I’m doing a research about how much it costs to live in Hollywood and i wanted some help from Hollywood residents if they could tell me about those things ..
1) how much does the renting costs? if it’s like a small apartment for college beginners
2) how much does the food cost? is it expensive?
3) how about the electricity and such? how much would a normal bill cost? water bills? and all.
anything from clothes to houses .. if you know anything at all it would help me 
Thank you.
Hollywood is expensive for what you get. Expect to pay $900 for a low end single apartment, and $1200 for a 1 bedroom, but it won’t be easy to find one at that price that is in an OK area. Hollywood is not a very safe area, even in the wealthy areas in the hills. I love Hollywood, lots of my friends still live there, I grew up there, but it’s rather skeezy.
Food in LA is more expensive than most places in the country except maybe NY, NY. Add about 10 – 15+% to what you pay where you are. My friend from Miami was shocked at how expensive LA was for even basics like bread, and she shopped at low price stores here, and I’ve heard the same from others who move here. Nice restaurants tend to be expensive, as well as all kinds of entertainment. Generally, I pay about $16 per evening movie ticket, more for 3D.
Clothes are more expensive here too, but there are always sales, and we have all the cheaper stores with cute clothes like Forever 21 (although clothes may cost more here than elsewhere). You will need a car, or you can’t really go out at night, our public transportation is not good, and you don’t want to take it at night in Hollywood. Cabs are very expensive, everything is very spread out, even going 1/2 mile is $5 with tip. (Hurt my knee, so I couldn’t walk or drive, and had to take my kid to his camp one summer, usually it was a less than 10 minute walk for us.) So include the cost for a car and insurance (mandatory) in your budget.
Electricity and Gas costs depends on how much you use and the size of your home. If you leave the air conditioner on all the time, you could end up with a $500 bill for a small apartment! But figure about $100 a month for a small apartment, either in electricity or gas, or a mix, depending on the season and your appliances. Water cost may be included in many apartment rents, if it’s not, figure maybe $25 a month, more if you have a yard to water.
To buy a home in a decent, but not necessarily super safe (no where is in Hollywood) area in Hollywood Hills will cost from about $300,000 for a small condo, and $600,000 for a very small home, but there won’t be much at those prices. It’s more realistic to expect to spend $800,000+ for a small home that doesn’t need a lot of work. Even in the ickiest areas of Hollywood one can expect to pay $500,000 and up for a small house.
Right now there are no jobs, even minimum wage entry level positions. A good entry level position is In N Out because it pays more than minimum wage. At $10 an hour, if you could get full time hours, you’d bring home less than $1500 a month. Almost impossible to live on. It is tough to live here without a good job, I would say $36,000 a year is living on a very tight budget, $50,000 is OK, but still small apartment, not a great car, no vacations, etc. $100,000 is middle class in LA, but you can’t even afford to buy a nice, small house on that salary.
LA Safety http://www.lalife.com/ Click on Safety, and Map.
Good luck!
pretty effing expensive – expect to pay somewhere in the neighborhood of $2000 for a 2 bed apartment
References :
Hollywood is expensive for what you get. Expect to pay $900 for a low end single apartment, and $1200 for a 1 bedroom, but it won’t be easy to find one at that price that is in an OK area. Hollywood is not a very safe area, even in the wealthy areas in the hills. I love Hollywood, lots of my friends still live there, I grew up there, but it’s rather skeezy.
Food in LA is more expensive than most places in the country except maybe NY, NY. Add about 10 – 15+% to what you pay where you are. My friend from Miami was shocked at how expensive LA was for even basics like bread, and she shopped at low price stores here, and I’ve heard the same from others who move here. Nice restaurants tend to be expensive, as well as all kinds of entertainment. Generally, I pay about $16 per evening movie ticket, more for 3D.
Clothes are more expensive here too, but there are always sales, and we have all the cheaper stores with cute clothes like Forever 21 (although clothes may cost more here than elsewhere). You will need a car, or you can’t really go out at night, our public transportation is not good, and you don’t want to take it at night in Hollywood. Cabs are very expensive, everything is very spread out, even going 1/2 mile is $5 with tip. (Hurt my knee, so I couldn’t walk or drive, and had to take my kid to his camp one summer, usually it was a less than 10 minute walk for us.) So include the cost for a car and insurance (mandatory) in your budget.
Electricity and Gas costs depends on how much you use and the size of your home. If you leave the air conditioner on all the time, you could end up with a $500 bill for a small apartment! But figure about $100 a month for a small apartment, either in electricity or gas, or a mix, depending on the season and your appliances. Water cost may be included in many apartment rents, if it’s not, figure maybe $25 a month, more if you have a yard to water.
To buy a home in a decent, but not necessarily super safe (no where is in Hollywood) area in Hollywood Hills will cost from about $300,000 for a small condo, and $600,000 for a very small home, but there won’t be much at those prices. It’s more realistic to expect to spend $800,000+ for a small home that doesn’t need a lot of work. Even in the ickiest areas of Hollywood one can expect to pay $500,000 and up for a small house.
Right now there are no jobs, even minimum wage entry level positions. A good entry level position is In N Out because it pays more than minimum wage. At $10 an hour, if you could get full time hours, you’d bring home less than $1500 a month. Almost impossible to live on. It is tough to live here without a good job, I would say $36,000 a year is living on a very tight budget, $50,000 is OK, but still small apartment, not a great car, no vacations, etc. $100,000 is middle class in LA, but you can’t even afford to buy a nice, small house on that salary.
LA Safety http://www.lalife.com/ Click on Safety, and Map.
Good luck!
References :