Los Angeles vs New York City for couples
Los Angeles and New York City are both in the United States, about 3,936 km apart. Every figure below comes from the data behind our city pages: an estimated monthly cost for a couple, tax tier, annual climate, safety, healthcare, internet speed, language and residency rules. Los Angeles leads on cost.
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Side by side
Source: the datasets behind our city pages. Cost is our model estimate (a country-level cost index scaled for city size); tax tiers are assigned by hand from each country's top marginal income tax rate and overall tax reputation; temperature from the Open-Meteo archive (2019 to 2023 averages); rainfall from TerraClimate (1991 to 2020 normals); safety and healthcare are our own country-level estimates; internet from the Ookla Speedtest Global Index; English from the EF English Proficiency Index; residency from our hand-reviewed residency dataset (not legal advice); short-stay entry from the passport-index dataset.
Factor by factor
Cost of living
Los Angeles is cheaper: we estimate about €4,401 a month for a couple living centrally, against €4,640 in New York City. That is €239 a month, or 5%, less.
Taxes
Same country, same tax: the United States is in our low to medium tax tier.
Climate
Los Angeles is 5°C warmer on average over the year: 18°C against 13°C in New York City. Los Angeles is drier, with about 356 mm of rain a year against 1,203 mm in New York City (70% less).
Safety
Our safety score is country-level, so both cities get the same 52 out of 100.
Healthcare
Our healthcare score is country-level, so both cities get the same 70 out of 100.
Internet
Our broadband figure is country-level: about 220 Mbps median fixed download in both.
Language
Main languages in both: English. English proficiency is rated the same in both: English everywhere.
Residency and visas
Same country, same rules: long-term residency in the United States is rated possible, with conditions.
Which one fits a couple
On the factors we measure, Los Angeles leads on cost (€4,401 against €4,640 a month), and New York City leads on none of them. What our data does not cover can still tip it toward New York City: jobs, family nearby, or simply which one each of you prefers after a visit.
Climate can pull the two of you apart too: a partner who wants warmth leans toward Los Angeles (18°C on average), while one who minds the heat leans toward New York City (13°C), and whoever minds rain will prefer Los Angeles (356 mm a year against 1,203 mm).
Size differs too: Los Angeles is a large city (1 to 5 million people) and New York City a major one (over 5 million people).
OurNextCity has each partner answer 12 questions privately, then ranks Los Angeles, New York City and 913 other cities for both of you at once.