Moving to Los Angeles is the continuation of the American dream, of traveling west towards the setting sun and carving out a life on the edge of the world.
The good news: You can do it. Renting an apartment in LA is far easier and less expensive than in cities of comparable size like San Francisco and New York. Legions of dreamers, wanderers, pioneers, artists and those in search for a better life have picked up and moved to the belly of the beast, and so can you.
The bad news: Los Angeles has over 100 definable neighborhoods, and deciding which one of them to live in can be intimidating. However, if you do your research, you too can join the masses in the land of milk and honey, the entertainment capital of the world, the center of the universe: the City of Angels.
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Santa Monica Pier
Frank Gehry's famous Getty Museum
Venice Beach lifeguard towers
Call before you visit the apartment. Whether you are searching for apartments online or in the newspaper, always call first to find out more information before making the trek to see the place in person. A phone call can often weed out many of your options, and you don’t want to be running all over LA for no reason.
If you don’t already have opportunities lined up in a particular area of Los Angeles, then your options are pretty open. Talking to locals is always the best way to figure out a new neighborhood.
Whichever side you happen to choose will most likely be where you spend the great majority of your time. Commuting back and forth across the city can, and probably will, drain your time, money, and sanity. Living somewhere on the west side – say, Venice or Santa Monica – will be more conducive to relaxing on the beach on your off days whereas east-siders will only see the beach if absolutely necessary. We really mean it when we say the traffic is that bad in LA. Furthermore, the geographical reality of Los Angeles makes your choice of a neighborhood very important; when people ask you where you’re from, you don’t just say “LA” but rather: Silver Lake, K-Town, Venice Beach or Hollywood!
Santa Monica: A polished seaside city with a famous pier, Santa Monica is the epitome of the west LA. Shops and gourmet restaurants make Santa Monica a place of ease. Santa Monica is a very livable neighborhood, with the farmer’s market on Main Street every Sunday morning.
Venice Beach: If you are determined to live by the beach, Venice might be a good option.
Westwood/Century City: Century City is a business center that turns into a practical ghost town at night. Westwood is next door, and has plenty of restaurants and bars.
Culver City: Long known as a movie and TV production Mecca. You can find an apartment here for a decent price.
Beverly Hills: A separate city from Los Angeles altogether. With shopping along Rodeo Drive.
West Hollywood: West Hollywood (or We-Ho) is one of the cleanest and most stylish areas in Los Angeles. West Hollywood is full of clothing shops, and new eateries.
Hollywood: Hollywood is where many people first land when they arrive in LA. You'll be living in the thick of things.
Silver Lake: This neighborhood is full of organic cafes, eclectic boutiques, dive bars, and chilled-out coffee shops. Located between Echo Park and Glendale, Silver Lake has a central location, just 10-15 minutes to downtown or Hollywood. Finding an affordable apartment here isn’t easy, but with enough legwork it can be done.
Echo Park: Echo Park has cute little shops, and vegan cafe.. Echo Park Lake is quite beautiful during the day, Dodger Stadium is around the corner, and the Echo and the Echoplex venues both see a lot of hot musical action all throughout the year.
Los Feliz: This pretty area is a relatively chill place to come home to from the madness of LA. It features quick access to neighboring Griffith Park and some particularly gorgeous homes, that is, if you can afford to live in one.
Wilshire/Midtown: Centered on Wilshire Blvd. It’s also home to Koreatown (or K-town), where you can find an apartment in any price range.
Downtown: Downtown Los Angeles is the heart of the city. You can rent a chic new loft with a killer view for an amazing price..
Now that you’ve been outfitted with the proper tools, tip, and tricks, we’re confident that finding the LA apartment of your dreams is definitely within reach. LA is a big place gleaming with opportunity, and it’s up to you to grab it, like life, by the horns. Now go forth, dear apartment hunter, and claim your piece of this angelic city.
Welcome to the February 2019 Los Angeles Rent Report. Los Angeles rents remained steady over the past month. In this report, we'll evaluate trends in the Los Angeles rental market, including comparisons to cities throughout the metro, state, and nation.
Welcome to the February 2019 Los Angeles Rent Report. Los Angeles rents remained steady over the past month. In this report, we'll evaluate trends in the Los Angeles rental market, including comparisons to cities throughout the metro, state, and nation.
Los Angeles rents have remained flat over the past month, however, they are up slightly by 1.4% year-over-year. Currently, median rents in Los Angeles stand at $1,360 for a one-bedroom apartment and $1,750 for a two-bedroom. Los Angeles' year-over-year rent growth leads the state average of 0.3%, as well as the national average of 1.0%.
Throughout the past year, rent increases have been occurring not just in the city of Los Angeles, but across the entire metro. Of the largest 10 cities that we have data for in the Los Angeles metro, 9 of them have seen prices rise. Here's a look at how rents compare across some of the largest cities in the metro.
As rents have increased slightly in Los Angeles, a few other large cities nationwide have also seen rents grow modestly. Compared to most similar cities across the country, Los Angeles is less affordable for renters.
For more information check out our national report. You can also access our full data for cities and counties across the U.S. at this link.
Data from private listing sites, including our own, tends to skew toward luxury apartments, which introduces sample bias when estimates are calculated directly from these listings. To address these limitations, we’ve recently made major updates to our methodology, which we believe have greatly improved the accuracy and reliability of our estimates.
Read more about our new methodology below, or see a more detailed post here.
Apartment List is committed to making our rent estimates the best and most accurate available. To do this, we start with reliable median rent statistics from the Census Bureau, then extrapolate them forward to the current month using a growth rate calculated from our listing data. In doing so, we use a same-unit analysis similar to Case-Shiller’s approach, comparing only units that are available across both time periods to provide an accurate picture of rent growth in cities across the country.
Our approach corrects for the sample bias inherent in other private sources, producing results that are much closer to statistics published by the Census Bureau and HUD. Our methodology also allows us to construct a picture of rent growth over an extended period of time, with estimates that are updated each month.
Read more about our methodology here.
Apartment List publishes monthly reports on rental trends for hundreds of cities across the U.S. We intend these reports to be a source of reliable information that help renters and policymakers make sound decisions, and we invest significant time and effort in gathering and analyzing rent data. Our work is covered regularly by journalists across the country.
We are continuously working to improve our methodology and data, with the goal of providing renters with the information that they need to make the best decisions.
Apartment List has released Los Angeles’ results from the third annual Apartment List Renter Satisfaction Survey. This survey, which drew on responses from over 45,000 renters nationwide, provides insight on what states and cities must do to meet the needs of the country’s 111 million renters.
"Los Angeles renters expressed general satisfaction with the city overall," according to Apartme...
Here’s how Los Angeles ranks on:
Apartment List has released Los Angeles’ results from the third annual Apartment List Renter Satisfaction Survey. This survey, which drew on responses from over 45,000 renters nationwide, provides insight on what states and cities must do to meet the needs of the country’s 111 million renters.
"Los Angeles renters expressed general satisfaction with the city overall," according to Apartment List. "They gave most categories near average scores."
Key Findings in Los Angeles include the following:
Renters say:
For more information on the survey methodology and findings or to speak to one of our researchers, please contact our team at rentonomics@apartmentlist.com.