The 9 Best Neighborhoods to Live in Los Angeles

Los Angeles, the city of angels, or LA, is known for being home to the rich and famous. It's also known for its crazy-good weather, with over 280 sunny days a year–definitely, a place to consider if you want a year-round glow.

LA is also the second-largest city in the states. This means it's a huge melting pot of opportunities, ethnic diversity, and entertainment. They say for every four people you meet, one will have over 100K followers on Instagram–there's no better place to network.

However, this comes with a few downsides: homelessness, horrible traffic, and a few unsafe areas.

All the downsides of the city can be fixed with three words: location, location, location. Knowing which area in Los Angeles has the right vibe for you, is not too far away from main highways or your place of work, and knowing where you can fully relax and enjoy everything that LA has to offer—without having to look over your shoulder—is paramount to living in LA.

If you're considering moving to this iconic city, want to feel like a star, and experience holiday feels all year round, you'll need to find the right location for you–especially if you don't want to break the bank before your big movie gig.

To help you find the perfect neighborhood, we've put together a complete list of 9 top neighborhoods to consider if you're young and ready to live it up in this great city. Even better, we've built a ranking system for each one to make this decision so easy that you'll be walking your own red carpet in no time at all:

• Atmosphere: nightlife & entertainment, shopping & restaurants, and beauty & parks

• Amenities: schools, public transit, and points of interest

• Experience: safety, affordability, and walkability

The result is a prioritized list of the best places to move to in Los Angeles, California.

Why should you listen to us? Thanks to our experience, and our top-ranked rentals across the US, we know how to make this next chapter of your life feel like a ride in Disneyland–something you've always been waiting for.

Perfect for young professionals and students that want a small beach town-feel in Los Angeles.

Playa del Rey and Playa Vista are two hidden gems in Los Angeles. Although they are near Venice and Santa Monica beach, their prices are definitely on the south side.

The small beach-town feel there is in this area can feel like a much-needed breather from the buzzing and hustling of Los Angeles. You'll have plenty of independent stores and restaurants for you to walk around, and if shopping is not your thing, the beach is just around the corner. This gives it a Walkability score of four out of five.

Playa del Rey is the perfect plane spotting place since the Los Angeles Airport is just a street away. Lay your towel down on the beach, soak up some vitamin D, and watch the world fly by. The proximity to LAX makes it ideal for those that like to travel a lot–while others are stressing in traffic thinking they might miss their flight, you'll just be in a 5-minute Uber ride to the airport.

Playa Vista is home to Loyola Marymount University, so if you're a student, this is your safest bet to avoid LA's infamous traffic.

Thanks to the students and the proximity to the airport, this area is not as expensive as the nearer Venice and Santa Monica areas. It gets a three out of five in Affordability–home prices are still not cheap, but you can find budget restaurants and stores all over.

For young professionals, this place should be called Playa de las Oportunidades. As the heart of Silicon Beach, there are many tech jobs at startups and major corporations like Microsoft and Google.

If you like to work hard during the week, sail, play beach volleyball, or simply feel like you're on holiday during the weekends, this small-town community is perfect for you.

Playa del Rey & Playa Vista's Rankings:

Weighted rankings were determined by scoring neighborhoods on a scale of 1-5 in the following categories, with 5 being the best.

• Affordability: 💸 💸 💸

• Beauty & Parks: 🌳 🌳 🌳 🌳

• Nightlife & Entertainment: 🎉 🎉 🎉 🎉

• Points of Interest: 📍📍📍

• Public Transit: 🚃 🚃 🚃 🚃

• Safety: ✅ ✅ ✅

• Schools: 🍎 🍎 🍎 🍎 🍎

• Shopping & Restaurants: 🛍 🛍 🛍 🛍

• Walkability:🚶🏽‍♀️ 🚶🏽‍♀️ 🚶🏽‍♀️ 🚶🏽‍♀️

Perfect for those wanting to be near Beverly Hills without paying the high price tag.

Beverlywood & Cheviot Hills are so close to Beverly Hills that you'll be able to smell their expensive coffee and açaí fruit bowls without traumatizing your wallet. These locations are the perfect place to be close to some main attractions, without feeling like you’re in the middle of a big city.

Its palm tree-lined streets and single-family homes give it the Los Angeles postcard everyone pictures when thinking about this great city–scoring a perfect five in Beauty & Parks.

Additionally, Cheviot Hills has been a filming location of countless movies and shows thanks to its proximity to Fox and Sony studios. It has also been home to actors, models, and even a few Olympic medalists, so if you’re looking to brush shoulders with the stars, this one’s for you.

These two neighborhoods are pretty safe, which is very important in a city like Los Angeles, with a notoriously bad reputation for safety. However, although its streets are beautiful and safe, it's not very walkable. It gets a two out of five in our Walkability score and a three out of five in Public Transit due to it being mainly a residential area.

In terms of things to do, you'll have plenty of green spaces to enjoy, many private parks and the Rancho Park golf academy or the Cheviot Hills tennis center are on hand for the competitive Bungalow folk.

You can also visit the different highlights of the area. The Museum of Tolerance is just around the corner, and it's a great place to educate and enlighten yourself with some crucial moments in history.

If you're looking for a safe, centrally-located residential area filled with palm trees and gorgeous homes that will make you forget you live in America's second-largest city, this area might be a place to check out.

Beverlywood & Cheviot Hills' Rankings:

Weighted rankings were determined by scoring neighborhoods on a scale of 1-5 in the following categories, with 5 being the best.

• Affordability: 💸 💸 💸 💸 💸

• Beauty & Parks: 🌳 🌳 🌳 🌳 🌳

• Nightlife & Entertainment: 🎉 🎉 🎉

• Points of Interest: 📍📍📍

• Public Transit: 🚃 🚃 🚃

• Safety: ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅

• Schools: 🍎 🍎 🍎

• Shopping & Restaurants: 🛍 🛍 🛍 🛍

• Walkability:🚶🏽‍♀️ 🚶🏽‍♀️

Perfect for young and single professionals that love to work hard and play harder.

Downtown Los Angeles, DTLA, was not always a great area. However, it’s turned a corner and is gradually becoming a great area to live. Yes, there is some crime and homelessness in the area, and during the night, you might want to be cautious of your surroundings, but during the day, it's a hub area of the city with loads to offer.

Exquisite places to eat, excellent museums, a few charming breweries, and a great art scene, have this area on our places to live in LA list. There’s also the opera, orchestra, and other such refined arts for the cultured folk to enjoy—not so treble after all!

In the category of Affordability, Downtown gets an average of three. Although its rent prices are steep, you can find budget food and stores all over. Plus, with LA's traffic being an infamous nightmare, if you happen to work in Downtown, then some of its steep prices might just be worth it if they save you from hours on end stuck in traffic. We can’t all have our Emma Stone moment.

Besides the restaurants and shops, there's plenty more for you to do when you're not working hard: Angel's Flight is the shortest funicular in the world and gives you a fantastic view of the city. There's the Arts District, too, a perfect place to take your next Instagram profile pic for sure. For the bookworms, you'll find your paradise at the iconic Last Bookstore.

DTLA went from being synonymous with the slums to having a Whole Foods in the middle of it, confirming its roaring comeback. Check this neighborhood out if you want great food, great views, and to be at the center of business and play.

Downtown LA's Rankings:

Weighted rankings were determined by scoring neighborhoods on a scale of 1-5 in the following categories, with 5 being the best.

• Affordability: 💸 💸 💸

• Beauty & Parks: 🌳 🌳 🌳

• Nightlife & Entertainment: 🎉 🎉 🎉 🎉 🎉

• Points of Interest: 📍📍📍📍📍

• Public Transit: 🚃 🚃 🚃 🚃 🚃

• Safety: ✅ ✅

• Schools: 🍎 🍎 🍎 🍎

• Shopping & Restaurants: 🛍 🛍 🛍 🛍 🛍

• Walkability:🚶🏽‍♀️ 🚶🏽‍♀️🚶🏽‍♀️ 🚶🏽‍♀️🚶🏽‍♀️

Perfect for young professionals looking for a hipster and affordable area in sunny LA.

Los Feliz is a great place to be surrounded by all the things that make Los Angeles great–minus the beach. It’s adjacent to Hollywood and Silver Lake, and it's the place to enjoy some spectacular LA views. Truly a neighborhood where its residents live up to its name.

Griffin Park, one of the neighborhood highlights, is perfect for those that enjoy jogging, hiking, or looking busy in activewear. From the Griffin Observatory at the park's top, you can see the famous Hollywood sign. It’s a perfect place to watch the sunrise–or the sunset if you're not an early bird. At the other end of Griffin Park, you'll find the LA Zoo, making it a great place to take your family or your date–an utterly good time!

Los Feliz is a perfect mix of trendiness and approachability. People here are hip, diverse, and love the hustle and bustle of the city, but they’re also laid back and soak up what LA has to offer.

Besides the parks, hills, and trendy shops in the area, you also have some great eye candy thanks to the architecture; from bungalows and Spanish-style homes to the well-known Frank Lloyd Wright Mayan-inspired house.

Incredible restaurants, eclectic shops, and lively nightlife make Los Feliz an enjoyable walkable area that boasts some great entertainment options just a few steps from wherever you are–achieving a perfect five in Walkability. It also gets a pretty high score in Public Transit thanks to the proximity you'll have to other areas with the bus and metro system.

If you're looking for a trendy and happening area with suburban and urban vibes, Los Feliz might be your next chapter–especially if you want to live near Brad Pitt and see some celebrities in the wild.

Los Feliz' Rankings:

Weighted rankings were determined by scoring neighborhoods on a scale of 1-5 in the following categories, with 5 being the best.

• Affordability: 💸 💸 💸

• Beauty & Parks: 🌳 🌳 🌳 🌳

• Nightlife & Entertainment: 🎉 🎉 🎉 🎉 🎉

• Points of Interest: 📍📍📍📍

• Public Transit: 🚃 🚃 🚃 🚃

• Safety: ✅ ✅ ✅

• Schools: 🍎 🍎 🍎 🍎

• Shopping & Restaurants: 🛍 🛍 🛍 🛍 🛍

• Walkability:🚶🏽‍♀️ 🚶🏽‍♀️🚶🏽‍♀️ 🚶🏽‍♀️🚶🏽‍♀️

Perfect for those wanting to live next to some of the most beautiful beaches and are willing to pay for the view.

The pros of living in Santa Monica go beyond living next to the beach and having the chance to see Sandra Bullock at a Starbucks, or Christian Bale jogging through the park.

A restaurant for every foodie, the proximity to some big tech companies, and the fantastic weather are just some reasons to move to Santa Monica. However, be prepared for some minor downsides too: tourists, traffic, and parking make it difficult to get about without paying a price.

Santa Monica is a city in LA county that offers much more than the cool pacific breeze. It offers beautiful palm tree-lined streets, hip farmer's markets–there's four available every week–and seaside attractions like the Santa Monica pier and Santa Monica and Venice beaches. These features give the area a well-deserved five out of five in Beauty and Parks and Points of Interest.

The street safety, variety of boutique shops on the Third Street Promenade, and independent restaurants give it a perfect score in Walkability and Shopping and Restaurants too.

Santa Monica is a beachside town that makes you forget you're just five minutes away from the second-largest city in the country. Additionally, it's regarded as one of the ten most sustainable cities in the states: public transport runs on natural gas, and buildings must comply with environmentally-friendly standards. Green is the new black!

If you want to live on the beach, enjoy fancy food and a walkable area; plus, don't mind mingling with tourists every summer, Santa Monica might be your next place to call home. Get your electric car, extra cash for parking tickets, and your designer shades. Ready? You’re good to go.

Santa Monica's Rankings:

Weighted rankings were determined by scoring neighborhoods on a scale of 1-5 in the following categories, with 5 being the best.

• Affordability: 💸

• Beauty & Parks: 🌳 🌳 🌳 🌳 🌳

• Nightlife & Entertainment: 🎉 🎉 🎉 🎉

• Points of Interest: 📍📍📍📍📍

• Public Transit: 🚃 🚃 🚃 🚃 🚃

• Safety: ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅

• Schools: 🍎 🍎 🍎 🍎 🍎

• Shopping & Restaurants: 🛍 🛍 🛍 🛍 🛍

• Walkability:🚶🏽‍♀️ 🚶🏽‍♀️🚶🏽‍♀️ 🚶🏽‍♀️🚶🏽‍♀️

Perfect for young and single sporty folk, Dodgers fans, or all of the above.

Echo Park is an iconic and authentic neighborhood in Los Angeles. Like with Downtown, it used to be very unsafe, but it has turned around and become one of the most sought-after areas in LA in the last few years.

Its most important highlight is the Dodger stadium. Definitely, a great place to visit, even if you're not a fan. The buzzing crowds and delicious hotdogs are something that can't be missed.

Echo Park lake is at the center of the neighborhood, and it's an excellent place for a date. There is nothing like navigating the lake in a swan boat while confessing your love to your partner. If you don't yet have a date, it's also a great park to go for a jog or a walk–maybe your running body might turn into something more.

The beautiful greenery, extensive parks, and charming Victorian-style craftsman houses give this area a solid five out of five in our Beauty and Parks category. This beauty, together with the wide variety of hip shops, cafés, and trendy eateries along Sunset Blvd, gives this neighborhood a gorgeously tanned, perfect score in Walkability.

Echo Park is centrally located with easy access to Silver Lake, Downtown, Chinatown, and other great areas of Los Angeles, making it a very desirable spot for anyone wanting to be near the action. In fact, most Angelinos will say that those areas are the cream and butter of LA–or better, the matcha teas and iced vanilla lattes of LA.

Consider Echo Park if you're on the hunt for a trendy, up-and-coming neighborhood with a dark past but a bright future. Here you'll experience the typical laid-back and chilled vibes of Los Angeles, with the melting pot of diversity that only a city like LA can summon.

Echo Park's Rankings:

Weighted rankings were determined by scoring neighborhoods on a scale of 1-5 in the following categories, with 5 being the best.

• Affordability: 💸 💸 💸 💸

• Beauty & Parks: 🌳 🌳 🌳 🌳 🌳

• Nightlife & Entertainment: 🎉 🎉 🎉 🎉

• Points of Interest: 📍📍📍📍

• Public Transit: 🚃 🚃 🚃 🚃

• Safety: ✅ ✅ ✅

• Schools: 🍎 🍎 🍎 🍎 🍎

• Shopping & Restaurants: 🛍 🛍 🛍 🛍

• Walkability:🚶🏽‍♀️ 🚶🏽‍♀️🚶🏽‍♀️ 🚶🏽‍♀️🚶🏽‍♀️

Perfect for young and single professionals that want to live where all the cool kids are.

Silver Lake is between Echo Park and Los Feliz, so you can imagine it's the best of both worlds. You have the trendy vibes, some recent gentrification that makes prices increase, but also better safety.

Silver lake is mostly known for being the cool area in town. It has the 'Sunset Junction' a few miles from the famous Sunset Boulevard, cutting Silver Lake almost right in the middle. Silver Lake gets a three out of five in Walkability because although Sunset boulevard is not far away, that’s the main hub and the rest is very residential.

With plenty of stores and restaurants, you'll be surprised to know that no major chains are in the area since the neighborhood's community tries to make sure to support mom and pop shops and independent eateries instead of the big world-renowned chains. Definitely, a place for the cool kids to discover the next big thing.

Although LA is very LGBTQ+ friendly, this area is one of the most welcoming. There you can find the Black Cat Tavern on Sunset Boulevard, one of the historical sites of civil rights activists and an essential piece of LGBTQ+ history. Basically, the whole of Silver Lake is known in the LGBTQ+ history books, so if you're part of the community, this is the place to be.

Silver Lake is teeming with young people, both professionals and artsy-types alike. Whatever plan you like you'll find in this corner of the city. If you happen to want more, Downtown is only 30-minutes away by car or 50-minutes in public transit.

Silver Lake wouldn't be complete without its lake. It’s the perfect place to have a nature break from city life and the ultimate spot for a water-bicycle date on the lake–trust us, Los Angeles is the ideal spot to find someone who can Lala-land your world.

Beyond the hipster cafés and swanky cocktail bars, you’ve got the 3D Space Museum, the Holyland Exhibition, the Museum of Love, and you're never too far from Dodger's stadium. Plus, if music is your thing, Los Globos nightclub is known for some fantastic music events–giving this area a singing five out of five in our Entertainment categories.

If you want to live in one of the coolest areas of LA and like to be fuelled by artisanal coffee, Silver Lake is the area for you! Not a bad shout, and definitely a great place if you want to say you live in the same area as Ryan Gosling, Rachel McAdams, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and other stars.

Silver Lake's Rankings:

Weighted rankings were determined by scoring neighborhoods on a scale of 1-5 in the following categories, with 5 being the best.

• Affordability: 💸 💸 💸 💸

• Beauty & Parks: 🌳 🌳 🌳 🌳 🌳

• Nightlife & Entertainment: 🎉 🎉 🎉 🎉 🎉

• Points of Interest: 📍📍📍📍📍

• Public Transit: 🚃 🚃 🚃 🚃

• Safety: ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅

• Schools: 🍎 🍎 🍎 🍎

• Shopping & Restaurants: 🛍 🛍 🛍 🛍 🛍

• Walkability:🚶🏽‍♀️ 🚶🏽‍♀️🚶🏽‍♀️

Perfect for young professionals or young families looking for a safe, well-connected area.

Culver City was founded in 1913 by Harry Culver, and it was purposefully placed where it is: in the middle between the Santa Monica and Venice beaches and Downtown. This location is excellent, especially because you have some other not-so-known beaches, like Marina del Rey, just around the corner.

It's one of the most up-and-coming neighborhoods in LA. The reason? Many big tech companies are moving into the area–think Amazon Studios, Apple, and HBO. It's basically becoming the Silicon Valley of video streaming. This also means new jobs, and with them, new talent.

The hub of the neighborhood is a vast outdoor mall called Platform. It has everything you need: a SoulCycle studio, art galleries, great Mexican food, and a variety of other cuisines too. This mall and the plenty of other shops and restaurants around the city give this part of LA a four out of five in our Shopping and Restaurant categories.

You won't find much after 10 pm when it comes to nightlife. This is mostly thanks to the great work-life balance situation that companies around the area have; people like going to bed early to rise and grind at the job they love.

Culver City was also home to the MGM headquarters and where they filmed some classics like The Wizard of Oz and Gone with the Wind. Now, it's the home of Sony and Columbia studios, and plenty of its employees live here to avoid the hellish LA commute.

There are quite a few parks in the neighborhood for you to take a stroll, a jog, or a bike ride. Its tree-lined streets, beautiful houses, bungalows, and new luxury apartment buildings give it a perfect score in our Beauty and Parks category.

Culver City shows a great mix of millennials and families that have decided to call this place home, and why not? With its hipster vibes and a booming economy, plus some of the best schools in the city, Culver City offers everything anyone could ask for–and just 3 miles away from LA's famous beaches and 7 miles away from DTLA, there is no better place to be, or is there?

Culver City's Rankings:

Weighted rankings were determined by scoring neighborhoods on a scale of 1-5 in the following categories, with 5 being the best.

• Affordability: 💸 💸 💸 💸

• Beauty & Parks: 🌳 🌳 🌳 🌳 🌳

• Nightlife & Entertainment: 🎉 🎉 🎉

• Points of Interest: 📍📍📍📍📍

• Public Transit: 🚃 🚃 🚃 🚃 🚃

• Safety: ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅

• Schools: 🍎 🍎 🍎 🍎 🍎

• Shopping & Restaurants: 🛍 🛍 🛍 🛍

• Walkability: 🚶🏽‍♀️🚶🏽‍♀️🚶🏽‍♀️🚶🏽‍♀️🚶🏽‍♀️

Perfect for young single professionals and students of UCLA wanting to move to one of the best areas in Los Angeles.

Here we are at numero uno! Westwood is mostly known for being the home of the University of California in Los Angeles, or UCLA, for short. This area is so full of students and young professionals that the median age is just 27 years old–not bad if you're young and ready to mingle.

It’s right next to BelAir and Beverly Hills, two of the most expensive areas in LA. This makes Westwood a pretty safe area. In fact, it's one of LA's safest neighborhoods–giving it a perfect score of five in safety.

Its affordability is not bad at all either. Although rent can be more expensive than other areas of the city. Thanks to the students, things like shopping, dining, and nightlife are much more affordable–getting a four out of five in affordability.

Westwood is home to Westwood Village, a walkable historic commercial district full of restaurants and shops to cater to all your needs, from fancy boutiques to big chain shops–this gives it a five-star rating in shopping and entertainment.

Besides the University and the beautiful parks in the area, you also have the Hammer Museum, the Geffen Playhouse, Fox Theater, and the Holmby Park with its lawn bowling site. There are some iconic places like the Playboy Mansion and Marilyn Monroe's resting place to check out too.

With plenty of attractions and events that cater to not only the students but all the area's young population, you're sure to find your tribe in this safe side of LA.

Westwood's Rankings:

Weighted rankings were determined by scoring neighborhoods on a scale of 1-5 in the following categories, with 5 being the best.

• Affordability: 💸 💸 💸 💸

• Beauty & Parks: 🌳 🌳 🌳 🌳 🌳

• Nightlife & Entertainment: 🎉 🎉 🎉 🎉 🎉

• Points of Interest: 📍📍📍📍📍

• Public Transit: 🚃 🚃 🚃 🚃

• Safety: ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅

• Schools: 🍎 🍎 🍎 🍎 🍎

• Shopping & Restaurants: 🛍 🛍 🛍 🛍 🛍

• Walkability: 🚶🏽‍♀️🚶🏽‍♀️🚶🏽‍♀️🚶🏽‍♀️

Time to look at the numbers of our top neighborhoods in Los Angeles, California.

Let's look at the lower numbers first. Affordability does a pretty average three out of five, just like Safety. After all, it's true that LA's bright and shiny stars come at a price, and sadly crime has been increasing in some areas.

However, don’t let this bum you out. There are plenty of places with affordable prices, and if you know your location, you'll be able to live in this city relaxed and happy–well, that all depends if you have the right podcast on hand for the buzzing traffic jams.

The rest of our categories got a solid four or higher in our books. LA truly is a city that has everything you need: perfect sunny weather, an endless supply of artisan coffee and chai teas, and the opportunity to realize stars are humans–they also walk sweaty and makeup-less through the streets, they also enjoy iced lattes from Starbucks–they're mortal.

Los Angeles averaged at 41.3/50 on our best neighborhoods to live in the USA ranking.

Despite having a reputation for not being the most affordable or safest, Los Angeles will win your heart. It's a city where opportunities are born out of fateful encounters on the streets, and where everyone's chasing their dreams. It’s definitely a place for the young and restless–and sun-chasers.

If you've ever wanted to live in one of America's greatest cities, love to be at the center of the world's show business, and want to be neighbors with Mickey Mouse, then grab your shades and head to Los Angeles.