Home-Rental Market In L.A. Is Designed For High-End Earners
If moving into a rental home in Los Angeles is part of your New Year's resolution, you may want to take a magnified look at your yearly earnings. According to Zillow Real Estate Research, single heads-of-household who are still stuck at California's $9-per-hour minimum wage cannot afford to move into a typical house within this expensive market. Even if you're a hotel worker waiting for the City Council's approved $15.37 minimum-wage pay hike to take effect in 2015, you still won't be able to sign a rental lease agreement on a single dwelling of your dreams, unless you have a dependable partner to help you carry the financial weight.
Zillow reports that a two-income family will need to pull a 40-hour-per-week workload and successfully net $24.50 an hour to afford the monthly rent on a modest home, which runs more than $2,400. This means your combined annual income will need to hug the $100,000 mark. If you're still picking up your jaw from the floor, you're not alone. Renting a home is difficult for most L.A. residents, whose median household income is about $56,000 annually.
The online real estate database examined a number of popular communities to which wage earners are relocating to secure sustainable job opportunities in a variety of industries. To rent a home in L.A. County's orchard-rich town of Littlerock, you'll need to earn $27 an hour. A single dwelling in the working-class neighborhood of Compton requires an average annual income of around $73,000. At the other end of the spectrum, the cost of living is even more daunting. In Calabasas, where many celebrities live, including the Jackson family, Jennifer Lopez, Selena Gomez, Howie Mandel and Will Smith, you'll need to earn at least $184 per hour to rent a home in that affluent enclave.
Keep in mind that the welcome mat is always rolled out for those who prefer leasing rooms inside an apartment complex. As of this writing, one-bedroom apartments in L.A. are leasing for $1,769 a month, with two-bedroom accommodations going for $2,377 per month. For many young people, studio apartments are achievable options.
Sharon Raiford Bush is an award-winning journalist who covers topics of social interest in greater Los Angeles. Some news articles she has authored have been archived by the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC. Sharon also contributes to Examiner.com.
