Why didn't Los Angeles make the U.S. News top 100 places to live list?

[Csonka]

Originally Posted by MuscleCar

But the huge problem is that L.A. is not growing with the traditional type of American (and influence) that people want it to.

It's a world city now. You can't compare it to other cities in America except SF, NYC, and maybe Miami.

Like you can't compare Paris to other cities in France, or London to other cities in England. These are world cities.

[Csonka]

Originally Posted by Xanathos

One of these places is not like the others. Pittsburgh is one of this country's great little hidden gems. Everybody pictures it as basically what it is actually the opposite of - it's a tech-centric, white collar city with good crime rates and a lot of cultural choices. You take away the harsh winters, Pennsylvania's unpleasant tax structure, and make the airport something with better reach, and you've got one of the 5 best cities in America. Cleveland, Detroit, and Cincinnati...I mean, those are exactly what people think they are.

Pittsburgh is very intriguing

I have considered buying a second home in the country outside of the city

[Csonka]

Originally Posted by Losfrisco

You're barking up the wrong tree because you're using actual facts about the history of Los Angeles.

The stereotypes of L.A.-"car centric" and "sprawl" are so firmly drilled into people's heads that facts don't matter.

Want an example?

I went to a photo shoot near Chinatown last month-some of the models were from London. The first thing one said in his rant against Los Angeles was that "there were no skyscrapers", at least not like the Shard in London.

I sat and nodded, knowing it would be utterly useless to tell him that not only does L.A. have a much taller skyline than London (38 skyscrapers vs. 26), but also two buildings taller than the Shard-because the stereotypes are so powerful.

People are not able to mentally process that a city can be geographically large and also historically urban and rail-centric.

Couldn't the Brit simply look to his south and see the soaring skyline 5 minutes away?

LOL

You could have made great sport of him !!!

[Canaan-84]

Originally Posted by oping00

On the surface it doesn't seem appealing, but the weather , activities and culture are huge draws.
I know lots of people who say they wont live in LA , but they keep coming back to visit.

I’m one of those people who recently visited LA for the first time and completely fell in love with it; I’d love to live there, but the cost of living is so damn high. With the cost of living you’d expect wages to be much higher even for those with degrees. At least with nursing it seems the pay on average is only 5 dollars more per hour than in Texas ($37/hr vs $32/hr). Perhaps I’ll have to move to Phoenix, Arizona to be closer to LA?

[MuscleCar]

Originally Posted by Canaan-84

I’m one of those people who recently visited LA for the first time and completely fell in love with it; I’d love to live there, but the cost of living is so damn high. With the cost of living you’d expect wages to be much higher even for those with degrees. At least with nursing it seems the pay on average is only 5 dollars more per hour than in Texas ($37/hr vs $32/hr). Perhaps I’ll have to move to Phoenix, Arizona to be closer to LA?

Visiting L.A. versus grinding it out every day, are two completely different stories. Zero comparison. The amount of daily B.S., taxes, regulations, etc is disgusting.

[SOON2BNSURPRISE]

Originally Posted by sean1the1

San Francisco doesn't have taxes I assume then.

Los Angeles is not on the list but San Francisco is? That amazes me. High cost of living and human waste as far as you can see.

[TravelingBoat]

Homeless, high taxes, hostile business environment, deranged politicians at all levels running the state.

[Canaan-84]

Originally Posted by MuscleCar

Visiting L.A. versus grinding it out every day, are two completely different stories. Zero comparison. The amount of daily B.S., taxes, regulations, etc is disgusting.

True, but I saw enough to fall in love, reminded me of my hometown Chicago with the beach and Santa Monica Pier (similar to Navy Pier), then there’s hiking in the mountains, there’s so much to do. I’m a nurse so we only work 3 days a week (12 hour shifts) so plenty of time to do things. Stayed at a family members place during my trip. The only issue I saw was the high cost of living, cousin paying $1,700 for a crappy apartment .

[socal88]

In all honesty, these surveys need to be taken with a grain of salt. There are certainly objective metrics used (e.g. per capita crime figures) that act as a good guidepost when evaluating cities, but there is also subjectivity such as determining how to measure quality of life that is based on some sort of statistical weighting according to certain factors is only a starting point that requires delving deeper.

People might look at cities on this list such as Des Moines, Iowa and Fayetetville, Arkansas, and say that they're great options because housing is cheap and commute times are short, which in turn, may imply a higher quality of life. However, part of the reason housing is cheap and commute times are short is partially because despite population growth, neither of these cities have been major magnets attracting tons of people on the scale of other U.S. cities with large, diversified industries. Add in less then stellar weather to put it nicely, and you'll see why it's cheap in these cities. Don't want to knock these cities, but people really need to look behind the numbers for context.

At the end of the day, you have to visit the city to get a feel for it and see if it suits your needs/career/lifestyle/etc. A study based on metrics that spits out a value only means so much.

While the greater LA area certainly has its faults and there are times where there are other places that start looking more attractive, imagine how expensive it is with tons of traffic that folks still come here. Sunshine and good weather matters, which I think the study doesn't really take into consideration, or if so, indirectly to a minor extent. I constantly meet people who list weather/outdoor lifestyle for wanting to move here.