Los Angeles, CA — Momentum Score, Home Values & Best-For

All states·California·Los Angeles

Los Angeles County · Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim · population 3,878,704

Big-city amenities
Los Angeles, CA
Image: Wikipedia · Los Angeles
View watchlist →
53
Stable
Momentum score · 0–100

Where Los Angeles stands

Steady, no major recent move.

Median home $956,465
1-year -1.2%
5-yr CAGR +3.1%
vs 5-yr peak -3.5%
Population -0.1%/yr

Home value trajectory · last 10 years

Zillow ZHVI · monthly
peak 2024-12$956k$499k$676k$854k$1031k201620182020202220242026

Lifestyle scores

🚶
Walkability
78/100
Very walkable
Estimated from population density. Higher = denser, more amenities within walking distance.
🚉
Public transit
65/100
Good transit
Curated list of major US transit systems + population-based estimate. Higher = real subway/rail/bus options.
💻
Remote work fit
27/100
Poor remote-work fit
Composite of city size, housing cost, state tax structure, and region's remote-work track record.

Scores are heuristic estimates from population density, state, and known transit/walkable cities. Not based on a paid Walk Score / Transit Score API — see methodology for the formula.

Rent trajectory · last 5 years

Zillow ZORI · monthly
$2,755/mo$2,111$2,516$2,921202220242026

Home value vs rent · indexed to 100

Both rebased at first month of ZORI data (~2015)
Home valueRent117123100120202220242026

Rent vs buy

Price-to-rent ratio: 28.9
Rent

At a 28.9 price-to-rent ratio, renting beats buying in Los Angeles for most shorter holds. The premium you pay to own would take many years of rent savings to recoup, and that's before maintenance, taxes, and opportunity cost on the down payment.

How the momentum score breaks down

methodology →
Home YoY
44 · w22%
Home 5-yr CAGR
54 · w22%
Distance from peak
69 · w18%
Population growth
43 · w16%
Rent YoY
48 · w12%
Home 10-yr CAGR
66 · w10%
Long thesis

Los Angeles has held up across the cycle: home values at $956,465 with +3.1% 5-year CAGR. The bull case is structural — population, location, employer base — and holds even if next year's print is soft.

Short thesis

Los Angeles carries a $956,465 median home with only -1.2% YoY. Premium pricing in a flat tape is the bear setup — you're paying for the trend that already ran while new buyers can't afford to extend it.

About Los Angeles

Los Angeles is a city in Los Angeles County, California, with an estimated population of 3,878,704. It anchors the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim metro area. The median home value in Los Angeles is $956,465 as of 2026-04, down 1.2% over the last 12 months. Over the last five years, home values have averaged +3.1% annual growth (-3.5% from the 5-year peak). Rents in Los Angeles average $2,755 per month, roughly flat year-over-year (+0.5%). The composite momentum score is 53 of 100 (Stable). Conditions are neither hot nor cold, so the local fit matters more than market timing.

Bull case

Scale = optionality: 3,878,704 population gives you airports, hospitals, a deep job market, and a real cultural scene.
The data is the data: Los Angeles has at least 5 years of Zillow tracking, full Census identification, and is included in the 2-criteria momentum score on this page.

Bear case

Expensive AND not growing: median home $956,465 with only -1.2% YoY. You’re paying premium pricing for a flat trend.
Local nuance: city-level data smooths over neighborhood differences. School zones, HOA rules, and street-level character matter — visit before deciding.

About Los Angeles (Wikipedia)

Los Angeles (LA) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Southern California. With an estimated 3.88 million residents within the city limits as of 2024, it is the second-most populous city in the United States, behind New York City, and the largest city in the Western United States. The city has an ethnically and culturally diverse population, and is the principal city of a metropolitan area of 12.9 million people (2024). Greater Los Angeles, a combined statistical area that includes the Los Angeles and Riverside–San Bernardino metropolitan areas, is a sprawling metropolis of over 18 million residents.

Source: Wikipedia · this summary is contributed and licensed under CC-BY-SA.

City facts

MayorKaren Bass (D)
Area498.3 sq mi
Elevation233 ft
PuebloSeptember 4, 1781
Density8,205/sq mi
Named forOur Lady, Queen of the Angels government_type = Mayor-counci

Extracted from the Wikipedia infobox. Values may be slightly out of date relative to the latest sources.

Things to see in Los Angeles(Landmarks)

  • El Cabrillo
  • Mediterranean Revival
  • Mid-Century Modern
  • Hollywood Sign
  • Walt Disney Concert Hall
  • Capitol Records Building
  • Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels
  • Angels Flight
  • Grauman's Chinese Theatre
  • Variety
  • Dolby Theatre
  • Griffith Observatory

+12 more on Wikipedia.

Extracted from the Wikipedia article. Names linked in the source — open the city’s Wikipedia page for details.

Playbook

Buyer

Lifestyle fit matters more than market timing in a Stable market. Take your time on the home and neighborhood; the macro trend isn't urgent. Negotiate normally.

Seller

Price competitively from day one or risk a 60+ day listing. Staging, photography, and presentation matter more in Stable markets than in Hot ones.

Investor

Stable cap rates, no big appreciation story to lean on. Underwrite this as a pure cash-flow play — the math has to work on rent alone.

Local safety & alerts

No active National Weather Service alerts for Los Angeles County right now.

Public-safety links are official .gov sources, not curated by us. Los Angeles County routes NWS alerts; check the state EM portal for non-weather emergencies.

Neighborhoods of Los Angeles

99 tracked · ranked by median home value
1Bel Air$4,172,107+1.8%
2Pacific Palisades$3,056,237-10.8%
3Brentwood$2,906,038+4.5%
4Beverly Crest$2,764,399+1.2%
5Cheviot Hills$2,454,457+0.6%
6Beverlywood$2,347,912+1.2%
7Mid Wilshire$2,225,919+1.0%
8Hollywood Hills$1,958,967-2.5%
9Los Feliz$1,928,319-1.9%
10South Carthay$1,909,419+0.5%
11Mar Vista$1,896,502+4.7%
12Venice$1,830,588+0.2%
13Mid City West$1,724,809+2.7%
14Studio City$1,604,070+1.8%
15Westchester$1,501,364+2.7%
16Beverly Glen$1,480,125-1.8%
17Century City$1,468,270+4.0%
18Silver Lake$1,463,439+0.1%
19Encino$1,461,748-0.6%
20West Los Angeles$1,460,897+0.6%
21Toluca Lake$1,456,032+1.1%
22Crestview$1,446,169+5.7%
23Pico-Robertson$1,400,599+2.9%
24Sherman Oaks$1,373,520+1.8%

See the full neighborhood ranking →

Cities like Los Angeles

Sources: Zillow ZHVI (home values), Zillow ZORI (rents), US Census ACS + place population. Updated when source agencies publish revisions.

Climate & natural-disaster risk

Winter (Jan)
60° / 41°
avg high / low
Summer (Jul)
82° / 60°
avg high / low
Sunny days/yr
258
~71% of year
Annual precip
22″ rain
8″ snow
Disaster risk (1=very low, 5=very high)
Hurricane
Very low
Tornado
Very low
Wildfire
Very high
Earthquake
Very high
Flood
Moderate

State-level averages from NOAA Climate Normals (1991-2020) and FEMA National Risk Index. City-level conditions can vary significantly within a state.

Local news & community

Updated 2026-05-21 from Google News + Reddit RSS. Headlines link to original sources.

Local sports teams

Major professional teams the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim area cheers for. Detailed stats, schedules, and player pages on intherafters.com.

Current weather

Loading current conditions…

7-day forecast on weather.gov →

Find rentals & listings

Open current Los Angeles listings on the major real-estate sites.

Links open the live search on the destination site — results are always current.

Local economy & environment

Humidity
65%
Moderate climate
Median household income
$91,500
California state median
Top industries (state-level)
TechEntertainmentAgriculture

Humidity is annual average relative humidity (NOAA). Income is Census ACS 5-year estimate. Industries are largest employment sectors statewide (BLS); the local mix in a given city may vary.

Cities similar to Los Angeles

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