It’s no news that Los Angeles is a pricey place to live. But, for the most sinfully unaffordable neighborhoods, look west.
Using the “40x rule” — household income must be at least 40 times the monthly rent — apartment listings platform Renthop mapped out the least affordable submarkets for renters, comparing the median rent for a two-bedroom unit to L.A. County’s median household income.
The verdict? Eastern Malibu takes the cake as L.A.’s priciest neighborhood for renters, followed by Bel Air Beverly Crest, Central Malibu and Western Malibu in a three-way tie. In East Malibu, the median rent for a two-bedroom is $6,500, meaning that the average renter would have to make $260,000 in household income every year in order to afford it. That’s quadruple the median household income in L.A. County.
The median rent for a two-bedroom in Bel Air and the rest of Malibu is $5,500, meaning renters would have to make 372 percent of the median income.
The third most unaffordable neighborhood is Pacific Palisades, followed by Calabasas, Venice, Westwood, West Hollywood. The top 10 slots are filled largely by submarkets on the west side of Los Angeles County.
Downtown L.A. is the eleventh priciest neighborhood, with a median rent of $4,012 and a 271 percent income-to-rent ratio.
The 40x rule of thumb is used by most landlords in every major city, according to Renthop.
A UCLA report last week named L.A. the most unaffordable city in the U.S. Most L.A. residents struggle to make rent or mortgage payments, regardless of neighborhood, it found.