Cost of Rent, bills & insurance (moving from UK)

[Jay Warren]

Wow 1/2 would be more tax than the UK!!! do you pay your tax normally through the company each month or do you have to pay it separately?

[greggd]

I agree with the above poster. Culver City is very hit & miss with quality of neighborhood.

$2,000 in culver city is the high end.

Personally, I would not commit to an apartment until after you have been out here for a few months. Try and get a temp residence to start, then find where you want to live.

[Jay Warren]

Yeah I'll definately try and go for some temp studio first of all.... I'll keep looking on west side rentals!

[SandyCo]

One more thing - don't forget to factor in the cost of health and dental insurance, assuming your company offers those benefits. The good news is that these are usually withheld before taxes, so it reduces your taxable income.

You'll be fine on what you make; just be picky about which apartment you choose.

[billiemae]

[quote=billiemae]I graduate in a year & I would like to live somewhere like Simi Valley or Westlake Valley, Thousand Oaks, Santa Barbara. I live in Texas & I have never been to Caifornia. I have learned a lot from this web site. You seem to be in an area I would like to be. What are your ideas on living & working in your area? I'm studying film making & would like to get my foot in the door. I'm in my 30's my kids will be out of the house by the time I finish my studies. I also take care of my father, in his late 50's, which will come with me, hopefully. Where would I need to drive from Simi Valley to work & learn the ropes in film making? I also need a house because I have two trained mixed breed dogs 55lbs each. How much would house with a fenced yard go for?[QUOTE/]

Originally Posted by Des_Demona

Yeah I agree with the above posters. $2,000 is a good price to stay around. I wouldn't pay more than $2500 or less than $1600. Culver City is a pretty decent place to live and it would be great to be near your job so you wouldn't have to deal with the commute.

Every place has different requirements for utilities. Sometimes landlords include them, sometimes you have to pay all or some of them. Usually you'll find that you have to pay for gas and electricity which for me comes to about $10 for gas and $75 for electricity monthly. The elecricity can be a lot less or a lot more depending on usage and the season. In the summer for my 2 bedroom condo we used the A/C in the afternoons usually and it went up to about $115 per month. In the winter we use the heater sometimes at night and it's an electric heater so our electricity is usually around $40.

My car insurance is $91 a month which is really good for a 25 year old and it's only because I live in Simi Valley rather than LA metro. Yours will be more than that almost guaranteed. Males pay more for car insurance and the rate gets lower as you get older. You can do some pretty fast calculations on insurance websites for comparison purposes and put in all your personal specifications. I've done this a lot. Out here the common insurance agents are Geiko, Famers, Mercury, Progressive (expensive but they give you comparison rates on their site), State Farm. Just go to their websites and many of them will give you an estimate rate.

Just other things to keep in mind that if you want Cable television and Internet access at home it's usually about $100 ($50 for each) unless you can swing a deal with the company, gas money is a factor but you're used to high gas rates in the UK so that won't be a big shock for you. I put aside about $300 per month for gas but that's because I commute everyday. LA does not have great public transportation so make sure you have a car to get around. My food expenses are probably higher than other places since there is such a huge selection of food in LA and it's usually expensive. You should probably make sure you have about $400 a month for food for you and your gf.

All in all, I rent for $1600 a month and have all of those expenses and my combined income with my partner is just over 60k so you should be fine. I'm being priced out and moving to a place where I can afford to buy a home. If I were you, I'd rent as cheaply as possible but start saving that money every month. You're gonna need it. Good luck!