Is my estimate on the price of living in Los Angeles Califronia about right? (sales, apartments)

[jeremiahAtlvCharlotte]

Hello, I was wondering about how much it would cost to live in Los Angeles California, and I got an estimate of $3,429. This is based upon monthly costs.
Rent $1,529.00 1bd
Car Payment $400.00
food cost $300.00
Activities (Going to restaurants , shopping, foot ball games, etc.) $300.00
Shopping for Clothes $200.00 Kind of high lol it was just a estimate if I wanted to shop a lot.
Gas $200.00
Electricity $150.00
Cable/internet/house phone $150.00
Cell Phone $100.00
Car Insurance $100.00
Does this rough estimate sound about right? I plan on making 75k a year so I think its do able ($6,250.00). What do you think?

[genjy]

Gas and electricity seem a bit high.

I have never paid more than $100 for either.

I am sort of frugal when it comes to using gas and electricity, but that $200 estimate for gas seems really off.

[ElysianEagle]

sounds about right to me.

[jeremiahAtlvCharlotte]

The reason I tried to price things higher than average is because id rather know the higher end of the prices than the lower end so I could feel more comfortable. I did that on purpose because its better to know you over priced things which means you'll have more than enough money. And the gas price was based upon using the car everyday because I don't usually like being home. Thanks for your reply though.

[jeremiahAtlvCharlotte]

I just want opinions from people that live there, because they would know more. So if you have any information on living in LA please tell me.

[2Easy]

Seems about right. As was mentioned the gas/electricity are probably high (especially the gas) but the rent and car insurance could be higher by a larger amount depending on location and your car.

[jeremiahAtlvCharlotte]

Yea the apartment I found on apartments.com was kind of ugly and I looked up the location on Google Maps and it looked like the area was ehh not that great. What do you think it would cost for me to have a decent apartment? JFDKALJ;FLDKAJLKDFJALKFDJLK thank you

[kasuga888]

You forgot to consider taxes on your income...

[hockfan86]

Clothes and Food could be much higher depending on your lifestyle and living arrangements. I have lived in areas of LA where acquiring cheap food is much more of an inconvenience than expensive food, and I have lived in other areas where the opposite is true.

Clothes are the same way, if you shop at Target then they cost about the same as they do everywhere give or take a few percent for difference in sales tax. If you shop and Dolce and Gabana then its probably going to average out to about a thousand dollars a month in clothes (the extreme).

Overall, yes this budget you have is doable you just might have to tailor your tastes one way or another to make it happen.

[disgruntled la native]

The total amount could be about right. But I would allocate money from gas (which will be closer to 30) and electric (closer to 50-75 unless you leave lights on all the time) into food and car insurance. 300 for food is low, 10 bucks a day for food. Even if you only eat fast food most you will spend more than 10 bucks a day for food. The only way you can pull for 10 bucks a day for food is eating at discount supermarkets and cooking your own stuff.

Car insurance it really depends on your car, your driving history, your zip code, and whether you want collision coverage or not. If you don't have collision, you can definitely get closer to 100 a month. But I think 150-200 is safer.