Los Angeles vs Bay Area
LA vs Bay Area for quality of life, career opportunities, dating, entertainment, growth, etc. TC: 315k
traffic in LA isnāt bad if you live west of the 405
It's not bad if you live west of the 405, work west of it (or remote) AND don't often go east. Meaning you live your whole life in Santa Monica/Culver City/Marina del Rey Certainly not a bad place to be. But places like downtown, Glendale, echo park are pretty unaccessible. Plus, the only metro you can take it the one that goes straight to downtown. There's no Public transport from Marina del Rey to Culver City for example. So yes, a nice place to live. But you are isolated from the rest of LA unless you want to sit in traffic for 40 minutes to go 5 miles. If I was going to live in LA again, it would most definitely be near the beach. But homes there are just as expensive as SF.
What would the most central place in Los Angeles, something thatās decently near everything.
Quality of life ? Entertainment? Bay Area?? Best joke
LA vs Bay area IMO, as a Bay area native who has lived in LA. Pros of LA: + better weather + more diverse population, tech not overrepresented + Much better beaches + more/better entertainment options + More attractive people (though this is more a result of the Bay area having unattractive folks rather than LA having attractive people) Cons of LA: - fewer tech opportunities - worse traffic and public transportation - Further away from nature. Not as many forests, drier and less green landscape. - nice, well maintained areas with good school districts, amenities, etc are far from good areas for work - air pollution Same: * Good dining options. LA better for ethnic foods and variety, Bay area better for farm-to-table and high end * rundown and dirty urban environment * Lots of homeless, crime * Expensive * Decent amount of pathological people. In LA you have "omg let's be bffs" self absorbed people who forget your name the next moment. In SF you have passive aggressive people who work all day with a secret chip on the shoulder and silently judge everyone. LA is irreverent, SF is neurotic. * Wildfire+earthquake risk LA is more chic, SF is more quirky. Depends what you like. If you're in tech and care a lot about your career, the Bay area is probably going to be better. Irreverent and fun? Probably LA.
^ nailed it
Pretty accurate on everything, however housing in Bay Area is a bit more inflated than LA. You can still live 20-30 minutes outside of LAX (not counting rush hour) for well under $1M for a nice 2-3BR house in a decent area. Talking about cities on the edge of LA county.. 20-30 minutes outside of SF for that price? Forget about it. Not to mention you can day trip to Orange County very easily
SD > LA > SF
San Diego is pretty lame
San Diego traffic is fast approaching the level of frustration you find in LA/OC. Best weather in the state, no doubt (perhaps the country). Culturally not as diverse or at the level of either LA or SF. LA wins on entertainment, but they don't call it "Tinsel Town" for nothing.
SF Bay Area >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> other underling geos.
LA was such a bargain in 2017. Housing prices have doubled from 500k avg to nearly 1M avg, but not salaries. If only I started working earlier
Traffic in LA is really bad. You will miss dates and meetings life will be hell.