Everything else equal, we can all agree that living in a cheaper place is better than living in a more expensive place.
I’d much rather pay $500/mo in rent than $1,000. And I’d rather pay $2 for coffee than $5.
And while every neighbhorhood in Los Angeles might be more expensive than living in rural California, there are certain neighborhoods that are definitely cheaper.
What exactly are those Los Angeles neighborhoods where your dollar goes a little further — you can get that one bedroom instead of the studio?
Instead of relying on public opinion and speculation, we wanted to get the facts straight and determine which neighborhoods in Los Angeles are the cheapest using Saturday Night Science.
What’s the cheapest neighborhood to live in Los Angeles for 2024? According to the most recent census data, Sunland looks to be the cheapest Los Angeles neighborhood to live in.
At this point, we should make it clear that you do get what you pay for — some of these neighborhoods might not be the best places to live in Los Angeles. You could be sacrificing location or crime rates for more space and cheaper groceries.
Read on to see how we determined the places around Los Angeles that deserve a little bragging rights, or maybe you’re interested in the worst neighborhoods in Los Angeles.
For more California reading, check out:
- Best Places To Live In California
- Cheapest Places To Live In California
- Cheapest Cities To Live In America
- Cheapest States To Live In America
Table Of Contents: Top Ten | Methodology | Summary | Table
The 10 Cheapest Neighborhoods To Live In Los Angeles For 2024
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Population: 16,555
Cost Of Living Index: 135 (30th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 6.0 (12th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.017 (5th cheapest)
More on Sunland: Data | Real Estate
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Population: 13,477
Cost Of Living Index: 127 (14th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 5.5 (5th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.022 (39th cheapest)
More on Lakeview Terrace: Data | Real Estate
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Population: 39,928
Cost Of Living Index: 129 (20th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 5.9 (11th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.021 (3cheapest)
More on Arleta: Data | Real Estate
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Population: 2,466
Cost Of Living Index: 100 (cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 2.2 (cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.025 (6cheapest)
More on Fashion District: Data | Real Estate
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Population: 21,378
Cost Of Living Index: 135 (30th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 5.9 (10th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.021 (25th cheapest)
More on Mission Hills: Data | Real Estate
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Population: 50,695
Cost Of Living Index: 127 (14th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 7.7 (28th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.021 (30th cheapest)
More on Wilmington: Data | Real Estate
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Population: 8,572
Cost Of Living Index: 136 (32nd cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 8.0 (3cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.018 (10th cheapest)
More on Montecito Heights: Data | Real Estate
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Population: 44,421
Cost Of Living Index: 132 (23rd cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 8.4 (37th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.019 (14th cheapest)
More on El Sereno: Data | Real Estate
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Population: 22,398
Cost Of Living Index: 130 (22nd cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 7.2 (22nd cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.022 (35th cheapest)
More on Harbor City: Data | Real Estate
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Population: 78,715
Cost Of Living Index: 133 (24th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 6.0 (13th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.023 (47th cheapest)
More on Sylmar: Data | Real Estate
Methodology: How We Determined The Cheapest Los Angeles Hoods In 2024
To rank the cheapest places to live in Los Angeles, we had to determine what criteria define “cheap” and then apply Saturday Night Science.
Using Census and extrapolated BLS data, we arrived at the following set of criteria:
- Overall Cost Of Living
- Rent To Income Ratio
- Median Home Value To Income Ratio
We then ranked each neighborhood with scores from 1 to 83 in each category, where 1 was the cheapest.
Next, we averaged the rankings for each neighborhood to create a cheap neighborhood index.
And finally, we crowned the neighborhood with the lowest cheapest neighborhood index, the “Cheapest City Neighborhood In Los Angeles.” We’re lookin’ at you, Sunland.
We updated this article for 2024. This is our fourth time ranking the cheapest neighborhoods to live in Los Angeles. Skip to the end to see the list of all the neighborhoods in the city, from cheapest to most expensive.
Summary: Lowest Cost Places To Live In Los Angeles
If you’re measuring the neighborhoods in Los Angeles where prices are low, and it’s cheap to live, this is an accurate list.
The most affordable neighborhoods in Los Angeles are Sunland, Lakeview Terrace, Arleta, Fashion District, Mission Hills, Wilmington, Montecito Heights, El Sereno, Harbor City, and Sylmar.
As mentioned earlier, the neighborhoods in Los Angeles aren’t all cheap. Glendale takes the title of the most expensive neighborhood to live in Los Angeles.
The most expensive neighborhoods in Los Angeles are Glendale, Westwood, Century City, Mid City West, and Toluca Lake.
We ranked the neighborhoods from cheapest to most expensive in the chart below.
For more California reading, check out:
- Most Dangerous Cities In California
- Richest Cities In California
- Safest Places In California
- Worst Places To Live In California