California Dreaming? 1 in 5 Americans want to live in Los Angeles, new survey says

[sopas ej]

From KTLA5:

California Dreaming? 1 in 5 Americans want to live in Los Angeles, new survey says


by: Travis Schlepp
Posted: Mar 2, 2023 / 05:01 PM PST
Updated: Mar 2, 2023 / 05:01 PM PST

Despite California experiencing a slight decline in population over the past several years, a large portion of the nation said they would like to call Los Angeles home.

A new nationwide survey by HomeBay, a website that offers analysis and tips about real estate, found that 1 in 5 people surveyed would like to live in L.A., assuming money wasn’t an issue.

The revelation comes as part of a larger sweeping survey of people who recently moved. More than 1,000 people were surveyed about their recent moves as Home Bay looked to find out how, why and where people were moving.

While the most popular state to move to among those surveyed was Florida, if money weren’t an object, people surveyed would like to live in California (27%), especially L.A. (19%).



Despite the desire to live in the Golden State or the City of Angels, it’s actually Austin, Texas, Raleigh, North Carolina and Orlando, Florida where people surveyed have decided to move.

California lost 343,230 residents in 2022, according to U.S. Census Bureau data. The main reason for the exodus is blamed on cost of living. Of all survey respondents, about half said they moved to improve their quality of life or find a cheaper place to live. Safe neighborhoods, good school districts and affordability are all factors that were considered as part of “quality of life.”

While many people left California in the last year, it still remains the No. 1 state that people wish they could call home, and while we don’t want to connect too many dots, perhaps that’s partly so many people had some regrets about their move. The survey found that 75% of respondents had some regrets about moving — including 44% who admitted to having cried over the move.

Home Bay’s data comes from an online survey of 1,000 people from Dec. 29, 2022. Respondents were asked to answer up to 21 questions related to their recent moving experience with additional insight provided by the U.S. Census Bureau Migration Data.

To read the complete survey results, including whether people are moving to cities or suburbs, and whether or not they’re hiring movers to make the move less stressful, click here.

Link: https://ktla.com/news/california/cal...w-survey-says/

[Crawford]

Baltimore? Kind of random, I'd say.

Also, the article headline and thread headline are misleading. It isn't accurate to say the survey indicates 1 in 5 Americans want to live in LA, it should say the survey indicates 1 in 5 Americans pick LA has one of their top five choices.

[citywatch]

Something about the region, since "city" per se doesn't fit LA in the traditional sense, has its own quality. The weather is a major part of it, but that comes with natural tragedies like quakes, landslides & occasional flooding. The landscape also plays a role too....if LA were flat like Florida or southern hot-insecty like texas, that would play a role too. I notice that climate affects the vegetation in...& the look of....places like Houston or dallas.

Even the way LA's burbs have grown over the past 50 yrs shape it in a particular way....as the 'British Bloke' transplanted to LA goes over. I notice that the current outskirts of one of Europe's most prized urban areas, paris, has growth patterns that remind me of where the LA-OC was back over 60 yrs ago. Or when its older burbs like Cerritos were still bean fields & dairy farms.

https://www.youtube.com/@TheBritishBlokeRealtor/videos

https://www.youtube.com/@JSOCAL1/videos

• Video Link

Not too many major urban areas have this as a part of their backyard...some cities in spain, the south of france, Portugal, etc, do, but they're generally not a part of the leading urban areas of Europe...

• Video Link

this isn't LA....it's a little over 60 miles from dtla....but it too is somewhat in its backyard...or another reason why socal's landscape is its own animal.

• Video Link

[Crawford]

Laguna is pretty terrific. But with family in an adjacent town, not sure people living there would describes themselves as "from LA" or particularly associated with LA. It's basically a classic SoCal beach town, just impossibly expensive. You can live down there without ever going into LA, given they have an airport, huge shopping centers, a massive performing arts/cultural center, etc. and their own self-image. The Segerstom Center is probably a more impressive place to see a performance than the LA Performing Arts Center. South Coast Plaza is maybe the most iconic shopping center in CA. John Wayne Airport gets you almost anywhere domestically.

I'm pretty sure they're about as likely to head south, to San Diego, than north. The southern OC beach towns feel more like northern SD county beach towns than LA county beach towns. And Laguna is different from surroundings in that it's politically really blue.

[citywatch]

Originally Posted by Crawford

Baltimore? Kind of random, I'd say.

LOL. Yea, all surveys & polls are open to data mining or subjective filtering. Personally, there are areas all over the US, increasingly populated during the past 200 yrs, where I wonder why ppl wanted to live there. I include parts of LA in that too.

[destroycreate]

Not really sure why we need to even reference Laguna. Malibu and Palos Verdes are probably better examples for the argument you're making.

[Crawford]

Yeah, and Malibu is obviously LA to the core. Laguna-Newport Coast-Corona del Mar aren't really Hollywood. They have some billionaires, a bunch of celebrity athletes for some reason, and some third-world despots, but Hollywood doesn't live there.

Most people right on the coast there are just rich people working normal high salary jobs as cardiologists or business executives or whatever.

[pj3000]

So less than 20% of people surveyed chose LA as one of their top 5 choices of cities in which to live...

Compelling data!!

[citywatch]

Originally Posted by Crawford

But with family in an adjacent town, not sure people living there would describes themselves as "from LA" or particularly associated with LA.

Generally correct. nyc's counterpart to Laguna Bch, over 50 miles from dtla, would be the Hamptons, around 80 miles from NYC.

https://youtu.be/IvP8W-MKZEI

The climate, landscape & history of the east coast's beach scene for the more affluent affect its personality. What's shown in the vid wouldn't be mistaken for parts of the Mediterranean or florida...however, something about even Fla's light, landscape & climate also make it different from a Laguna Bch, Spain's Valencia or France's Cannes. If the weather on the two coasts of America were the same, both sides of the US would be way more alike than different.

[DZH22]

Originally Posted by sopas ej

A new nationwide survey by HomeBay, a website that offers analysis and tips about real estate, found that 1 in 5 people surveyed would like to live in L.A., assuming money wasn’t an issue....

As pj3000 already pointed out, the crux of this poll has been misinterpreted by the article's author, and then again by you. The poll is NOT saying that 19% of Americans would choose LA as their FIRST CHOICE. It's saying that 19% would put LA among their top 5 cities to choose from, if money was no object.

Thus the actual amount of people who would pick LA as their FIRST CHOICE is probably closer to 4-5%. (dividing the 19% for the 5 cities, then generously rounding up)

[sopas ej]

Originally Posted by DZH22

As pj3000 already pointed out, the crux of this poll has been misinterpreted by the article's author, and then again by you. The poll is NOT saying that 19% of Americans would choose LA as their FIRST CHOICE. It's saying that 19% would put LA among their top 5 cities to choose from, if money was no object.

Thus the actual amount of people who would pick LA as their FIRST CHOICE is probably closer to 4-5%. (dividing the 19% for the 5 cities, then generously rounding up)

I understand that, I read the article. I read a whole article before I post it. And I don't alter headlines. I post it as it was written.

Yes, 19% of people polled would put LA in their top 5 cities to move to if money were no object.

And apparently, according to the graphic, 14% of people polled would put Baltimore in their top 5 cities to move to if money were no object.

¿Cuál es el problema?

[dave8721]

"If money were no object" of course. If I was suddenly a billionaire I wouldn't mind having a beachfront Malibu pad. I would probably have houses in several locations if money were no object.

[JManc]

Who the hell would want to live in LA? It snows there...

[sopas ej]

Originally Posted by Crawford

Baltimore? Kind of random, I'd say.

I'm perplexed by Las Vegas.

[DZH22]

Originally Posted by sopas ej

¿Cuál es el problema?

The title of the thread insinuates that 1 out of every 5 Americans would move to LA if money was no object. However, the reality is that about 1 in 20 Americans would actually move there, since the "1 out of 5" still forces LA to compete with 4 other cities per respondent.

The way that it's framed in the title is not the reality, and people are responding to a number that overstates the truth by 4-5x.

[sopas ej]

Originally Posted by DZH22

The title of the thread insinuates that 1 out of every 5 Americans would move to LA if money was no object. However, the reality is that about 1 in 20 Americans would actually move there, since the "1 out of 5" still forces LA to compete with 4 other cities per respondent.

The way that it's framed in the title is not the reality, and people are responding to a number that overstates the truth by 4-5x.

I didn't write the article or the headline; if it's bothering you so much, maybe you can contact the writer.

[sopas ej]

Originally Posted by JManc

Who the hell would want to live in LA? It snows there...

Oh my gosh yes. I actually wore a scarf the other night walking to dinner, and nobody gave me a weird look.

[pj3000]

Originally Posted by sopas ej

I didn't write the article or the headline; if it's bothering you so much, maybe you can contact the writer.

But you're the messenger...

[DZH22]

Actual truthful headline:
"Nearly 1 in 5 Americans would consider Los Angeles to be a Top 5 US city to live in if money were no object."

That's called correctly interpreting data and representing it as honestly as possible.

The misleading one from the article that was parroted here:
"California Dreaming? 1 in 5 Americans want to live in Los Angeles, new survey says"

Just by reading that headline, most reasonable people would conclude that 20% of Americans would move to LA if they could. That is simply not true, since we don't know how LA placed on the list of the 5 cities picked by each user. Theoretically, the number could round to 0% if LA was mainly people's 2nd-5th choice, and they all ended up somewhere else. I think the 4-5% is fair conjecture based on simple math, maybe 6-8% on the high end. The headline distorts it to spark a conversation as if 20% picked LA as their top choice, whereas the text shows otherwise.

[citywatch]

Originally Posted by sopas ej

14% of people polled would put Baltimore in their top 5 cities to move to if money were no object.

I consider that as part of the Washington DC metro area.

https://youtu.be/LG_WMzdcLsg

Baltimore is to DC, what Long Bch is to LA. And since I like keeping things real....& know that polls & surveys are filtered through things like respondents' familiarity, stereotypes & confirmation bias....I find this interesting....

"...LB looks sketchier than LA....looks kind of dumpy...this place is as depressing as myrtle bch, south carolina ..." "More". "...If myrtle, south carolina replaced all its tourists with homeless people, this is what you'd have...." "I hate green palm trees..."


• Video Link

Similar but also very different....even the SE coastal portion of the Eastern US has a slightly different look & feel:

https://youtu.be/IOjtao6AkmQ

Myrtle, SC is a bit of a Long Bch, CA doppelganger, just as Miami Bch, Fla is a bit of an LA, Ca doppelganger....

https://weatherspark.com/compare/y/20112~1705/Comparison-of-the-Average-Weather-in-North-Myrtle-Beach-and-Los-Angeles