#59 of 66 for you
Los Angeles, CA
Perfect weather, deep job market, and a car payment you can't avoid.
Left over monthly
$1,700
Versus Chicago
−$680/mo
−$8,160 a year
Local pay for your job
$105,067
Local wages run 12% vs national
Where the money goes
One earner filing as a household, at 1 bedrooms.
- Taxes$2,380
- Rent$2,276
- Other living costs$2,399
- Left over$1,700
Pay and tax, per year
- Gross household pay
- $105,067
- Federal income tax
- −$14,729
- Social Security and Medicare
- −$8,038
- State income tax (CA)
- −$5,798
- Take-home pay
- $76,502
- Effective tax rate
- 27.2%
Living costs, per month
- Rent, 1br
- $2,276
- Groceries
- $476
- Getting around
- $674
- Healthcare
- $536
- Utilities and internet
- $298
- Everything else
- $417
- Total spending
- $4,675
Left over each month
$8,756 gross, minus $2,380 in tax and $4,675 in living costs.
$1,700
What living here is like
- Weather
- 284 sunny days, 84°F in July, 48°F January nights
- Getting around
- Plan on a car per adult
- Average commute
- 32 minutes each way
- Size
- 12.9M people
- Buying instead
- Median home $825,300 — roughly $5,425/mo with 20% down, tax and upkeep
- Taxes
- California income tax. Sales tax 8.8%, property tax 0.72%.
How it scores against what you said matters
- Money left over
- 26
- Sun and mild weather
- 95
- Access to the outdoors
- 86
- City life and culture
- 90
- A short commute
- 30
Chicago vs Los Angeles, line by line
Same job, same household, both tax codes applied.
Open the comparison →Also worth a look
- Seattle, WA$3,406/mo
No state income tax and high wages, offset by home prices and 150 sunny days.
- Austin, TX$3,176/mo
No income tax, but property taxes are among the steepest anywhere.
- Houston, TX$3,159/mo
The cheapest housing of any top-10 metro, paid for in property tax and humidity.
- Dallas, TX$3,044/mo
No income tax, endless new construction, and a 1.5% property tax bill.