2.52/5
1,642 reviews
Photo by Sebastian Banasiewcz via Unsplash

Los Angeles, CA

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tax

insane

hollywood

nice

suggest

neighborhoods

bus

long

gold

Los Angeles offers spectacular outdoor opportunities, especially in summer. From beaches and hills to mountains and parks, it's a paradise for those who love nature and being outside. Smaller neighborhoods in areas like The Valley are more livable and relaxing compared to places like Hollywood, which many found dirty and disappointing. Santa Monica is lively but quite costly. Many people feel LA is a place worth revisiting for a temporary stay, largely due to its unique vibe and natural attractions.

However, the city has significant drawbacks. It's extremely expensive, with a complex tax system that frustrates both residents and business owners. Public transportation, especially buses, is unreliable—most visitors recommend renting a car. Traffic across LA is severe, and the city’s sprawling layout makes getting around difficult. Another common complaint is the distant or unfriendly social atmosphere, with locals generally not being open to forming friendships. Dirty areas and a perceived lack of culture or architecture also take away from the overall experience. Entrepreneurs and hotel managers alike note that overregulation makes it hard to do business. In short, LA is great to visit for the outdoors and vibe, but long-term living has serious trade-offs.

AI-generated summary of reviews

It's obscenely expensive for low quality service with kinda mean people. Not nice. The regulations and taxes here are insane too. You pay a neighbourhood tax, district tax, city tax, county tax and then state tax on every payment you make!

The traffic here is insane too. And just getting from place to place is difficult because city is so gigantic.

We talked to our hotel's manager here and he struggles a lot with the insane amount of rules California tells him to follow. It makes it hard to start or run a business here. A lot like Europe.

I understand so many people from Los Angeles left to Austin and Miami.

11 months ago

I spent 4 months working here during summertime. It's one of the best summers I have ever had in my life. The city is just amazing and offers dozens of outdoor activities. There are so many different places such as parks, lakes, hills, mountains, beaches, etc. Also, you can feel the Californication vibe on every step.

I lived in Hollywood and I would avoid this place at any cost. It's just too overrated and won't meet your expectations. Hollywood (esp. West Hollywood) is a big pile of dirtiness with people wandering around. I'd suggest looking for smaller neighborhoods preferably in The Valley. That area is just lovely. Also, anything close to Santa Monica is overwhelming yet too costly.

One of the things I also didn't like was the lack of cultural influence and this is for sure not a city that will offer nice architecture. Another thing I disliked was the huge social distancing towards foreigners which is most likely part of the American culture. If you were to make deeper friendships here, this is not a place to go. You will end up getting ignored and in the worst case, people will stop any contact with you.

Also, the public transport of LA is not reliable especially if you use bus transportation. Get ready to wait a long turn before you get to a bus. I suggest either using the metro or renting a car which is probably the best option in LA. Otherwise, get prepared for long walks throughout your place of stay.

With all of the above said, I will for sure return to this city again and can't say I'm not missing it. It's one of those places where you always want to get back, at least temporarily :D

4 years ago

Nothing does a better job of explaining LA’s beautiful diversity and different neighborhoods than the documentary about the late Jonathan Gold, our city’s greatest amabassador and the only food critic to ever win a Pulitzer Prize. It is called, “City of Gold” and if you want to know LA, just watch this film. Trailer link: https://youtu.be/DmKTRDfz1zM

7 years ago

✅ Great outdoor activities

✅ Pretty safe

✅ Fast internet

✅ Lots of fun stuff to do

✅ Warm now

✅ Warm all year round

✅ Good air quality on average

✅ Many Nomads.com members here all year round

✅ Spacious and not crowded

✅ Very easy to do business

✅ High quality of education

✅ Great hospitals

✅ Roads are very safe

✅ Great freedom of speech

✅ Democratic

✅ Everyone speaks English

✅ Safe for women

✅ Family friendly

✅ Very friendly to LGBTQ+

✅ Not many people smoke tobacco

✅ (Medical) marijuana MAY be legal, unenforced or decriminalized (always double check this)

❌ Very expensive

❌ Dirty in parts

❌ Unfriendly locals

❌ Bad public transportation

❌ Heavy traffic

❌ Overregulated

❌ Extremely expensive

❌ Nomads.com members didn't like going here

❌ Difficult to make friends

❌ High alcohol consumption

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

Feels (median)

18°C / 64°F cool

19°C / 66°F mild

21°C / 70°F mild

25°C / 77°F warm

31°C / 88°F hot

32°C / 90°F hot

28°C / 82°F warm

23°C / 73°F mild

15°C / 59°F cool

Real (median)

18°C / 64°F
cool

19°C / 65°F
mild

21°C / 70°F
mild

25°C / 77°F
warm

28°C / 82°F
very warm

29°C / 84°F
very warm

26°C / 79°F
warm

23°C / 73°F
mild

15°C / 59°F
cool

Humidity

nice
46%

nice
48%

nice
60%

nice
68%

nice
73%

nice
74%

sweaty
71%

nice
63%

nice
73%

nice
54%

nice
70%

Most common

☀️ Clear

Rain

rainy
58mm

dry
4mm

dry
36mm

dry
8mm

dry
10mm

dry
3mm

dry
2mm

dry
0mm

dry
18mm

dry
0mm

rainy
53mm

Cloud

pockets
16%

pockets
14%

pockets
18%

pockets
24%

pockets
19%

pockets
17%

pockets
14%

pockets
15%

clear
8%

pockets
20%

pockets
26%

Air quality

clean
46 US AQI

clean
35 US AQI

clean
40 US AQI

clean
49 US AQI

okay
50 US AQI

okay
59 US AQI

okay
61 US AQI

okay
60 US AQI

okay
56 US AQI

okay
55 US AQI

okay
52 US AQI

clean
46 US AQI

Sun

seek shade
3 UVI

seek shade
5 UVI

avoid sun
6 UVI

avoid sun
8 UVI

avoid sun
10 UVI

avoid sun
8 UVI

seek shade
5 UVI

seek shade
4 UVI

seek shade
3 UVI

Remote workers

2,300 people

2,906 people

2,610 people

1,960 people

2,581 people

2,000 people

2,258 people

1,941 people

2,870 people

2,705 people

2,391 people

2,336 people

Green is good. Red is bad. Values shown are the medians of all daily highs in a month based on past few years, not necessarily current numbers. Remote worker count is estimated based on the total amount of trips logged by Nomads.com members.

If you'd like to filter destinations based on their climate, try Nomads.com's Climate Finder

Based on Los Angeles's cost of living, here's selected remote jobs that would cover your costs:

	Senior Backend Software Engineer @ Bitwise Asset Management
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	Sales Engineer EN @ Tameson
	Lead Data Engineer @ Open Architects
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	Principal DevSecOps Engineer @ Second Front Systems
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	Tech Cofounder CTO @ Founders Factory
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	Frontend Software Engineer @ Bitwise Asset Management

Help pick the best photos for Los Angeles and improve this page's look by tappingclicking on them and the site saves your feedback Vote photos

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0pts

61pts

29pts

12pts

10pts

9pts

8pts

7pts

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38pts

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$1,548 / mo

🌇 Also went here613 people

Singapore

⭐️ OverallAll

💵 Cost 🧐 Very expensive

📡 InternetWiFi 🚀 Super fast

👍 Liked mediocre

👮 Safety great

Tap to open

🌧 Feels 31° 88° 28° 83°

✈️19h

$4,147 / mo

🌇 Also went here421 people

1,800 remote workers in Los Angeles now, of which 8+ members checked in (some members are set to private)

Members who will be here soon

Members who have been here

Values shown are estimated visits by traveling remote workers based on the total amount of trips logged by Nomads.com members. Visits to a place are only counted once per year per user, even if they visit more in that year. Visits are also normalized by overall trips added per month on the site, so if site usage goes up or down it does not affect trends. Not all digital nomads are on Nomads.com, and not all Nomads.com members log their trips. So the data is only indicative.

The chart below shows visitors by nationality normalized for population size. This means we take all trips logged on Nomads.com, check which country of origin the user is from, then divide that total visit count by the country of origin's population. If we didn't, it'd just show the big countries like US, Brazil and India always on top. Instead, this shows which nationalities worldwide proportionally visit more or less, which is more useful.

⭐️ Total score	2.52/5 (Rank #404) 1642 reviews
❤️ Liked by members	👍4 liked it 👎2 disliked it
👍 Quality of life score	Good
👶 Family score	Good
🎒 Community score	Okay
💵 Cost	😳 Extremely expensive: $5,439 / mo
📡 Internet	🚀 Super fast: 73Mbps (avg)
😝 Fun	Great
⛅️ Temperature (now)	🌞 Perfect: 21°C70°F (feels 21°C70°F)
💦 Humidity (now)	😊 Comfy: 79%
💨 Air quality (now)	🌱 Great: 46 US AQI
💨 Air quality (annual)	🌱 Good: 56 US AQI
👌 Safety	Good
🤮 Food safety*	Great
👮‍♀️ Lack of crime*	Good
🤝 Lack of racism*	Good
🎓 Education level*	High
⚡️ Power grid	Great
🌊 Vulnerability to climate change	Good
💰 Income level*	Very high: $4,817 / mo
🙊 English speaking*	Great
😤 People density	🧘‍♀️ Low density: 3k ppl/km² (1 per 17x17m)
🚶 Walkability	Great
🚦 Traffic safety*	Okay
✈️ Airline scores*	Good
🧳 Lost luggage*	Okay
🏥 Hospitals	Great
😄 Happiness*	Bad
🍸 Nightlife	Great
📶 Free WiFi in city	Great
🖥 Places to work from	Great
❄️ A/C or heating	Great
😁 Friendly to foreigners	Great
🗯 Freedom of speech*	Good
👩 Female friendly	Okay
🌈 LGBTQ+ friendly	Great
🎅 Startup Score	Good

🌍 Continent	North America
🚩 Country	United States
🗓️ Average trip length	8 days
📡 Internet speed (avg)	73 Mbps
⛅️ Weather (now)	🌥 21°C 70°F + 😊 Comfy (79%) = feels 21°C 70°F
💨 Air quality (now)	👍 46 US AQI 🍃 OK
💨 Air quality (annual avg)	👎😷 56 US AQI
🔌 Power	115V 60Hz
🧔 Best neighborhood to stay	Silver Lake
🚀 Upcoming neighborhood	Central-Alameda
🚕 Best taxi app*	Uber
🚑 Travel medical insurance	Safetywing
💸 Tipping	Yes, 15%
💳 Cashless	💳 Yes, cards OK almost everywhere
💻 Best coworking space	Blank Spaces
🚰 Tap water	👌 Yes, safe to drink
♻️ Return rate	👍14% of visitors return
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Population	4,000,000 people
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 GDP per capita*	$57,808 / year
😤 Population density	🧘‍♀️ not busy: 17x17m (289m²) per person
👫 Gender ratio (population)	👨 49% 👱‍♀️ 51%
👫 Gender ratio (young adults)	👨 52% 👱‍♀️ 48%
👫 Gender ratio (nomads)	👨 80% 👱‍♀️ 20%
🏞 Foreign land ownership allowed	Yes
⛪️ Religious government	Non-religious
💻 Online electronics shop	Amazon
🏠 Apartment listings	Craigslist
✈️ Best short-haul air carrier	Southwest
✈️ Best int'l air carrier	Southwest

💵 Cost of living for nomad	$5,439 / month
💵 Cost of living for expat	$3,464 / month
💵 Cost of living for family	$8,617 / month
💵 Cost of living for local	$2,462 / month
🏨 Hotel (median price)	$4,441 / month
🏡 Airbnb (median price)	$3,039 / month
🏠 1br studio rent in center	$2,080 / month
🏠 Median home price	$900,000
🏨 Hotel (median price)	$208 / night
🏠 Airbnb (median price)	$100 / night
🏢 Coworking hot desk	$298 / month
🍛 Dinner	$19
🥤 Coca-Cola (0.3L)	$2
🍺 Beer in cafe (0.5L)	$7
☕️ Coffee in cafe	$5
👩‍🏫 International school	$22,930 / year
📱 Mobile data (~10GB)	$9 / month
🚕 Taxi price (avg trip ~3km/2mi)	$6 / trip
💰 Estimated tax on $50,000	$12,352
💰 Estimated tax on $100,000	$30,278
💰 Estimated tax on $250,000	$71,127