costs of living in LA for fam of 6

[SOON2BNSURPRISE]

I have 6 kids, we live in Oxnard, both my wife and I work at a Hospital. The kids go to public school and who needs summer camp when you can visit the beach all summer for free. Our utilities are $160 a month. From my point of view you can live nicely on $100,000 a year.

[GrafxLvr]

Originally Posted by milo09

my kids are 15,13,11 and 6 months. What do u think about life costs- without house payments.
decent private schools, nice lifestyle, restaurants at least twice a week...

Based on your request, it all boils down to preference. "Nice Lifestyle" is subjective; as such, you will illicit different responses from every Angeleno you encounter.

Education.
You can find Private Schools for as low as $5K per child per year. And you can easily find Private Schools for as much as $20K per child per year. The standard costs appear to be around $12K per child per year.

Lifestyle.
"Nice Lifestyle" is subjective. You need to identify what you consider "nice". Are you referring to entertainment? The home you live in? The car you drive? The clothes you wear?

Entertainment.
Los Angeles is immensely huge. There is bound to be an event going on every single day of the year within the city. All you have to do is look for it. My favorite city, Pasadena, has events every Wed - Sun. Most are free events, and some have a nominal fee. There are also several museums throughout the city; some are free while some charge a nominal fee.

Home.
Homes in Los Angeles can range from as little as $200K for a small condo to several Million Dollars overlooking the city. A home in a middle class neighborhood will be approximately $500K. Square Footage is currently ranging about $400 - $500+.

Auto.
Do you prefer new cars over used cars; or vice versa? Cars come in different sizes and prices. Based on the size of your family, an SUV might do the trick. Depending on their make, an SUV can costs from as little as $40K to as much as $100K.

Clothing.
As anywhere else, you can find affordable clothing or really expensive clothing. Only you can determine what it is you like to wear.

It might make more sense to determine how much money you can afford to spend per year And then decide how best to spend it.

[milo09]

yeah but mine only questions are utilities and food, gas etc.
costs of cars or clothes are universal so i know that
but i never lived in usa. ppl say its cheaper than eu, but i don't know what price to expect for fam of 6

[SOON2BNSURPRISE]

Originally Posted by milo09

yeah but mine only questions are utilities and food, gas etc.
costs of cars or clothes are universal so i know that
but i never lived in usa. ppl say its cheaper than eu, but i don't know what price to expect for fam of 6

It kind of depends where you live. I live on the coast and it is much cooler than inland so it cost little to cool our home. We don't even have an airconditioner. Many places further in land have airconditioning and the cost would be much higher for their electric bill. I also live 60 miles North west of Down Town LA. Many people live in other areas and commute downtown if that is where they work. Outlying areas will be cheaper than in town. Not to say that all coastal areas are cheap. The rule of thumb is that the closer you get to the ocean the more expensive the home. In Oxnard where I live housing is less expensive although we are on the coast. As far as food, it depends what you want to eat. Their have been times when we have lived off beans and rice for dinner, and oat meal for breakfast. It is cheap and easy to fix and store. We have a family of 8 and spend about $160 a week on food. Really is depends on how you want to live and what kind of food you want to buy. I think that a lot of fresh food is cheaper here than in other parts of the nation, but then it is grown here. I don't even buy oranges, avocadoes, lemons, strawberries, onions, and a few other things because I can get them for free. At one of our clinics in Fillmore we have 6 orange trees and no one picks them. Like I say it just depends I guess.

[DowntownVentura]

The sky is the limit on private schools but decent ones will be $10-$15k and up per year per child. There are very good public school districts all around the Los Angeles area, perhaps not LAUSD but a lot of the surrounding areas.

Food for that sized family, maybe $150-$200/week. You can go to bulk stores and farmer's markets to lower that.

I will take a wild stab at utilities and say $400/month or so.

Gasoline, $3.25/gallon

[GrafxLvr]

Originally Posted by milo09

yeah but mine only questions are utilities and food, gas etc.
costs of cars or clothes are universal so i know that
but i never lived in usa. ppl say its cheaper than eu, but i don't know what price to expect for fam of 6

I have a family of two. So my examples of Food, Electricity, Water, and Gas consumption are not going to help much. Though, I must say that Gas (not Petrol) is probably the least expensive utility -- at times almost negligible.

As for Groceries, check out one of LAs Groceries store's prices online (Albertsons): index.html

[Ceece]

Originally Posted by milo09

so without private school and house payments -300K.
well i don't live in usa now so there's no meaning of comparing costs.
but still even in LA i think 300K without school and house is too much.

Without school and house? Yeah, you wouldn't need that much. It's hard to say what bills would be without knowing where and how you like to live though. But for me personally, the way I live and what I provided for my kids... if I had 4 in public school and didn't have a mortgage payment or rent I could get by on $100K or a little less. Don't ask me to pay for college though

[milo09]

thank you sooo much
Here in europe food, utilities and gas is sooo expensive.
so around 1000 $ for food and 500 for utilities per month sounds GREAT.
i spend much more here in switzerland-
and gas.... almost 1.5 euro for 1 L and 1gallon is almost 4 L so u do the math-hehe- so basicly i can buy 4X more gas than here- yeey
well we are going to live there only for 2 yrs- but hope we'll have fun
thnx everybody

[uptown_urbanist]

Good private schools can easily run $20k+ per child.
Food, utilities, and gas are going to be the least of your worries. For most people they make up a very small percentage of the total budget. (although I suppose for those who live way, way out then gas can become a big ticket item) The big item is housing, and then schools if you feel you have to go with private.
I agree with the suggestion that you figure out what you can afford, and then work from there to see if LA will give you the quality of life you want on that budget. Otherwise there are simply too many variables.