Move SF -> LA?

Jan 23 13 Comments

Wife and I both work in tech. My wife has a good opportunity to move to LA for work and my work is remote.

Any advantages of moving to LA? I'm hoping it will be a bit cheaper than bay area- some articles say about 35% cheaper? What about home buying around there - is it as hard as bay area?

What about the culture and diversity of the city?

And most importantly, what is the tech scene like over there?

Household TC: 600k#engineering #software #techinla

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  • LA is great. You just want to live close to your work or work remotely ideally. Traffic can be pretty bad, but so can the Bay Area.

    There’s pretty much something for everyone in LA. You just need to look for it. I don’t want to say it definitely has more culture than the Bay Area because I’m sure it’ll trigger someone, but it probably does. I haven’t really experienced anything like it outside of maybe New York City.

    The beach cities aren’t going to be much cheaper (if at all) than the Bay Area. The rest of LA is though.

    Buying is still very competitive if you are in the entry level price range.

    Check out Los Feliz, Pasadena, Silverlake, and Atwater Village.

    Tech scene is growing quickly. Lots of Bay Area companies pay the same for remote positions in LA or in their satellite offices. There’s a pretty big start up scene too.

    It’s still a massive city, but could be worth a try. I personally prefer it over the Bay Area.
    Jan 23 1
  • New
    confuzd

    New

    confuzd
    For fun/exploration you can do it. For long term not sure. We moved to Bay Area from LA last fall and so far it feels like a relief.

    1. "Cheaper" depends. Areas closer to the beach are actually more expensive I feel. And that's where the tech jobs are more concentrated.

    2. Tech scene is much more limited. Salaries are lower.

    3. Traffic is the worst in the nation. Bay Area feels like a breeze in comparison to LA.

    4. Air quality on average is much worse. I busted my lungs by living there for 8 years and now I have asthma. Didn't have any problems before.

    5. It's much less green. Feels more like a desert.

    6. It's pretty dirty. Homelessness is even worse than Bay Area.
    Jan 23 1
    • OP
      Thank you this is very insightful! I didn't think any place could have worse traffic than bay area.. Lol! Any specific neighborhoods in LA you'd say checked all your boxes? Affordable / not far from the tech offices.

      I'm pretty sure I will come back to bay area eventually.. Hoping to have a short stint in LA in the meantime.
      Jan 23
  • Limited tech scene. A lot of smaller branches here. IMO, if you move here, you won’t advance your career, but it might be worth it.
    Jan 23 2
  • Meta
    jYQO66

    Go to company page Meta

    jYQO66
    20% cheaper houses

    I bought a house in LA

    you want to live in the good parts of LA though
    Jan 23 2
    • OP
      Thanks! Any specific neighborhoods you would recommend? Good / relatively safe areas with good elementary schools + hopefully easy to sell / rent?
      Jan 23
    • Teck
      rBgW41

      Teck

      rBgW41
      Following
      Jan 23
  • Tinder / Eng
    Batna

    Go to company page Tinder Eng

     Batna
    Things to consider:

    LA is warmer; many more houses have AC

    LA is cheaper to buy property in, even in "nice" neighborhoods. You can get a decent SFH 2-3 miles from the beach for under 1.5 if you look. If you don't care about living near the beach then you can do under 1m no sweat.

    LA has a better food scene (minus fine dining).

    LA has worse traffic during rush hour, but I'd actually argue that a lot of the time it's easier to drive around LA. A lot of the distances are shorter since there's no peninsula where you need to drive around the long way, so without traffic going from west LA to downtown is like 20 minutes.

    Tech scene is fine; obviously not like the Bay but so many places are hiring remotely nowadays that I don't think career growth will be an issue. All of FAANG have local offices too.
    Jan 23 0