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 benchmarks from US federal statistical agencies. Percentile breakpoints are interpolated linearly between tabulated cells. Figures are in the dollars of each dataset's reference year unless noted. Numbers are educational estimates, not personalized financial advice.