AnswerIn Los Angeles, the median household income is $80,366. To rank in the top 20%, you need to earn more than $174,466. Top 5%: $505,000.
Median: $80,366 · Top 20%: $174,466 · Top 5%: $505,000
Source: US Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2023 5-Year Estimates
Los Angeles income percentile [2026]
Where Los Angeles, Californiahouseholds rank by income — sourced from the US Census Bureau's American Community Survey 2023 5-year estimates, covering roughly 3,857,897 residents.
In Los Angeles, CA, the median household income is $80,366. The bottom 20% earns under $28,870; the top 20% threshold is $174,466; the top 5% starts at $505,000. Median rent is $1,879/month and the median home value is $879,500. A $100,000 household income ranks at roughly the 59th percentile locally.
Key stats for Los Angeles
Income percentile breakpoints
- 20th percentile (bottom quintile)
- $28,870
- 40th percentile
- $61,136
- Median (≈ 50th–60th percentile)
- $102,584
- 80th percentile (top 20%)
- $174,466
- 95th percentile (top 5%) — estimated
- $505,000
Source: US Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2023 5-Year Estimates. City-level p60 is used as the “median-ish” row because ACS quintile upper limits bracket the household median near p60 for most big US cities. The Census Bureau top-codes its top-5% figure at $250,001 for high-income cities, so the 95th-percentile value here is estimated by fitting a Pareto tail to Los Angeles's lower (un-top-coded) quintile breakpoints. Treat it as a modeled upper-tail benchmark, not a published ACS figure.
Local economic context
Los Angeles runs on a weirder mix than its skyline suggests. Entertainment is still the marquee story — Disney in Burbank, Warner Bros., Netflix's Sunset campus, plus the long tail of production crews and post-houses — but the post-strike 2023-2024 contraction gutted mid-level writer and editor income, and many of those jobs haven't come back. Aerospace and defense are the quieter backbone: SpaceX in Hawthorne, Northrop Grumman in Redondo Beach, Boeing's El Segundo satellite operations, and the JPL orbit around Pasadena. Kaiser Permanente, Cedars-Sinai, and UCLA Health anchor a healthcare sector that scales with the aging Westside. The Port of Long Beach/LA logistics complex props up a working-class economy that rarely shows up in median-income posts. Housing is the load-bearing variable: a 3BR single-family in a non-catastrophic school district on the Westside or in Pasadena starts at $1.4M, and the 2022-2024 rate shock barely dented list prices. Property taxes are capped by Prop 13, but anyone buying post-2020 pays full freight. Commute reality is the 405 between the 10 and the 101, where a 12-mile trip from Culver City to Sherman Oaks can run 70 minutes at 5:30 PM. Metro's Expo and Purple lines help a narrow corridor; everyone else negotiates traffic. The cost-of-living caveat: LA's RPP is roughly 115% of national, but coastal zip codes push well past that. A $180K salary here does not buy the lifestyle it buys in San Antonio or Dallas, even before California's 9.3-12.3% marginal state income tax.
What this income feels like
Top 20% in LA gets you a 1BR in Mid-Wilshire or a roommate situation in Silver Lake, a leased Tesla you can barely justify, and the grim realization that buying anything within 30 minutes of the coast requires a household income north of $350K or family help. Groceries at Erewhon are a running joke for a reason. You spend weekends at the beach to justify the rent, and you accept that your Uber-to-LAX budget is a line item. Childcare runs $2,400-$3,000/month, and the good public schools effectively require buying a $1.5M house in their attendance zone.
Top 20% reality check
- You can afford a Santa Monica 1BR or a Pasadena craftsman rental, but every homeowner friend bought pre-2018 and their Prop 13 tax bill is a third of yours on a comparable house.
- A $220K household income clears the top 20% threshold but feels like working-class in Manhattan Beach or Pacific Palisades, where teardowns list at $3M.
- You're paying California's 9.3-10.3% marginal state tax plus federal, so a Texas or Florida relocation quietly represents a 10% raise at the same gross salary.
Cost-of-living reality
The median gross rent in Los Angeles is $1,879/month, or roughly 28.1% of the median household income on an annualized basis. The national rent-burden average is about 30%, and anything north of that is treated as rent-burdened by HUD. Los Angeles's median home value is $879,500, a price-to-income ratio of 10.9× — healthy markets run 3–4×, expensive coastal markets routinely exceed 6×. Mean one-way commute is 31.1 minutes, which compounds the real cost of living here for anyone not working remote.
Nearby cities
Los Angeles community discussions
Local subreddits where cost-of-living and income questions get answered by residents. External links, open in a new tab.
Frequently asked questions
What is a good income in Los Angeles?
In Los Angeles, CA, the median household income is $80,366. Earning above $102,584 puts you in the top 40%, and clearing $174,466 places you in the top 20%. A "good" income depends on household size and housing choice, but $174,466 is a useful upper-middle-class threshold for this city.
How does Los Angeles's median income compare to the US?
Los Angeles's median household income of $80,366 is about 2.3% higher than the US median of $78,538 (ACS 2023 5-year, matched to the city vintage). Raw comparisons understate local cost-of-living; Los Angeles's median rent of $1,879 and median home value of $879,500 are the relevant offsets.
What percentile is $100K in Los Angeles?
A household income of $100,000 ranks at roughly the 59th percentile in Los Angeles. That is interpolated from the local ACS quintile breakpoints: p20 $28,870, p40 $61,136, p60 $102,584, p80 $174,466, p95 $505,000.
Is Los Angeles expensive to live in?
Median gross rent in Los Angeles is $1,879/month, which is 28.1% of the median household income on an annualized basis — compared to the national rent-burden average of about 30%. The median home value is $879,500, a price-to-income ratio of 10.9× (healthy markets run 3-4×, expensive markets 6×+).
How is this calculated?
Figures come from the US Census Bureau's American Community Survey (ACS) 2023 5-year estimates for Los Angeles, California. Income percentiles are city-level approximations derived from ACS B19080 household income quintile upper limits, interpolated from the local median and distribution. Rent burden uses B25071 (median gross rent as % of household income) and mean commute uses B08303.
Methodology & data sources
Calculations on this page use published benchmarks from US federal statistical agencies. Percentile breakpoints are interpolated linearly between published cells. Figures are in current-year USD unless noted. Numbers are educational estimates, not personalized financial advice.