Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Arizona > Phoenix area
 [Register]
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
Reply Start New Thread
 
Old 03-05-2018, 03:15 PM
 
427 posts, read 367,672 times
Reputation: 595

Advertisements

Ive read a lot of threads, and websites, and went to cost of living calculators, etc etc... But it would be very nice to hear some real experiences.

I know that wages are sometimes equal, but many times a tad lower over there. Surprisingly, however, because L.A. wages are not extremely high for a big city of its caliber, the difference is not always that big.

So when you round it all up, and put it all together, with the lower housing, and taxes, and car ownership, and everything, how much has the quality of your life improved in Phoenix?
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 03-05-2018, 06:20 PM
 
8,081 posts, read 6,953,154 times
Reputation: 7983
LA is a world class city.

Phoenix is a perfectly reasonable city, but it’s not LA. Your dollar will go a lot further here and there are plenty of activities, sports, and culture events for most people.

Depends on what matters to you. I like LA, and I lived there briefly, but I won’t do it again.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 03-05-2018, 07:58 PM
 
197 posts, read 271,217 times
Reputation: 329
Every time I go to LA I think what an overpriced dump it is. I’ll take a 45 min flight to LAX if I need a beach fix
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 03-07-2018, 06:19 PM
 
Location: PHX -> ATL
6,311 posts, read 6,806,003 times
Reputation: 7167
Quote:
Originally Posted by MuscleCar View Post
Ive read a lot of threads, and websites, and went to cost of living calculators, etc etc... But it would be very nice to hear some real experiences.

I know that wages are sometimes equal, but many times a tad lower over there. Surprisingly, however, because L.A. wages are not extremely high for a big city of its caliber, the difference is not always that big.

So when you round it all up, and put it all together, with the lower housing, and taxes, and car ownership, and everything, how much has the quality of your life improved in Phoenix?
I can get the exact same job in LA and pay $1/hr more or I can go into the Inland Empire (San Bernardino) and get $5/hr less an hour. Only places in California where I break even on my wage or earn more are up (in sheer numbers, not even going into COL comparisons) in Northern California in the counties surrounding San Francisco (like Sonoma).

I know this because I looked myself and found jobs in which I would be qualified for over there. California doesn't always pay more despite being more costly. Industry matters and in my industry living in CA would be pretty terrible. You should look at your own industry to find jobs and see if A) it's even possible to transfer over here and B) the pay to COL is actually better.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 03-07-2018, 07:05 PM
 
567 posts, read 430,796 times
Reputation: 761
My 25 year old niece moved to Phoenix from LA 2 years ago. She had a start up business in LA that just wasn't going anywhere because the LA market is so competitive. So she took her business to Phoenix and it was the right move. Her business is flourishing there and she loves the place.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 03-08-2018, 11:52 AM
 
Location: East Central Phoenix
8,042 posts, read 12,254,574 times
Reputation: 9831
Quote:
Originally Posted by JGMotorsport64 View Post
LA is a world class city.

Phoenix is a perfectly reasonable city, but it’s not LA. Your dollar will go a lot further here and there are plenty of activities, sports, and culture events for most people.

Depends on what matters to you. I like LA, and I lived there briefly, but I won’t do it again.
L.A. is barely a world class city when you factor in the negatives. The main reason it's classified as a top tier city is the entertainment industry is big there. There are a fair share of large corporate HQs there, and lots of people travel there from around the world for different reasons. It's also huge in the field of pro sports, and there are plenty of established ethnic areas near downtown. Those things help make it world class ... however, would a true world class city allow an entire section of downtown to have trashed streets and be overrun with derelicts & drug addicts (Skid Row)?! Would a true world class city allow its freeways to go to pot?! Would a true world class city continue to focus more on suburban sprawl type of development because their idiotic Mayor says dense development "doesn't look right"?!
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 03-08-2018, 12:17 PM
 
Location: Phoenix, AZ
872 posts, read 998,915 times
Reputation: 1273
I would guess the culture and way of life/thinking is very different (despite the big roads, palm trees, strip malls and outdoor activities)

But I too am curious to hear more first hand accounts. I have yet to visit LA
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 03-08-2018, 05:54 PM
 
44 posts, read 70,284 times
Reputation: 59
Quality of Life has improved drastically. I would only recommend the move from LA to PHX if you are tired of the bs that goes on in LA and CA as a whole. Anything outside of CA would be a nice change of pace.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 03-08-2018, 05:55 PM
 
567 posts, read 430,796 times
Reputation: 761
Quote:
Originally Posted by Valley Native View Post
L.A. is barely a world class city when you factor in the negatives. The main reason it's classified as a top tier city is the entertainment industry is big there. There are a fair share of large corporate HQs there, and lots of people travel there from around the world for different reasons. It's also huge in the field of pro sports, and there are plenty of established ethnic areas near downtown. Those things help make it world class ... however, would a true world class city allow an entire section of downtown to have trashed streets and be overrun with derelicts & drug addicts (Skid Row)?! Would a true world class city allow its freeways to go to pot?! Would a true world class city continue to focus more on suburban sprawl type of development because their idiotic Mayor says dense development "doesn't look right"?!
East of Los Angeles Street, where you'll find LA's Skid Row, can get pretty sketchy and is very dirty. Also the streets of the Garment District are pretty trashed on weekends when shoppers by the thousands descend on the place. But over-all DTLA is relatively clean. As for the suburbs, I don't see the expansion your speaking of. There hasn't been much growth in the suburbs in quite a few years. The real demand for housing is in the City of LA, especially in DTLA where the landscape is dotted with construction cranes.

The city has to do better in addressing the homeless problem and voters, who are keenly aware of the homeless crisis, recently approved a sales tax increase to provide homeless housing and mental health care. I imagine it will take a few years for the problem to improve.

Another area where the City and County are moving quickly is the expansion of light rail transit. At present there are 4 light rail lines and 2 subway lines and the new Crenshaw line, connecting LAX to DTLA ,will be completed in 2019.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 03-08-2018, 06:58 PM
 
Location: Phoenix, AZ
2,653 posts, read 3,043,759 times
Reputation: 2870
Here's a good suggestion to answer the question, "Los Angeles vs. Phoenix". Watch the show "Flip or Flop" on HGTV. The couple buys fixer-upper homes in Orange County, remodels them, and re-sells.

The "fixer-upper" homes are basically modest "shoe boxes" from the 50s. They'll buy for, say, $450,000 in Anaheim. Then after modest remodels, they resell the homes for $590K (for example.) For that money in Phoenix metro, you can buy a beautiful new large home The downside: you deal with our heat
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:


Settings
X
Data:
Loading data...
Based on 2000-2020 data
Loading data...

123
Hide US histogram


Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Arizona > Phoenix area
Similar Threads

All times are GMT -6.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top