I have lived in southern CA for close to 15 years. I spent 7 of them in LA and lived with my wife and kids in a 2 bedroom apartment because that’s the only way to make it work. It’s exceptionally expensive. Taxes, insurance, gas, parking, rent, utilities, food — it’s all well above most of the rest of the country. Moving to other cities in southern CA outside of LA is “better” in the sense that it’s relatively cheaper, but it’s still expensive. You will have to deal with a soul-sucking commute, which many do, out of total necessity. It’s either that, or move out of state.

The idea that the median income in LA County is 50k and should be some barometer for what is sustainable for a family is way off the mark from reality.

If you care about public schools, housing prices and quality of schools has like a .99 correlation. Neighborhoods with better schools immediately have a big premium, something that is not captured in median prices.