What the public safety situation like? Places like Irvine say they are the safest city in the country, but digging a little deeper the word is they don’t let people report certain crimes. Also, considering it is a well known upper middle class area break-ins are common.
Did you hear about the Twitter back and forth between Casey Neistat and Seth Rogan after Casey’s car got broken into an he flipped his S*** on Twitter and Seth Replied it is part of living in a Big City.
I think I’d be willing to pay the higher COL (considering the High COL here in NYC), if was safe enough and California looked like it was doing something to keep its books balanced so people wouldn't feel desperate.
The pace and vibe of NYC is totally different than that of LA. LA is very relaxed compared to NYC. People are not high strung like NYC, they are very casual and approachable. It's another world. Residential areas are strictly residential, zoning is very well enforced in textbook fashion.
I have rarely heard of break-ins in the Westside area that I live in. Pretty much unheard of.
LA is also very avant-garde as regards to people's tastes and their open attitudes. Like NYC but more liberal.
Gas station signs and big ugly store signs are controlled and hidden using landscaping to preserve property values.
Irvine is in OC isn't it? Well I couldn't tell you about OC - that is 50 miles away.
Certain areas in LA are better policed where well-heeled families live i.e. wealthier neighborhoods.
Safety depends on property prices. Higher property taxes you pay buys/supports better police services.
Since most of the coastal communities in the Westside of LA county are really expensive - they have very competent police forces (probably the best trained/equipped anywhere) and crime is extremely well-controlled (stopped before it happens). There are routine chopper patrols sometimes at night (you cannot hear them though) and they pursue and apprehend criminals very unobtrusively.
But like I said, the flipside is that property is expensive. But probably not as expensive as NYC.
Like everything else, there's crime to some degree everywhere but you have to talk to local residents about which areas are safe. Some areas are so well policed, that the criminals don't target those places and move onto easier targets. I don't live in sub-par crime ridden areas so I cannot guide you on those.
Los Angeles has five counties and there are good and bad cities in all these counties. You just have to talk to locals and find out. I can only tell you about the Westside where I live. Which is mostly safe and almost boring in that sense, even with some homeless present in downtown Santa Monica.
