What is the average pay rent range in Los Angeles?

Do states that have cheap rent (instead of los angeles), people make just as much?

• (on average, or minimum wage) as in los angeles? I heard some people pay 450 to rent an entire house! here in LA you would share a bedroom for that price

• Answer:

  Yes, in lower cost cities, people actually can earn close or the same, especially in jobs above minimum wage. People don't realize that LA's wages are not much more, if at all, than cities with rent half or less than in LA. While LA's minimum wage of $8 is higher than many cities, the cost of living can be several times more in those cities. So that little extra in wages in LA, doesn't make up for the spread in rentals, etc. Even for cities that LA's wages are 25% more (a big spread), the cost of living in LA will be at least double, with housing 4 to 5X as much, so the standard of living in LA is lower. Many businesses and professions pay almost the same or the same as in LA, like Houston vs LA, CNAs (assistant nurses, 6 weeks training) generally earn the same as in LA, and attorneys at big firms do earn the same now (there used to be less than a 15% difference). $1200 gets you a low end one bedroom in LA, but $1200 gets you a fancy apartment with tons of amenities in a high-rise in the best neighborhood in Houston. One might be able to find a small ok condo for $300,000 in LA (not on the Westside), but in Houston, in the suburbs (kind of like La Canada-Flintridge), one can buy a 4500 sq ft lakeview house in a gated community with pools, club houses, etc. LA is just a more desirable place to live, which is why costs are so much higher, and employers don't have to pay more. You'd be lucky to find a one bedroom in a decent area of LA for $900, and most landlords will not allow 2 adults to share a one bedroom unless you are a couple, and then typically you both individually must qualify for the full rent, in case one takes off. About $900 is actually the Section 8 voucher amount for a studio/single in LA, welfare housing help for the poorest, typically in the least desirable areas. So anything in a desirable area is going to cost more. Good luck!