Is housing the only MAJORLY expensive part of LA? (Los Angeles: sales, rent)

[LostinCal]

I know everything there is expensive, but is housing the only MAJORLY expensive part of living in LA when compared to the rest of the country? What else is much more expensive when compared to other parts of the country?

[BRinSM]

state income taxes are high, sales tax is high, gas is more expensive, etc....

[CAVA1990]

Originally Posted by LostinCal

I know everything there is expensive, but is housing the only MAJORLY expensive part of living in LA when compared to the rest of the country? What else is much more expensive when compared to other parts of the country?

There's no such word as "majorly". It's a stupid corruption of "major league". Please remember that and don't use it again. Thank you.

[Dunbar42]

IMO, housing is by far the largest contributor to the high cost of living. As in 80-90% of the COL difference.

[LostinCal]

I know everything is more expensive, but what I meant is housing the only thing thats outrageously expensive when compared to other places? The other costs seem more expensive, but not THAT much more.

[2Easy]

Originally Posted by CAVA1990

There's no such word as "majorly". It's a stupid corruption of "major league".

It's a made up word but it has nothing to do with "major league".

[sms1967]

Cava... you're an ass. Yes, gas is more... insurance is more... the wear and tear on your patience and sanity costs more. And FYI... "more" is relative to where in L.A. you're going to be.

[nowincal11]

And it's relative to where you are moving from. Compared to NYC, DC, Boston, SF, LA is much cheaper. I think it's around equivalent to Chicago except the cost of buying a house is higher.

Example: I moved here from Chicago. My rent is actually slightly lower in LA because I live in Sherman Oaks and maintain a good social life, whereas had I stayed in Chicago, I would have had to live in 4 or 5 high priced neighborhoods to have an active social life. Plus, in LA, parking is almost always included. My electric bills are way way lower here. Chicago has the highest gas prices in the nation. LA is about 15-20 cents lower per gallon than Chicago.

Insurance is more in CA than IL. My food bill is around the same because I shop mostly at Target Grocery Store.

Thus moving from Chicago, it's about the same cost of living give or take.

If you move from a rural area or smaller metro not on the Coast or Chicago, it will likely be way more expensive.

[drshang]

Nothing other than housing is significantly more expensive in LA compared to the rest of the country.

The sales tax is 2% higher compared to a lot of other area, but when you consider how much sales tax most people normally pay relative to their overall income it's not a big difference. Income taxes aren't higher than most places until you start making 80k+ single or 150k+ married couple pay, then they become quite high, but still lower than NYC and not that much higher/the same compared to places like Philadelphia, Wash DC, Chicago, etc.

Gas is higher, food is significantly cheaper, healthcare is pretty cheap in CA, car insurance slightly higher, most consumer products the same, utilities less.

The housing gap isn't that bad if you rent, but if you want to buy it's much higher, and if you want to buy and be in a good school district, it's way way higher. It's important to understand that housing is one's biggest expense and really matters a lot more than anything else in terms of tracking expenses.

The thing about Los Angeles is there are a LOT of different places and ways to spend/blow your money, and a LOT of trust fund kids/foreign money here, so there's a relatively substantial amount of the population that lives great and doesn't really do much of anything. This creates a type of culture where I think a lot of people are more apt to spend money they don't have or spend money they'd normally save on something else. Living here requires a certain amount of financial discipline that isn't as necessary in other places.

The actual cost of living ex-housing is not that bad, and the non-housing difference is severely magnified by the usual contingent of city-data whiners.

[Daisy32673]

Originally Posted by LostinCal

I know everything is more expensive, but what I meant is housing the only thing thats outrageously expensive when compared to other places? The other costs seem more expensive, but not THAT much more.

They are. We pay triple in rent and utilities alone compared to where we used to live out of state. And the gas here is just about the highest in the nation. Food is spendy, insurance is spendy, then you add in sales and income tax and there ya go