L.A. is the most unaffordable city in the nation for buying OR renting! (San Francisco: low income, 2014)

[SandyCo]

Anyone reading this forum who is thinking about moving here without a high paying job should think twice. Unfortunately, wages here are not keeping up with the cost of housing. My rent is increasing $65 per month in October, and yet I'm actually grateful, because the market rate is $200 more! I can't find a two-bedroom apartment in a decent area for less than $1,600, and $1,750 seems to be the average. That's just frightening.

L.A.-O.C. housing market is least affordable in U.S., Zillow says - LA Times

[LifeinTreeD]

I'm gonna have to agree..

I moved here from the DC area, and although the rents are similar in price, the salaries here are much lower and you get less for what you pay for. Everything's built up and out of date.

[oping00]

Originally Posted by LifeinTreeD

I'm gonna have to agree..

I moved here from the DC area, and although the rents are similar in price, the salaries here are much lower and you get less for what you pay for. Everything's built up and out of date.

Salaries depend on qualification and company, but if LA is not paying people with col like NY or San Fran then something is wrong.

[WhichWayDoIGo]

Less affordable than NYC and San Francisco?

Yikes.

[disgruntled la native]

I agree. Rents have really spiraled out of control in the past couple years. And unfortunately, there is demand for it. People will pay for that 3000 a month one bedroom in santa monica. Meanwhile wages are the same as they always were!

[user_id]

This is looking at prices in relation to income, the problem with this is that LA has a large number of low income immigrants that bring down the median income for the area. If you look at more localized data, that is smaller cities in Southern California, the affordability isn't that bad. For example, the median household income in my area is around $120,000 and you can easily find decent rentals for $2,000~$2,500 which would be ~20% of income. Median income in Irvine is around $100,000 and you can similarly find rentals for $2,000~$2,500.

[HyperionGap]

Originally Posted by user_id

This is looking at prices in relation to income, the problem with this is that LA has a large number of low income immigrants that bring down the median income for the area. If you look at more localized data, that is smaller cities in Southern California, the affordability isn't that bad. For example, the median household income in my area is around $120,000 and you can easily find decent rentals for $2,000~$2,500 which would be ~20% of income. Median income in Irvine is around $100,000 and you can similarly find rentals for $2,000~$2,500.

SHhh! Don't bring logic into this!

[nightlysparrow]

Originally Posted by HyperionGap

SHhh! Don't bring logic into this!

(Apologies, HG) If prices were truly "unaffordable" then there would be a high vacancy rate. Or everyone would be wealthy.

[MordinSolus]

Yeah, this is a pretty dishonest way of finding out where the "least affordable" housing is. If you use a sensible metric, like price per square foot, LA and Orange County are far from the worst. If the housing in LA were so unaffordable there wouldn't be so many struggling actors, getting by on waiter's, barista's and cashier's incomes.

[disgruntled la native]

Originally Posted by MordinSolus

Yeah, this is a pretty dishonest way of finding out where the "least affordable" housing is. If you use a sensible metric, like price per square foot, LA and Orange County are far from the worst. If the housing in LA were so unaffordable there wouldn't be so many struggling actors, getting by on waiter's, barista's and cashier's incomes.

They share rooms, or if not, get help from parents or other sources.