According to the latest report, the cost of rent, home buying, and living in California continues to rise.
The report from Payscale, which provides real-time wage data, shows that compared to the national average, housing expenses in Los Angeles are 137% higher this year, utilities are 10% higher, groceries cost 12% more, and transportation costs, including gasoline, are 33% higher.
Overall, the cost of living in Los Angeles is 50% higher than the national average.
The median home price in Los Angeles is close to $1.2 million, and the median rent reaches $3,600 per month. Energy costs average nearly $220 per month, while phone bills are $212 per month.
According to analysis by the real estate lending institution LendingTree of data from the U.S. Census Bureau, in 2023, four metropolitan areas in California had the highest proportion of million-dollar homes among all cities in the United States. San Jose and San Francisco had nearly 72% and nearly 57%, respectively, compared to 66% and 53% in 2022, while Los Angeles and San Diego had 36% and 35%, respectively, representing an increase of 10% and 12% from 2022.
Jacob Channel, a senior economist at LendingTree, wrote in a report published in November: “Driven by factors such as limited housing supply and the enormous wealth created by the technology and entertainment industries, 44% of owner-occupied homes in the four major metropolitan areas of San Jose, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and San Diego have a value exceeding $1 million.”
According to this report, purchasing homes worth over a million dollars has become more common nationwide since the outbreak of the pandemic.
In 2023, nearly 11% of owner-occupied homes in the 50 largest cities in the United States had a value exceeding a million dollars, compared to just under 8% in 2022.
LendingTree attributes the rise in home prices to a shortage of supply, stating that the United States lacks millions of available homes. “The issue of high housing prices is often most evident in metropolitan areas, where overly strict regional regulations make it difficult to build new homes, exacerbating the supply issue.”
On the other end of the spectrum, Ohio’s Cleveland, New York’s Buffalo, and Kentucky’s Louisville have the lowest proportion of million-dollar homes (only 1%, 1.2%, 1.4% respectively). However, since 2022, the number of million-dollar homes in these three cities has increased by nearly 5,800 units.