life cost in L.A. (Beverly Hills: rent, day care, how much)

[mia22]

hi all, im moving from eueope to LA for 5 yrs term. We are family of 3 (small child-5 yrs old)). And I don't know anything about living costs in usa. So aprox. how much monay I need to live let say "upper middle class" lifestyle in LA. Don't count rent becouse that is already payes- so basicly just: bills, food, and free time. I know that it depends but just give me some frames- less than 5ooo, 5000, 10 000, 15 000$.
thnx

[stolpioni]

Where do you live currently if I may ask?
I might be able to compare..

[atlantagreg30127]

City-specific topics belong in the appropriate room for that city, not General U.S. Moving to the L.A. room.

[JohnG72]

Depends on the following:

-Auto expenses.
-school expenses.
-daycare expenses.

If you don't have any of the above, and your rent is paid for, $5k take home a month would lend itself to a pretty good lifestyle...better than most live anyway.

[mia22]

well for auto expenses i only need gas cos we have our car and we will ship that car in usa. Well our son is 5 yrs old so- yeah some preschool or sth- well we must see how it works over there cos here is little different. I live in Belgium now- and life expenses are quite high here.

[Londonteacher]

If you don't have to pay for accomodation you are set to have a great time here. There is soooo much to do for kids and a lot of free stuff too.The Americans we have met have been so helpful and friendly in a way people are less so in the UK. Just more open and hospitable 90% of the time in our experience.

Gas is really cheap compared to europe- food we find is 20% more than the UK but eating out is cheaper. I have seen day care from 1050 for a child minder to 2000 for some fancy pre school like Pacific Oaks per month.

Many people here spend a lot on rent so after rent we probably get through about 1600 to 2K a month for everything but we do not live an extravagent life and do lots of the free stuff available in LA.We just run one car and have a baby so no day care expenses! Good Luck with your move.Yiou are going to love the sunshine and the greenery here- it really is heavenly.

ps and NB health care is expensive but i guess your company cover that? This is the thing we dislike here- it is a really bad money based healthcare system that is totally shocking to any European- it cost 4oK for us to have a baby here- luckily we were insured but some poor people are broken by these medical bills. It is the one thing the Americans seem to be really backward on-many I have chatted to seem to think a national health service where all have access to affordable health care would be like handing their health care over to Stalin.It is strange- poor Obama- he has his work cut out.

[mia22]

yeah i know about health- but thank God we don't have to think about that- becouse we are not moving forever- just 5 yrs so we will be insured through european company that my husband works for. So basicly what you are saying is that we can live very comfortable with 5k per month (if rent is covered).

[ferretkona]

If you are importing a car you may run into difficulties. Make sure it is not on the black or grey list. Might be easier and cheaper to buy here.

[JohnG72]

Originally Posted by mia22

yeah i know about health- but thank God we don't have to think about that- becouse we are not moving forever- just 5 yrs so we will be insured through european company that my husband works for. So basicly what you are saying is that we can live very comfortable with 5k per month (if rent is covered).

Extremely so IMO so long as you don't have private school costs.

5K a month take home is around $80-100K a year pretax. Since housing and car payments are easily most peoples biggest expense(usually 30-50% of their takehome), you would be doing very well.

[Charles]

Since housing is the expense that is disproportionately larger than most places and since the original poster has this paid for, it doesn't make that much difference. Food (groceries) isn't probably that much more, energy may be more but it's likely a person in CA won't need as much of it to heat and cool. Gas is a little more but he may be driving more (since there is more to do and LA is so spread out). Any service expense is probably more because service providers' rent is higher (that's why I'll get a haircut in Reseda before Beverly Hills: the hair cuts are exactly the same but the rent is higher in BH so the cut costs more).