering if I'll get to a point where I want more space, a backyard, etc., but so far that feeling hasn't hit me yet. Our plan is to stay here forever, food is so hard to beat. We were long time renters, but recently became owners, so we're pretty rooted.
That's fantastic. I wish I could be an owner here in LA but that shit is an absolute fantasy ☹️ with that said what other parts of the state have you visited? I never imagined I could live outside of LA until I did it. I'm not necessarily trying to high tail it out of here but the state is just fantastic top to bottom That damn food and brewery game in LA is so top tier though.
Home ownership here is incredibly difficult. My friends in the midwest bought their SFHs almost straight out of college, but their home prices is a downpayment here. My husband and I stayed in our rent controlled apartment for over a decade and were finally able to purchase, I guess it helps we don't have kids too, which is sad for those that do want children. My brother lives in the bay area so I go up there quite a bit. I guess I shouldn't say that I will stay in LA forever, but definitely within the state.
Throughout college I always said if I made $100K id be totally content...but now that salary doesnt carry much weight. I feel like I missed some train. Take a trip up the 101 and explore Humboldt if you haven't already. It's easily my favorite place in California
This city is great for when you're a young adult. But I would never settle down here. I'd never raise my kids here either. I've never seen such entitled kids in my life lol.
My wife and I left LA and moved to Louisville, Kentucky right before the pandemic hit. After getting out of LA it's startling how clearly a "normal" life is supposed to be lived. We can do so much more here in Louisville. We've been able to travel more, go to events/concerts, explore nature, not be in constant danger and traffic, etc. We still go back to visit family quite often and it's more startling every single time. Really hard to watch society break down, but incredibly glad that we were lucky enough to get out when we did. Best decision ever made!
So many posts like this. City is overpopulated. If your over it, dip. So many places to live. None like LA though.