Miami vs. Los Angeles - As a Place to Live (living, best)

[Astral_Weeks]

Assume this is from the perspective of a single professional (male, 40 yrs, no kids) with an annual base salary of roughly $100,000 and approximately $125,000 for a down payment.

Anywhere in Miami-Dade County vs. anywhere in Los Angeles County. Close-in and more "urban" areas generally preferred to suburban fringe locations.

Criteria (in no particular order):
-Weather/Climate
-Geography
-Outdoor Activities
-Restaurant/Culinary scene
-Culture, Arts, etc.
-Traffic/Public Transit
-Pedestrian Friendly neighborhoods
-Cost of Living
-Crime/Safety
-Weekend Trips via automobile
-Weekend Trips via plane (Latin America in particular)
-OP is conversational in Spanish (language is not a concern)

[MrKnight]

Generally speaking, with that kind of salary you can live like a king in Miami. With that said, I find many of these categories to be close calls:


Criteria (in no particular order):
-Weather/Climate - Tie
-Geography - Miami has better beaches, LA has mountains.. I prefer Miami for the beaches..
-Outdoor Activities - Miami has more types of recreation available, especially water sports..
-Restaurant/Culinary scene - Both cities have great foodie scenes but LA has a slight edge on this one..
-Culture, Arts, etc. - Tie, both cities have very unique culture with many ethnic enclaves
-Traffic/Public Transit - Tie, both cities have mediocre public transit and traffic issues
-Pedestrian Friendly neighborhoods - Tie, both cities are too spread out to be truly walkable city-wide, a car is needed in both, but both have pockets walkable neighborhoods
-Cost of Living - Miami. No state income tax in Florida.
-Crime/Safety - Tie, both cities have crime issues and pockets of very bad areas
-Weekend Trips via automobile - Miami, you have the Florida Keys, Ft. Lauderdale/Hollywood, West Palm Beach, Orlando, Naples/Marco Island, Space Coast, etc..
-Weekend Trips via plane (Latin America in particular) - Miami, MIA is the gateway to South America
-OP is conversational in Spanish (language is not a concern) - Miami para español, hands down..

[afropack-man]

Originally Posted by MrKnight

Generally speaking, with that kind of salary you can live like a king in Miami. With that said, I find many of these categories to be close calls:


Criteria (in no particular order):
-Weather/Climate - Tie
-Geography - Miami has better beaches, LA has mountains.. I prefer Miami for the beaches..
-Outdoor Activities - Miami has more types of recreation available, especially water sports..
-Restaurant/Culinary scene - Both cities have great foodie scenes but LA has a slight edge on this one..
-Culture, Arts, etc. - Tie, both cities have very unique culture with many ethnic enclaves
-Traffic/Public Transit - Tie, both cities have mediocre public transit and traffic issues
-Pedestrian Friendly neighborhoods - Tie, both cities are too spread out to be truly walkable city-wide, a car is needed in both, but both have pockets walkable neighborhoods
-Cost of Living - Miami. No state income tax in Florida.
-Crime/Safety - Tie, both cities have crime issues and pockets of very bad areas
-Weekend Trips via automobile - Miami, you have the Florida Keys, Ft. Lauderdale/Hollywood, West Palm Beach, Orlando, Naples/Marco Island, Space Coast, etc..
-Weekend Trips via plane (Latin America in particular) - Miami, MIA is the gateway to South America
-OP is conversational in Spanish (language is not a concern) - Miami para español, hands down..

So biased.

[gladhands]

Miami is easer to figure out.

[homeinatx]

Here goes: responses in bold

Originally Posted by Astral_Weeks

Assume this is from the perspective of a single professional (male, 40 yrs, no kids) with an annual base salary of roughly $100,000 and approximately $125,000 for a down payment.

Anywhere in Miami-Dade County vs. anywhere in Los Angeles County. Close-in and more "urban" areas generally preferred to suburban fringe locations.

Criteria (in no particular order):
-Weather/Climate: Coastal Los Angeles has perfect weather nearly year round. Miami is disgustingly humid in the summer. LA
-Geography: Both have pretty surroundings. Miami is however, flat as a pancake. Much more topographical variety in and around LA.
-Outdoor Activities; You can swim comfortably for more of the year off Miami area beaches. L.A. is one of the few cities in the world where you can surf and ski on the same day without getting on a plane. Also great hiking, and mountain recreation activities in easy striking distance of L.A. Big advantage L.A.
-Restaurant/Culinary scene. Much greater variety at every price point in LA. Miami will have better Caribbean (particularly Cuban food). LA has more and better of everything else, especially Asian food which kinda sucks in Miami. Miami is increasingly a respectable restaurant town. LA is a great one.
-Culture, Arts, etc. No comparison. Miami here is not in LA's league in terms of universities, museums, theater, everything except ballet where it is a wash. However parts of Miami stay open much later than anywhere in LA
-Traffic/Public Transit. They are both auto centric places. Traffic is worse in L.A. but public transport is significantly better.
-Pedestrian Friendly neighborhoods. Miami has a few- South beach, Brickell, Wynwood, Coconut Grove, parts of Coral Gables. LA has more: DTLA, Koreatown, Echo Park, Silverlake, Santa Monica, Venice, parts of Hollywood, parts of WeHo, actually too many to list here
-Cost of Living; depends on how you live-cheap housing in Miami will be cheaper than cheap housing in LA. Expensive housing in both can be insane
-Crime/Safety: both have safe parts and not. Would say a wash.
-Weekend Trips via automobile: Miami has the Everglades and south Florida in easy striking distance. It is about 3and a half hours to Orlano and theme park land. I think there is much more to do around LA: Palm Springs, Joshua Tree, 4 hours to Vegas, Catalina Island, San Diego, Santa Barbara.
-Weekend Trips via plane (Latin America in particular). Miami being further south and east will be closer to everywhere except some Mexican destinations
-OP is conversational in Spanish (language is not a concern)

I like Miami, but it is not as well-rounded a city as LA.

[Valhallian]

The moment I read "Miami" in the poll title, I knew it was doomed to lose...

[i'm not a cookie]

Weather/Climate - LA (although the weather here can be extremely monotonous and boring).
-Geography - LA due to the mountains
-Outdoor Activities - LA
-Restaurant/Culinary scene- LA...La has the best culinary scene in the country (in my opinion).
-Culture, Arts, etc.- LA
-Traffic/Public Transit- LA..especially with the new expo line that connects downtown LA to downtown Santa Monica. You can literally take the light rail from Pasadena to the Pacific ocean now.
-Pedestrian Friendly neighborhoods - I'd say Miami
-Cost of Living- Miami
-Crime/Safety- LA
-Weekend Trips via automobile- LA - San diego, Palm Springs, Scottsdale, Santa Barbra, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Nappa Valley, ect.
-Weekend Trips via plane (Latin America in particular)- Miami
-OP is conversational in Spanish (language is not a concern)- You don't need to know Spanish to live in LA... English is definitly the first language here.

[Astral_Weeks]

Originally Posted by MrKnight

Generally speaking, with that kind of salary you can live like a king in Miami. With that said, I find many of these categories to be close calls:

Criteria (in no particular order):
-Weather/Climate - Tie
-Geography - Miami has better beaches, LA has mountains.. I prefer Miami for the beaches..
-Outdoor Activities - Miami has more types of recreation available, especially water sports..
-Restaurant/Culinary scene - Both cities have great foodie scenes but LA has a slight edge on this one..
-Culture, Arts, etc. - Tie, both cities have very unique culture with many ethnic enclaves
-Traffic/Public Transit - Tie, both cities have mediocre public transit and traffic issues
-Pedestrian Friendly neighborhoods - Tie, both cities are too spread out to be truly walkable city-wide, a car is needed in both, but both have pockets walkable neighborhoods
-Cost of Living - Miami. No state income tax in Florida.
-Crime/Safety - Tie, both cities have crime issues and pockets of very bad areas
-Weekend Trips via automobile - Miami, you have the Florida Keys, Ft. Lauderdale/Hollywood, West Palm Beach, Orlando, Naples/Marco Island, Space Coast, etc..
-Weekend Trips via plane (Latin America in particular) - Miami, MIA is the gateway to South America
-OP is conversational in Spanish (language is not a concern) - Miami para español, hands down..

Appreciate your reply but have to disagree on several (in bold):

1. Weather/Climate: Definitely not a tie. Granted, the Miami winters are nice but 3 or 4 months of nice winter is erased by 6 months of a muggy/buggy/miserable warm season.

2. Geography: LA has a mountain range cutting through the city which ends at the Pacific Ocean. Where else in the continental U.S. can you hike in 70 degree weather in January with the Pacific Ocean in one direction and snow capped mountains in the other?

3. Outdoor Activities: Again, LA in sheer variety (ski, surf, mountain biking, much better hiking, etc.).

4. Culture/Arts: Was not talking about ethnic enclaves but arts/museums/etc. Again, LA is in a league of its own compared to Miami.

5. Traffic/Public Transit: LA's traffic is horrible but the public transit is actually pretty good and getting better all the time. Major rail expansion underway in LA, etc.

6. Weekend Trips via car: Again, LA wins on this one given the sheer diversity of places you can reach. I mean Orlando is not exactly anything to brag about?



Santa Monica Mountains overlooking Pacific Ocean.





Santa Barbara Wine Country (a 90 minute drive from Los Angeles)

[Trafalgar Law]

I've enjoyed visiting Los Angeles twice in the last two years. Although I don't plan on going back anytime soon. I'm in the minority opinion where I think visiting Los Angeles is great, as great as it gets for America without being New York. That being said, I'm happy visitations come with an expiration date and a timeline because I wouldn't ever want to personally live in Los Angeles.

As an environment to live in, I don't like Los Angeles. I don't like it at all, not one bit. I'll be keeping those reasons to myself, not here to put the city down but there's a lot that I'm not a fan of. I wouldn't ever do it; it is one of several dozen American cities I wouldn't ever consider living in.

Miami has lots and lots of flaws, lots and lots of them, but it is really the only place in America where I don't hold those flaws against it because I do genuinely like the city. It's vibe, location, culture, and outdoors options, especially for different bird species (which I'm into) and the species of trees and stuff are more my style.

Don't know about you and which one you pick, but this was an easy choice for me personally. To the OP: If you like your life and where you live and your family members feel the same way, then stay there. If you don't, make the move. You only get one crack at life, make the most of it.

[Astral_Weeks]

Originally Posted by Facts Kill Rhetoric

I've enjoyed visiting Los Angeles twice in the last two years. Although I don't plan on going back anytime soon. I'm in the minority opinion where I think visiting Los Angeles is great, as great as it gets for America without being New York. That being said, I'm happy visitations come with an expiration date and a timeline because I wouldn't ever want to personally live in Los Angeles.

As an environment to live in, I don't like Los Angeles. I don't like it at all, not one bit. I'll be keeping those reasons to myself, not here to put the city down but there's a lot that I'm not a fan of. I wouldn't ever do it.

Feel free to opine and tell us what you don't like.