Has anyone moved to CA (LA area) from FL (Los Angeles: best neighborhood, sales)

[greencrew]

Currently living in a small town in FL. If you moved from FL to CA, can you tell me how is weather, cost of living, traffic, crime rates, housing expense compare to FL.
Do you like it in CA or do you miss FL?

[jm1982]

Probably not the best one to answer this since the last time I lived in Florida I was about 4 or 5 ...but i spent time off from school there and have family in South Florida.

I never had much of a problem with the weather in Florida..but many people say it gets very humid...in L.A we don't have that humidity. Also while it's like in the 50s in L.A right now as we speak South FL is in the 70s.

Cost of living is definately a LOT lower in general in South FL versus L.A..not sure what part of FLorida you live in.

Crime rate is really going to vary... L.A has certain areas where there is very little crime and others where crime is high..and I know that varies a lot in FL too. You really need to get down to zipcode level for that info.

Traffic is definitely going to be worse in general in L.A .

I was born in L.A , but I am growing more and more dissatisfied with it. The city is really poorly run and these facts are just now coming out in the news because of the mayoral elections.

Services are really bad ...and now getting worse . City keeps getting more and more money from citizens , but services have not improved. Our sales tax is 9% and they wanted to RAISE it. In FL yours is probably in the 6% range..
More cuts in services seen as L.A. voters reject tax hike - Los Angeles Times

You are also going to have to state paying state income taxes...something that Florida does not do.

On the plus side...There probably is a lot more "to do" in L.A versus many parts of FL, more variety in restaurants, cultural activities, a lot of people think it's better for outdoors activities versus FL. There are a lot of interesting places you can drive from L.A for the weekend too. Vegas, San Diego, Palm Springs, tons of other places.

Also if you have any ambitions of working in the film/entertainment industry L.A is probably the town for you too. Not saying it's only good for people in those industries but the city does revolve around the entertainment industry quite a bit.

Why intrigues you about L.A Have you visited before? What would you be doing here?

Would you be able to afford a nice area to live in ? There are ways to save money in this city just like any city..but rents and buying a home are going to be significantly more expensive than any city in FL. Homes are a bargain in FL right now since they are the #1 foreclosure state.

I was born in L.A so I didn't pick L.A

I am actually considering a move to FL myself. It seems the state and many of the cities are better run than CA or L.A

I don't see the city really being on an upswing...there is development going on in certain areas....but I'm hearing the same thing about Detroit. The difference is in Detroit you can buy a home for $1,000 ..in L.A even a house in the worst area will be like $125k+

The city and state here really doing have their act together and I don't see that changing for a long time.

[PDF]

I recently moved from a suburb of a big Florida city to LA. It's going to be different, just like any other major city is.

[murfslaw]

I split my time between NE Florida and Los Angeles.
The weather in both places is great. It takes us a week or so to get use to the humidity in FL in the warmer months but we're at the beach which helps.
The cost of living is about 40% cheaper in FL than LA
Traffic in LA is horrific compared to any other state that I'v been except New York City and maybe DC area. Getting around takes planning in LA
Crime in LA is as jm1982 said zip code specific. We lucked out and bought the worst house in the best neighborhood 13 years ago and haven't had a problem.
Housing cost are going back through the roof. I bought my house in Atlantic Beach 4 years ago for $457K. It's probably worth $400K today. The last house tha sold on our street in LA in Oct of 2012 for $1.56M. The house sq ft and lot sizes are very similar. We are not in Beverly Hills or Bel Air