Moving from Nashville to LA/Long Beach area (Los Angeles, Burbank: apartments, car insurance)

[RFreebing]

My company recently asked me to move to Long Beach for a position they're creating for me. I currently live and work in Nashville and have been doing so for about 3 years now. Having lived in TN for the majority of my whole life, I was extremely excited about the opportunity and will soon be in the negotiating process in regards to travel expenses, salary raise due to cost of living adjustments, etc.

I think travel expenses should run somewhere around 2-3K as I will be driving my car there and shipping a couple of other items. I’ve seen cost of living increases from Nashville to LA in the range of 25 - 50% and somewhere around 20% in change in salary.

While I’ve been to the Long Beach/LA area a couple of times, I was wondering if anyone had any concrete numbers as to how much more the cost of living is or know of a legitimate source for answers. A tax increase will come into play as well. For instance, if I make 40K now, how much should I be asking for to live and work comfortably in Long Beach/Hermosa/LA?

Traffic is obviously an issue as well, but I’m not too worried about that. What about crime? Any advice is greatly appreciated!

[Spikett]

Originally Posted by RFreebing

My company recently asked me to move to Long Beach for a position they're creating for me. I currently live and work in Nashville and have been doing so for about 3 years now. Having lived in TN for the majority of my whole life, I was extremely excited about the opportunity and will soon be in the negotiating process in regards to travel expenses, salary raise due to cost of living adjustments, etc.

I think travel expenses should run somewhere around 2-3K as I will be driving my car there and shipping a couple of other items. I’ve seen cost of living increases from Nashville to LA in the range of 25 - 50% and somewhere around 20% in change in salary.

While I’ve been to the Long Beach/LA area a couple of times, I was wondering if anyone had any concrete numbers as to how much more the cost of living is or know of a legitimate source for answers. A tax increase will come into play as well. For instance, if I make 40K now, how much should I be asking for to live and work comfortably in Long Beach/Hermosa/LA?

Traffic is obviously an issue as well, but I’m not too worried about that. What about crime? Any advice is greatly appreciated!

I'm from Nashville. I moved to LA back in the 90s but lived in Nashville for all of 2012. I live in Burbank and have never lived in Long Beach so I can't give you exact numbers on rent. It does have some nice areas and is actually very pleasant overall. The biggest increase in cost of living here over Nashville is housing. I'm not sure what you are looking for but apartment in LB look like they start at about $1000 or so for a 1 BR. This is just from an internet search of complexes there so I can't vouch for location. Average for a 1 BR seems to be between $1200-$1300 - though you can certainly spend a lot more.And you don't have to live in LB, of course. I live 20 miles from my office - but it was a conscious choice as I don't want to live in that area. It's worth it to me. Bear in mind that for some odd reason, most apartments (even in complexes) don't have refrigerators.

Gas is also more expensive (anywhere from 50-75 cents a gallon, on average) and traffic during rush hour can be a nightmare so bear that in mind when deciding on how far you want to drive. Also, your car insurance will be more. And, if you have a newer car, so will your registration (there is a minimum which is about the same as TN, but depending on value, it can be more). And, yes, we have state income tax. Food, etc, is about the same as Nashville. Your utility bills will likely be lower as it doesn't get as cold and summers aren't bad except August and Sept (generally - plus if you live near the ocean, it stays cooler).

$40K won't get you far out here. I don't know what kind of bill you've got (credit cards, car pmt, etc) so its hard to say how much you need.

[mayorhaggar]

Yeah a 1br in a decent part of Long Beach would be like $900 to $1500, a 2br like $1500 and up. Prices are going up so if you made 40k you might need to settle for a studio if you can't afford a $1000 1br. I'd try and get 60k.

[HarryKerryJr]

Well, I'm not sure you can afford it, unless you can negotiate a salary to support it, but as far as low crime and NICE area to live in Long Beach, Belmont Shore is it. Lots of bike riders and the Belmont Shore village area has good eateries and is a very pleasant place. I do know that parking, and I'm talking the residential area, is very limited. I think its the only headache of living there.

Research rents in Belmont Shore and do the numbers, and start to build a case for an appropriate salary. I have every confidence you would love Belmont Shore, but other parts of Long Beach do have problems and can really leave a bad taste in the mouth of someone coming from Nashville. Once you live here for a while, you can take a down-scale neighborhood in stride to save money, but I don't want you to have to deal with that when you have to focus on your new job. Make a case that LA can be a jungle, and you aren't moving to have problems you don't have in Nashville, and that Belmont Shore is NO Beverly Hills, but SAFETY and pleasant surroundings and lifestyle with good folk on a par with you life in Nashville is very important and will allow you to adjust to the big change of living here and focus on being the most productive for the company and the commute is very easy allowing you to adjust to life here.

Good luck.

[Chowhound]

Originally Posted by mayorhaggar

Yeah a 1br in a decent part of Long Beach would be like $900 to $1500, a 2br like $1500 and up. Prices are going up so if you made 40k you might need to settle for a studio if you can't afford a $1000 1br. I'd try and get 60k.

I was gonna say 50 or 60k, 40k is pretty rough, I mean you can live on it of course, but it's rough. Don't know if the OP's company is gonna bump him up 20k in salary. I believe he said 40k initially. It's sad that were discussing 40k not being enough money.

[RFreebing]

Thanks everyone for all their insight and help so far. I haven't done any negotiating yet, but I will of course be trying to get as much as I can before I make the trek. It seems like $40K in the LA/Long Beach area is just not going to cut if I want to do more than get by.

I will be sure and use everyone's thoughts when I make my final decision. If you have anymore advice, please feel free to keep it coming. I'm definitely reading and listening

Thanks again.

[nevada1427]

I was able to live fine on my salary of 32K in a decent area (Ocean and Cherry) in Long Beach when I lived there in 2010. If your take home salary is 40k or more even better!!! Please don't let the negative responses deter you. Long Beach is a wonderful city with many inexpensive things to do. Good Luck!!!

[mayorhaggar]

Yeah I mean you'd be ok on 40k, you'd have to have a used car and a small apartment but you'd be comfortable. If living near the beach and enjoying warm weather are more important to you than having a big house and a new car, 40k would be ok.

[jw2]

If crime is a concern of yours coming from Nashville to LA, let me point out a few numbers. Los Angeles has a crime index of 285 (year 2011). Here are the 8 most populated Tennessee cities and their crime index (all from 2011 except where noted, all statistics from city-data)

Memphis 782
Nashville 545
Knoxville 565
Chattanooga 521
Clarksville 360
Murfreesboro 392 (most current year listed is 2008)
Jackson 567
Johnson 316

All higher than Los Angeles. Nashville almost double LA's index.

[HarryKerryJr]

Well, I would still negotiate for a bump up in salary. A surprising number of employers do counter with some increase only hoping you wouldn't ask for more, but don't expect too much more. Just make the best case that LA is high cost of living, and you're going to have a lot of big expenses like automobile insurance and registration (can be really expensive) along with other costs, and anything they can do with the salary to help would be greatly appreciated. When they make their final offer, take it, and make it work here. As others have said, if you don't mind something like 600 sq. ft. to start, you could make it work.

I still highly recommend Belmont Shore (a district of the city of Long Beach) or any place adjacent to it. Downtown Long Beach, frankly, can be skanky. Even if you need to roommate to make it work, it will be worth it. After a while, you could move to someplace a little farther for less money once you've gotten used to this place. Google Map Belmont Shore and do a Street View to see for your self both the village and the adjacent residential area of Belmont Shore.