Los Angeles vs. Atlanta Cost of Living Summary

Los Angeles vs. Atlanta Cost Breakdown

If you lived in Los Angeles instead of Atlanta, you would:

pay 3.4% more for restaurants

 
Atlanta
Los Angeles
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant $33.00
 
$26.50
 
Fast food combo meal
McDonalds, or similar
$12.00
 
$15.00
 
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz) $2.81
 
$3.72
 

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pay 8.3% more for groceries

 
Atlanta
Los Angeles
Bread
1 loaf
$3.48
 
$4.81
 
Local cheese (8 oz) $6.91
 
$5.75
 
Milk (1 gallon) $3.36
 
$4.95
 

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pay 20.8% more for transportation

 
Atlanta
Los Angeles
Gasoline (1 gallon) $3.86
 
$5.97
 
Monthly public transit pass $97.00
 
$105.00
 
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition) $36,812.00
 
$36,998.00
 

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pay 36.7% more for housing

 
Atlanta
Los Angeles
Internet connection
50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl
$84.46
 
$80.07
 
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area $2,089.00
 
$2,544.44
 
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center $1,521.67
 
$2,413.33
 

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pay 13.7% more for childcare

 
Atlanta
Los Angeles
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly $1,850.00
 
$1,676.09
 
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters $22,530.88
 
$32,155.00
 

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pay 37.9% more for entertainment and sports

 
Atlanta
Los Angeles
Domestic/local beer (1 pint) $7.50
 
$8.00
 
Cappuccino in mid-range area $5.55
 
$5.95
 
Pack of cigarettes
Marlboro or similar
$8.47
 
$13.00
 

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pay 53.8% more for clothing

 
Atlanta
Los Angeles
Regular jeans
Levi's brand
$53.27
 
$89.92
 
Regular dress
from H&M or similar store
$44.80
 
$64.92
 
Running shoes
Nike or Adidas
$98.12
 
$119.25
 

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We average the price of thousands of data points entered by users across the world. Sources: MyLifeElsewhere's cost-of-living dataset (prices updated October 2026). How we calculate this

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