BEST PLACES TO LIVE IN L.A.

Los Angeles is home to many, and having lived here for two years there is still SO much I have yet to learn! It's a fascinating big busy city full of dreamers and stars. We are stoked to have an expert's opinion from Area Vibes to share with us some of the best places to live in LA. Without further ado...

Los Angeles - The City of Angels, La-La Land, Tinseltown. A tourist favourite with several nicknames it can sometimes become easy to forget that for many people LA is known simply as ‘home’. We look past the sightseeing attractions and vacation hotspots, to broader Los Angeles and the best places to live within America’s most populous county.

San Rafael Hills

With house prices being almost double the average in California, San Rafael Hills is not the most cost effective neighbourhood in which to live. This would explain the high average income and the well educated population within the area, with 30% of residents having a bachelor’s degree. San Rafael Hills overlooks the Los Angeles Basin and is very sparsely populated with just 1,187 people per square mile – this may explain the exceptionally low crime rate. With picturesque views and lovely green landscape this tranquil environment would be a relaxing place to live away from the buzz of the city.

Woodland Hills

Ranked as the #1 place to live in Los Angeles Woodland Hills carries everything you would expect from the top ranking district: plenty of amenities, low crime rates, good schools, an abundance of employment and great housing. Like San Rafael Hills it is a very affluent area of Los Angeles with house prices 26% higher than the LA average. Located in the south-western area of the San Fernando Valley, Woodland Hills is a hotbed of social activity. There are plenty of cafes, coffee shops and restaurants to suit everyone’s taste, including Maggiano's Little Italy, P.F. Chang's China Bistro and Ruth's Chris Steak House.

South Arroyo

South Arroyo is ranked as the number 1 place to live in Pasadena, a city that is divided between the middle class and the very wealthy. The average household income is over $100,000 placing South Arroyo in the latter of the two. Compared with Los Angeles’ overall population of over 9.5m, South Arroyo is a relatively small drop in the ocean with a mere 8,836 people of which 61% are married and 31% have children under the age of 18. This, therefore, can be seen as a great place to raise a family, especially when you consider the 8 parks and 20 schools with a 1 mile radius.

Ladera Heights

Ladera Heights ticks all of the boxes when looking for a great place to live, apart from the one labelled ‘Cost of Living’. Located just 6.7 miles from Los Angeles city, it is much closer than any of the above locations and unlike the other locations it has a predominantly African American population. In the 1970s Ladera Heights became a popular nesting place among LA’s sports stars and today it seems the wealthy are still occupying the area with the average household income sitting at over $117,000 per year.

Other great places to reside in LA include Manhattan Beach, an upscale community with some of the county’s top real estate. Venice, a residential and recreational community situated on the beachfront on the Westside of LA, is a lively place to live where you cannot fail to have a great social life.

In truth, there are so many great places to live in LA making it difficult to highlight only a few, as David Wilson found out whilst exploring Los Angeles for AreaVibes; the experts on where to live in the US.