Are you thinking about moving to Los Angeles? Before you pack up and move out west, you should know how the Golden State’s cost of living compares to your current home state. This guide will give you a basic understanding of the cost of living in Los Angeles, from housing expenses to homeowner’s insurance and healthcare costs. We’ll provide data from the local cost of living index and comparison tools and look at how Los Angeles ranks for livability compared to other U.S. cities. We’ll also share a handy set of additional online resources to measure and compare the cost of living and expenses in other California cities. When you’re planning to live in a new city, the cost of living there will be a combination of expenses required to maintain your desired lifestyle. Cambridge Dictionary defines cost of living as “the amount of money people need to spend to buy basic goods or services such as food, clothes, and a place to live.” This overall cost can vary significantly based on location, even within California. But the living expenses you’ll pay for typically include the following categories: However, the costs often extend beyond these basics to cover other expenses, such as: These elements, when combined, establish the core costs associated with a particular way of living. However, the standard of living you achieve is largely influenced by your income and debts and how the dollar amounts compare to the costs of basic needs in your location or, in this case, the Los Angeles community where you might want to live. Let’s take a quick look at how you can compare your current living cost with what you might experience if you move to Los Angeles. A cost of living index (CLI) monitors how much these basic expenses change over time in different states, cities, or regions. They provide a way to compare the price of maintaining a particular standard of living. The CLI for a city like Los Angeles is calculated by assessing the price of essential goods and services, such as housing, food, transportation, and healthcare, in different areas. A local index is typically standardized, with a base city assigned a baseline index value (usually set at 100). Other cities are then compared against this benchmark. For example, a California community with a CLI of 125 would signify that living there is 25% more expensive than the base location, while an index of 75 indicates it’s 25% less expensive. A cost of living index will typically break down and score each basic expense by category. Here are separate scores for Los Angeles from the Best Places Los Angeles Cost of Living Index: According to Best Places, Los Angeles is more expensive than US national average cost of living. While Los Angeles’s overall cost of living is 61.7 higher than the baseline established for the 100 national average included in the Best Places index, it’s well below the costs to live in Manhattan, New York, which — with a CLI score of 204.1 is 104.1 points higher than the base of other scored communities.What makes up the ‘cost of living’ in Los Angeles?
What’s a Los Angeles cost of living index (CLI)?
Cost perspective
