Los Angeles, the City of Angels, is struggling to live up to its nickname. High rents, skyrocketing housing prices, and high living costs are frustrating young people, causing them to leave the city. This migration is contributing to a declining birth rate and an exodus to the suburbs.
Despite its reputation as a city of young people, Los Angeles is aging, the LA Times reported on July 2. Dowell Myers, a professor of population dynamics and policy at USC, says the aging of LA is “going to be devastating for the future.” “The people in their 20s are the most important people in California,” he said, “and there’s a shortage of them nationwide.”
The Korea Daily reporter, Kyeongjun Kim, is a recent graduate of the University of Michigan and moved to Los Angeles in January. It’s common to hear that young people are shunning the city because of its high cost of living. Here’s Kim’s first-person account of his tight monthly budget.
I am also in my 20s. But what’s the point even if my generation is important? Even buying a pastrami sandwich is a challenge in Los Angeles.
I went to Langer’s, a popular deli in Los Angeles’ Koreatown. A sandwich costs $24 before tax. I miss the sandwiches I used to get on my college campus.
My dad called from Korea and asked, “How are things in LA?”
I replied in a humorous but realistic tone, “It’s not the American dream, it’s the American nightmare.”
I write down my household expenses every day. Apartment rent is the biggest expense. On the first day of every month, a no-bargaining $1,477 is taken out of my bank account. This is splitting $5,900 a month rent with four people living together.
My friends in Korea seem surprised by the reality of rent in Los Angeles. Even a studio within walking distance from Gangnam Station in Korea, one of the most popular destinations for young people, does not cost this much. I hope to start a family someday, but I don’t think I can afford to buy a house when I’m struggling to save money.
I love to meet people and find new places to eat. That’s why I had a high Engel Index (money spent on food as a percentage of total spending) in my household budget.
Since moving to Los Angeles, my Engel Index has been significantly lower. I felt “I would starve to death” if I kept chasing new restaurant hot spots. The high cost of food, tips, and valet parking in the city is certainly out of control.
My coworkers and I went to a Korean fried chicken restaurant in Koreatown. It was $68 for two chickens, and we paid another $5 for valet. With a tip, I was looking at almost $100 for just fried chicken.
I totaled up my dining-out expenses for the past month and it came out to $558.96. The good news is that it’s going down compared to what it used to be when I first came here.
Having an insurance policy is important and I’m grateful for it. However, these days it feels like they’re a bunch of thieves taking my money. I spend $300 a month on car insurance alone. I work and live in Koreatown. I have a short commute to work, and I can’t understand how they calculate the premium to be that high.
Money is like water in the river these days, and I can’t stop it from flowing out of my pocket. The moment I step out of the house, everything is money. Without a car, I can’t enjoy the youthfulness like I was told to. The cost of gasoline is also a burden. It costs about $60 to fill up a tank of gas.
According to the Census Bureau, the median age in Los Angeles County is currently 37.4 years old. In the last 10 years from 2012 to 2022, it has increased by 2.6 years.
When broken down by age group, the number of people in their 20s dropped by a whopping 10.2% during this time. The younger generations have seen a sharper shrinkage in the population, including those aged 10 and under declining by 20.2% and ages 10 to 19 declining by 14.1%.
My friends in Korea sometimes fantasize about living in the United States. They think of people driving the palm tree-filled Malibu beach roads from dramas, but they’re wrong. To save money, I’ve become more like a “homebody.”
Entertainment is also a luxury. Since coming here, I’ve only seen two movies in the theater. A movie theater in Koreatown CGV sells movie tickets, which are originally around $18, for half price every Tuesday. It’s depressing but both of the movies I watched were on Tuesdays.
I’m a big sports fan, and there’s a big event coming up. On April 27, the English Premier League’s Manchester United vs. Arsenal friendly match is coming to Los Angeles. Of course, it’s not for me. So what’s the point of living in LA? I only go to the movies on “half-price Tuesdays”, and the tickets to the match, costing over $100, are out of my reach.
The reason why people are leaving LA is obvious. Simply put, it’s just hard to live here. If young people can’t dream while living here, it’s only a matter of time before living in LA becomes a nightmare. I hope to live in the real City of Angels one day.
BY KYEONGJUN KIM, HOONSIK WOO [kim.kyeongjun1@koreadaily.com]
