Living in Atlanta vs Living in Los Angeles
If you heard “Large city with beautiful weather and a thriving film industry” on Jeopardy, you’d no doubt reply “What is Los Angeles?” Trick question; the answer is Atlanta, Georgia! As Atlanta grows annually and Los Angeles continues to be one of the most expensive places in the country to call home, you might find yourself comparing the two and wondering what it’s like living in Atlanta vs. living in Los Angeles.
Atlanta versus Los Angeles
Population:
When it comes to population data, it’s important to consider city population in comparison to metro population. Regardless of which of these numbers you look at, Los Angeles is more than twice as populated as Atlanta. The Atlanta population is just under 500,000 people within the city, and about 6 million people within the Atlanta Metro Area. In Los Angeles, these numbers are over 4 million within the city, and about 13 million in the L.A. Metro. That’s three times the population of Maine just within the city limits of Los Angeles.
The sheer number of residents is not the only thing making Los Angeles more crowded than Atlanta. L.A. is significantly more saturated than Atlanta when it comes to where most of this population lives. With neighborhoods like Hollywood and West Hollywood each garnering more residents than most entire cities, there is little space to be had if you call these places home.
In comparison to high rise cities like Chicago and New York, Los Angeles is a sprawling city. It’s because of this that most Angelinos will agree it’s pretty hard to live in L.A. without a car, though many New Yorkers and Windy City residents may never own a vehicle. Still, sprawling or not, this is a densely populated town, and the residents can certainly feel the “closing in” nature of The City of Angels.
Cost of Living between ATL & LA:
Cost of living in both Los Angeles and Atlanta is higher than the state average in either location. Big city life costs more, regardless of where that city might be. Even as one of the most expensive cities in Georgia, Atlanta beats Los Angeles in affordability by a longshot. Cost of living is on average 38% lower in Atlanta than it is in Los Angeles. The cost of buying a home in Atlanta is about 63% lower than buying a home in Los Angeles. This isn’t even the same home, either. A million-dollar home in Atlanta looks much different than a million-dollar home in Los Angeles.
Not only are home prices in L.A. absolutely exorbitant, but you get far less for your dollar than you would in almost any other city, sparing San Francisco or New York City. A small home, in great need of repair, in a neighborhood that is unsavory enough to warrant bars on the windows and security doors will still cost nearly a million dollars. This isn’t a joke, kids. If you’re looking for a good laugh, surf around Zillow with a one-million-dollar budget and see what that will buy in Los Angeles. If you’re trying to buy in Los Angeles, do the same thing, but have a box of tissues ready, you’ll need them.
Though Atlanta is all around more affordable than Los Angeles, the most revealing factor is more about comfortable living than the actual price of things. Income in Los Angeles is only slightly higher than it is in Atlanta, but the cost of living is significantly higher. That means your dollar can buy less, and it’s harder to stay afloat in Los Angeles, let alone live comfortably.
Buying a home, paying for gas, dining out, sending your children to private school, everything in Los Angeles is so much more expensive that many people live barely within their means in L.A., but would be living quite comfortably elsewhere. This just boils down to what is the most important thing to you: where you live, or what you have while living there.
Learn More: What are the pros & cons of living in Atlanta?
Weather:
As the old adage goes “Only two things in Los Angeles are constant: the weather is great, and the traffic is terrible, and neither will ever change.” Well, the traffic isn’t going to be getting any better, but the weather is potentially getting worse…so, there’s that. L.A. does experience some of the most sunny and temperate weather in the world, so if you despise precipitation of any kind this is likely very appealing to you.
It almost never rains in Los Angeles, and barring a few heat waves during the late summer, for the most part the weather in Southern California is beautiful. The combination of its coastal proximity and its swift elevation gain nestled against the base of the San Gabriel mountains gives Los Angeles the high desert benefit of year-round cool evenings during even the hottest days under the California sun.
The weather in Atlanta can be a polarizing topic; most residents love it or hate it. Like Los Angeles, Atlanta is sunny almost all of the time. It does rain in Atlanta, and during the winter months it rains a lot. The biggest difference in climate between the two is the humidity. Atlanta is extremely humid, and if you can’t stand humidity and the effects it has on your home, hair, and even patience, Atlanta is not going to be the place for you.
When the long humid summer has come to an end, fall in Atlanta is lovely. The leaves change and the temperature drops, and by the time Christmas rolls around you might even see a few snow flurries. If you’re looking for a climate that experiences all four seasons but still offers a mild winter, we have a winner.
Learn More: 5 Worst Things about Living in Atlanta, GA
Cultural differences of Atlanta & Los Angeles:
From a cultural perspective Los Angeles and Atlanta are very different. It’s hard to isolate these differences definitively, culture is multifaceted and somewhat subjective. Still, there are a few overlying and fairly obvious differences between these two cities. Los Angeles is a see-and-be-seen city. Materialism, aesthetics, and personal appearance are all held in high regard in Los Angeles. After all, it is the land of the stars.
The beautiful people have come from all over the country to be found there. You know the prettiest girl from your high school in your small town? Well, she, and every other prettiest girl in her high school all came to L.A., so now you have a city full of other city’s prettiest people. This is more visible in certain neighborhoods (Hollywood, Beverly Hills, and Santa Monica are known for this, while Silver Lake and Echo Park are recognized for their hipsters and Portland-resident-lookalikes.)
The lifestyle in Los Angeles is liberal, open minded, and environmentally conscious. There’s a great deal of vegetarian and vegan Angelinos, so if you are looking for plant-based cuisine, you’ll have a cornucopia of options. For singles, it can be hard to leave Los Angeles once you have lived there. With so many people from all over the world living in one place, dating options are plentiful. If you aren’t hitting it off with somebody, don’t worry, there are four million other people right outside your door!
For a city in the south, Atlanta is quite liberal and culturally diverse, but let’s not forget it’s still in the Bible Belt. While the very heart of Atlanta is blue, you don’t have to go far to realize you’re in a red area now. The American South still very much harbors a palpable feeling of segregation between groups of people and social classes. There is far less intermingling of different cultures and walks of life in Atlanta than there is in Los Angeles.
One of the biggest differences in the culture and lifestyle between Los Angeles and Atlanta is the unspoken but noticeable manageability between them. Atlanta is smaller than L.A. and growing rapidly. This not only means it offers great opportunity, but these opportunities are more attainable to more people. Because there is a smaller “pond” so to speak, there’s more room for success in Atlanta.
Los Angeles can be overwhelming for a variety of reasons, and finding happiness in your career, social circles, and financial security will for many people be much easier in Atlanta.
Traffic:
This doesn’t need a dissertation. The traffic in Los Angeles is absolutely worse than the traffic in Atlanta. Even at rush hour, the two do not compare. That’s that.
*Both cities nearly require residents to own a vehicle, so if you think you can live in either and use public transportation to avoid sitting in traffic, that won’t get you very far (literally or figuratively.) If you consider the fact that you’ll have to have a car, and you’ll have to drive it everywhere, Atlanta definitely comes out on top when it comes to traffic.
Looking to become a homeowner in Atlanta, Georgia?
Are you thinking of moving to the Atlanta area? If so, reach out to me at Marc Brenner Realty, I would love to help you find your next home in beautiful Atlanta, Georgia.