Los Angeles, CA
Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA Metro Area
Figures are medians for the whole Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA Metro Area, not the city proper.
Among the 300 U.S. metros CityLedger tracks, Los Angeles ranks 102nd for affordability — how far a typical paycheck stretches after local prices — and 34th for income. A household earns $96,405 a year while median rent runs $2,114/mo, making it moderately affordable for what residents earn. Affordability and price level are different lenses: the raw cost of living here runs 14% above the U.S. average.
Its strongest card is household income (34th of 300), while air quality is the soft spot (298th). Housing usually decides a move: rent ranks 293rd and home prices 294th among the 300 metros CityLedger tracks.
For your salary & household
Enter your pay and household size to see what it's really worth here — the numbers update live and the link stays shareable.
On $75,000 for just you in Los Angeles, your take-home is worth about $51,333 once local prices are factored in — local prices stretch it less than the U.S. average.
Take-home estimates a single filer taking the standard deduction (2025 federal brackets, FICA, and state income tax) and isn't tax advice. “Real value” rebases take-home to average U.S. prices using the BEA cost-of-living index; the per-person figure uses the OECD square-root equivalence scale.
The numbers
Income & cost
- Median income
- 34th of 300↑24%$96,405
- Cost of living?The local price level vs. the U.S. average of 100 (BEA). Lower means cheaper. This is raw prices, not adjusted for income.
- 298th of 300114 (US=100)
- Cost-adj. income?Median household income divided by the local price level — what the typical paycheck is really worth here.
- $84,889
- Per-capita income
- $48,297
- Full-time pay
- $47,703
Housing
- Median rent
- 293rd of 300↑27.7%$2,114/mo
- Home value
- 294th of 300↑36.2%$908,500
- Property tax
- $6,011/yr · 0.7%
- Sales tax
- 8.80%
Jobs & education
- Unemployment
- 252nd of 3005.7%
- Bachelor's+
- 84th of 30039%
- Avg commute
- 281st of 30030.7 min
People
- Population
- 12,927,614
- Population change
- -2.2%
- Median age
- 39.2 yrs
- Foreign-born
- 33.4%
- Broadband
- 95.4%
Environment & risk
- Air quality (AQI)
- 298th of 30080
- Natural-hazard loss
- 270th of 300$33/$10k
Health
- Fair/poor health
- 257th of 30022.7%
- Uninsured (18–64)
- 11.2%
Sources: U.S. Census Bureau (ACS), U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, U.S. EPA, FEMA, CDC, NOAA — every figure's source is listed on our methodology page. Data built 2026-06-14. ↑↓ mark the change since 2019.
How CityLedger scores it
Transparent weights — see our methodology.
Strengths
- + Household income
- + Education
Watch-outs
- – Cost of living
- – Rent
- – Home prices
- – Job market
- – Commute
- – Air quality
- – Hazard safety
- – Health
Climate
30-year normals (1991–2020) from the nearest station — los angeles downtown/usc.
What jobs pay in Los Angeles
Median annual wage by occupation (BLS OEWS 2025) — half of workers in each role earn more, half less.
- IT managers
- $204,370
- Lawyers
- $194,410
- Family medicine physicians
- $186,700
- Financial managers
- $175,310
- Software developers
- $160,920
- Pharmacists
- $157,440
- Registered nurses
- $135,560
- General & operations managers
- $125,830
- Police officers
- $121,980
- Civil engineers
- $108,640
- Web developers
- $107,290
- Elementary school teachers
- $101,860
- Secondary school teachers
- $100,960
- Accountants & auditors
- $94,360
- Carpenters
- $75,740
- Electricians
- $73,810
- Plumbers
- $71,110
- Truck drivers (heavy)
- $60,340
- Construction laborers
- $58,810
- Maintenance & repair workers
- $56,520
- Customer service reps
- $48,840
- Janitors
- $38,720
- Retail salespersons
- $37,700
- Cashiers
- $36,980
- Waiters & waitresses
- $35,850
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS 2025 — annual median wage. Cross-industry, all experience levels.
Where new residents move from
The states sending the most people to the Los Angeles metro, by estimated movers (U.S. Census 2022 migration flows, 5-year). Moves from elsewhere in California are excluded to show where out-of-state arrivals originate.
- New York16,198
- Texas10,355
- Washington8,454
- Arizona7,558
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2022 Migration Flows (5-year).
Cities like Los Angeles
Closest matches across cost, income, size, education, and age — tap to compare.
Los Angeles metro — frequently asked
- What is the median rent in the Los Angeles metro?
- Median gross rent across the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA Metro Area is $2,114 a month (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024). That figure covers the whole metro area, not just the city of Los Angeles.
- What is the median household income in the Los Angeles metro?
- A typical household in the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA Metro Area earns $96,405 a year (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- Is Los Angeles expensive to live in?
- The overall cost of living in the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA Metro Area runs about 14% above the U.S. average (BEA Regional Price Parities, 2024) — prices are higher than average, before accounting for local pay.
- Does a paycheck go far in the Los Angeles metro?
- After adjusting for local prices, the median household income is worth about $84,889 (versus its face value of $96,405). CityLedger rates the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA Metro Area moderately affordable for what residents earn.
- What is the typical home value in the Los Angeles metro?
- The median home value across the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA Metro Area is $908,500 (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- What is the unemployment rate in the Los Angeles metro?
- The unemployment rate in the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA Metro Area is 5.7% (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).