What are some nice/safe towns near Los Angeles to move to?

Question

I am moving to Los Angeles, hopefully by December, and I was wondering if anyone knew of some towns that might be a bit cheaper then the city itself. I would love to still be near, and also need to be in a safe area. Any advice would be great!

Answer 1

We see this every day in this forum: Everyone wants to move here, and is looking for “cheap/affordable and safe". However, such a place just doesn’t exist; the two terms are mutually exclusive. It's all about supply and demand: If it's in SoCal, then it's not going to be cheap to begin with. If it's a safe area, then it's more expensive. If you need good schools, add a couple hundred bucks a month on top of it.

If you want to live here and enjoy the weather, then you have to pay for it. You put up with the smog and the traffic, enjoy the weather and pay your rent or mortgage. My advice is to start checking out craigslist, rent.com, and apartments.com if you are looking to rent. You’ll quickly see that the minimum rent for a non-war zone is about $1,000-$1,200 per month for a studio or 1BR. Really nice areas (like the West LA area) easily run $3,000 or more. Want to live near the beach? Expect to pay a premium.

"LA" is such a big place, there are so many neighborhoods/cities where you can live. Of course, even within a city or neighborhood, there are safer sections and less-safe sections.

In Los Angeles, some nice sections are West LA, Brentwood, Westwood, Marina Del Rey, Playa Del Rey, Los Feliz, Silverlake, Eagle Rock, Encino, Tarzana, Studio City, Toluca Lake, Granada Hills, Woodland Hills, Sherman Oaks, West Hills, Chatsworth.

To the east: South Pasadena, parts of Pasadena, Altadena, Arcadia, Monrovia, Glendora, San Dimas, Laverne, Azusa, Rancho Cucamonga.

Along the beach: Santa Monica, Marina Del Rey, Playa Del Rey, Redondo Beach, Manhattan Beach, Hermosa Beach, Torrance, Palos Verdes, Rancho PV.

In Orange County aka "The OC": Seal Beach , Huntington Beach , Newport Beach , Corona Del Mar , Laguna Beach , Dana Point , Capistrano Beach , San Clemente , Brea, Yorba Linda, Orange, Tustin, Irvine, Laguna Hills, Rancho Santa Margarita, Lake Forest

To the west: Agoura, Calabasas, Thousand Oaks, Westlake Village, Simi Valley, Moorpark.

This is not an all-inclusive list, but it's a start.

Answer 2

Long Beach ^_^

Answer 3

Riverside County is much cheaper than LA or Orange Counties, and there are some beautiful areas there.  Stay as far west as possible - try Corona, Wildemar, Murrieta and Temecula.  It will take you 45 min-1 hr to get to LA though; although you're closer to Orange County and the beaches there.  You're also just as close to San Diego as you would be to downtown LA.... and only a 3-4 hour drive to Vegas, and 1 hr. from Palm Springs;  45 min. to Lake Arrowhead....

Answer 4

If you're looking for a less expensive area then forget being near the beach.  The closer you get, the more expensive it is, unless you're in a crappy part of town that is not safe.

Check out the L.A. Times online classifieds, or craigslist, or Westsiderentals.com.  (Westsiderentals covers more than the Westside, in spite of the name.)  These sites will give you an idea of prices.

What will make your life much easier is if you work as close as possible to where you live.  Commuting is difficult and expensive.  There are very few areas where there is enough public transportation to get to work.  Downtown L.A. is one of the few.  There are a lot of places to work there but it is not the safest place to live.

Answer 5

Los Angeles is one of the biggest/beautiful/entertaining places in The United States. I live in Florence and its alright, They say LA is the most violence place in the USA but dont worry as long as you stay away from the bad influence its all good and most places arent like that. Most places that are good to live in are places where either celebrities live or rich people live because they are rich and can afford them. But anywhere is alright as long as it is not Compton because you'll be dead by the time you start to unpack your things.