Moving to LA in 2024? Here's what to expect.

it's weird how life works one day you're sitting on your fire escape in Brooklyn New York looking at all of the traffic below and envisioning your life on the west coast but never actually thinking that you'll do it and in 3 years passes You by and you're now on your sunny balcony in Los Angeles was it worth it I'd say so but La is rapidly changing and let's discuss [Music] how La has changed a lot over the years especially after the pandemic I personally was not living here before 2020 so I can't say exactly how it's changed but from what I can see and hear from other locals is this one things close earlier here now grocery stores for example used to be open for 24 hours for example Ralph's but now they all close at like 12 or 1:00 a.m. not that I need to be grocery shopping at midnight but a lot of restaurants are also closing a lot earli than they used to and eating out can be really expensive nowadays which will get into cost of living in just a bit you often find strange costs on your receipt like employee cost of living search charge and things that just kind of make you roll your eyes and not want to eat out anymore oh America the traffic has also definitely picked back up when I moved here in 2021 the city was a little more empty it was taking me like 20 minutes to drive from Culver City to Santa Monica on any given day nowadays it's it's more so in like the 30 to 40 minute range I also think driving has gotten a bit scarier people will just run red lights and stop signs without any hesitation and there's no repercussions I still have yet to see someone get pulled over by a cop for reckless driving I've gotten to be more of a nervous driver over the years especially after last year when someone merged right into me on the freeway it's scary out there I also don't think it's incorrect to say that La has gotten lonely as a city I recently just did a video on this based on why I think this is primarily because of the city's infrastructure and things outside of our control but all in all the pandemic has kind of made us more home bodies and less people are interacting with each other then again I don't really know how La was before 2020 so feel free to leave your thoughts on this topic as well so let's talk cost of living and this is a topic that's constantly changing because it seems every year La gets more and more expensive but right here in 2024 we at least probably can say that La is an affordable City a part of it is all about budgeting though if you want to be shopping at aroan because it sounds cool good luck go pay your $1.99 for a carton of strawberries I'm a Trader Joe's boy because it's still pretty reasonable but even lately with inflation I'm starting to feel it out of my own pocket I'm still probably spending at least about $100 a week just on groceries and that doesn't account for the weekly takeouts I'm doing or eating out which I'm trying to do less of because it's just getting too expensive but assume $50 a person just to go to a restaurant including tip quick grab such as coffee will also cost you it's pretty standard these days to be charging $7 for a latte or5 to $6 for a cup of coffee this is definitely something I've pulled back on because it's just getting to be unjustifiable and take out food would probably cost you anywhere from 15 to $20 for a meal I also try to limit the takeout I do because it's just getting to be too much a significant cost in La is also your car expense you may have monthly car payments themselves but something I find also crazy is that in California you have an annual car renewal fee that starts anywhere from like $300 depending on the vehicle you have which every year is kind of annoying I mean back home in New York I believe it's like every 2 years and it's not even that much money gas range es anywhere from $4 to $6 a gallon right now if you have to commute every day this will add up pretty quickly I don't even commute to work and I feel like I'm still filling up every week spending almost $200 a month maybe even more sometimes depending on the trips I do I can't really imagine what the cost will look like if you are commuting let's say an hour or two each day having a car is not cheap in LA but you can probably say the same for most American places when it comes to car maintenance and insurance and monthly car payments but La does not make it much easier apartment costs and rent my least favorite rent in Los Angeles is obviously really high and increases every year essentially if you want to live on the west side of La you're probably looking at close to 3K for a one bedroom maybe even a little more depending on the location this does of course vary by amenities and square footage I was looking at apartments last year in the Palms neighborhood of LA and the cheapest I can find was actually $2 300 a month but this apartment was small I'm talking like New York small and it lacked a lot of the conveniences I was looking for like having AC and heat and inunit laundry and things like that you can probably find a place in the LA area as low as like 2K but you're probably going to be sacrificing some conveniences you'd otherwise want location is everything utilities are not cheap either in La as a tenant you're typically responsible for water gas sewage trash electricity and Wi-Fi sometimes you will get lucky and your landlord might cover some things like water and trash but ultimately you may be responsible and you can be spending maybe around like the $200 Mark a month or more especially in the summer month when you're cranking up your AC and that electric bill goes up honestly probably more than $200 for all that it's difficult to say how much you'll be spending each month because everyone's situation is so different but to really enjoy la or live on your own you're probably going to want to make at least six figures just depending on the things you want to do here I know there's a lot of people that move here to pursue things like acting and they move here with no job and just their savings I personally can't really recommend that I'm not going to say like come with 10K and you'll make it work because I don't have that experience and I find that pretty nuts you should really get a job before you move here let's talk Transit and LA Metro so we all kind of know by now that La is a very car Centric City traffic is heavy at all times no one really takes a train things like that but there are plenty of people in La who do not have a car and depend on the Metro System every day it's more common than you think just less convenient in a city that really prioritizes freeways over Transit and sidewalks a report last year indicates that 23.4 million train rides were taken in April 2023 averaging about 800 180,000 weekday Riders on the bus rail and micr transit system and this is continuously increasing each year and we'll continue to do so especially as we get closer to the 2028 Summer Olympics we're already seeing positive improvements in this for example the Kline in South La just opened last year and the Kline will also begin at LAX which is huge for the city because currently there's not many public options to get out of LAX and my experience while I don't ride the train that much admittedly is that it's not terrible it's just not as convenient as a city like New York one of my gripes with LA Metro is that since the city is so spread out you can't just easily walk to your neighborhood's train stop if it has one it could easily be a few miles away from your apartment so it kind of begs the question how do you get to the train stop do you take the bus do you walk do you bike there but all in all it's still probably going to take up more of your time than just driving even even with the traffic here so I'd say in 2024 LA Metro is still kind of a last resort for me but this also does depend on your own situation your location and lifestyle and let's talk apartment searching so apartment searching in 2024 can be quite competitive but not if you're comparing it to let's say New York if you are coming from New York like I did and so many people do you can expect a more seamless search experience fortunately when I was looking for an apartment I had it ingrained in me that I had to see every place the day it was posted apply put my deposit down I needed to get it done in La you definitely have more flexibility for finding the right place and not being so bothered with the fear of someone taking it before you also there's no broker's fees in La some of you may not even know what I'm talking about if you haven't lived in New York but that's a positive because so much money goes down the drain when you're dealing with those Brokers it's a nice thing to have here for sure sure your best bet is probably just checking out Zillow or Trulia or redin or apartments.com and honing in on a location that you want it's also not a bad idea to join a Facebook apartment search group where you can even sublet someone's apartment for a month or so just to get your feet under the ground and really be able to explore and see what area you like the best that's actually how I went about it and everything else fell into place after that one month you can also find roommates from these groups which can make your life so much easier if let's say someone is looking for a new roommate you can just easily join their lease and while I'm cooped up in my apartment right now it's a beautiful day so let's get outside so let's talk crime and safety and homelessness in Los Angeles because nobody wants to live in an unsafe community and it can be a determining factor for if you choose to move or not we also know that the news is notorious for sensationalizing crime in big cities and while it may be true that crime is on the rise for multiple issues here are the real stats based on the LA mayor's website violent crimes have actually decreased 3.2% in 2023 compared to the previous year although property crime has increased 3 and 1.2% traffic crimes are on the rise as well with hit and runs and DUIs increasing 23% and 32% respectively it's not really a surprise when you witness the drivers here in La that being said we can say la is the safest place in the world but for my own experience I don't really feel too unsafe here however I do live on the west side near the beach community so my perception is a bit skewed and biased but what I will say is because culturally people don't really walk around here sometimes I do get sketched out if I'm walking alone at night on a sidewalk you also have to remember how big of a city and county La is it's not even like I get nervous if I'm solo hiking or walking at the beach or anything I feel pretty safe in those areas and homelessness as of Summer 2023 homelessness did increase by 10% with over 75,000 unhoused in the county I have also noticed a change in places that weren't affected before are now affected one example being the Elsa gundo area where you never really saw any tents on the beaches in the South Bay but nowadays when I'm cruising The Strand bike path I see a lot more of them however on the other hand and a street right near where I lived formerly had a full Street of homeless RVs and has since been cleaned up a few months ago so it seems some areas are seeing increases and some areas are seeing decreases the mayor also has an aggressive plan to help fix the issue but time will only tell let's also talk about Community involvement in La if you're moving to La especially alone something you really want to do kind of right off the bat is finding Community involvement or just even finding a third place as they call it or Comfort places because this city can be so overwhelming you really want to find that sense of community as soon as you can whether it be joining a meetup group or Sports League volunteering taking classes your local Church community and then discovering also new places you can frequent it can be very difficult to find friends in La it's common to live here for years and not meet people especially post pandemic where everyone is a little less social for me I found comfort in just going to like Dunkin Donuts every day because it reminded me of home and it's really not a West Coast thing and I was also lucky enough to make friends through mutual friends even before I moved here and then finding that third place meaning a place that's not your home or office can just really make you feel good every day this can be something as simple as a Barnes & Noble or a picnic table here in a park I personally find LA to be more of a daytime City but let's talk nightlife anyway I'm not really into the club scene or anything like that just truly personal preference but a lot of people who move to big cities Love The Nightlife scene however from what I have experienced and even just heard from other people here is that the nightlife is just not the same as it used to be before Co La had a huge nightlife scene we all remember the days of Paris Hilton and lindsy Lohan clubbing every night in Hollywood I do think again that the pandemic has changed how nightlife operates in La not only are people more so homebodies now but everything is just so expensive from ride share to the cost of drinks I mean remember when it used to be like $6 to Uber across the city now it's like $30 plus LA's nightlife scene is kind of on life support right now especially in comparison to other big party cities like Miami and New York if you really are into the nightlife scene I'm not sure La is the best place for that I'd say it's more of a morning City especially because the bars and clubs legally have to close by 2: a.m. I don't know about you but 2: a.m. that is pretty past my [Music] bedtime it's probably something to note that the weather is changing in La I'm actually really excited to be out today because it's finally a sunny day I can't even count how many times it has either rained this winter or been just a little uncomfortably cool or cloudy when I first moved here in 2021 for my first 2 years here I think I could count on one hand how much it rained but in the past year and the past two Winters it has rained so much I have lost count don't get me wrong it is probably a good thing because it means that we're not in the drought and we have less wildfires and it's better for the environmental concerns so actually California is healing but if you're expecting it to be 72 and sunny every day kind of like I was when I was living back East you're in for quite a surprise the winters here can get pretty cool in the upper 50s and low 60s and I'm telling you that temperature for for some reason feels a lot colder here than it does back in the Northeast and even the nights can go into the' 40s I feel like my seasonal depression has returned with a Vengeance here on the West Coast we've had rainstorms we've had Mountain blizzards we've had hurricanes endless gloomy days and everything in between but hey at least the weather isn't always too boring quote unquote anymore right it got some seasonal patterns I guess it does feel so nice to be out in the warm sun [Music] again and let's talk fantasy versus reality in La once I make it up this Sand [Music] Mountain this is a good spot I already did a video on why I personally believe La is a very misunderstood City because Hollywood portrays it as this sunny Fantasy Land I say that as I'm like in a sunny Fantasy Land maybe I'm part of the problem I think La is a much better city to live in than visit because it's so complicated and spread out that the typical tourist attractions like the Walk of Fame and Santa Monica Pier are pretty lackluster and it really takes time to explore the deeper value of this city but when it comes to the reality if you think you're going to be running into celebrities every day especially in the time where people are staying home more and not going out that's just like not really La anymore you'll be reminded soon how Hollywood is kind of dumpy and no one really walks the sidewalk so those spontaneous encounters even with non celebrities are just really not there and La proper is not exactly aesthetically pleasing like sure you may be thinking about cruising down Beverly Drive or pch in Malibu but most likely you're not going to end up living there and most of La is just a bunch of strip malls and rundown buildings and it lacks skyscrapers unless you're in Downtown LA because of the city zoning laws so there's really not much Urban charm to it the palm trees do help though I'll give it that so after all that do I recommend moving to LA right now I can't say no so I would say yes because La has been so good to me but you probably want to come here with a purpose and lower your expectations that La is just this fantasy Hollywood Life and maybe that purpose is just enjoying a more laid-back city after living in like New York and not wanting to give up the city life completely or wanting to pursue something in entertainment or something creative I'd say if you're strictly moving to La for something like the weather it may get old in time after that honeymoon phase and you'll just be tired of it it's definitely a Choose Your Own Adventure type of city I'm a big city guy who also values nature and new outdoor experiences so I feel like La is still a great fit for me right now I can't imagine what my life would have been like if I never made the jump to move across the country and all in all La is not perfect but I think that there's worse places to live thanks for watching let me know if there is any information I may have missed that you want to see in a future video I make videos about life here in LA and SoCal especially Post New York city so hit that subscribe button it's free give this video a like so it reaches more dreamers like yourself and I'll see you next time because I am in good spirits now the sun is out I mean how could you not want to be [Music] here

Channel: Michael Martello

Views: 37,310

Keywords: moving to los angeles, los angeles, should i move to los angeles, moving to california, what is living in los angeles like, what is los angeles like in 2024, los angeles vlog, cost of living in los angeles, crime in los angeles, los angeles public transit, nightlife in los angeles, apartment searching in los angeles

Id: sshr5rAup9A

Length: 19min 19sec (1159 seconds)

Published: Mon Mar 11 2024