People In Uber-Expensive LA Shared Their Salaries & They're Lower Than You'd Think (VIDEO)
"It's just enough to get through and get by."
A surf instructor holding his board. Right: The reporter from Salary Transparent Street on Venice Beach, CA.
It's no secret that Los Angeles' cost of living has gotten out of hand. According to RentCafe, the cost of living in LA is 51% higher than the national average.
One woman is hitting the streets to investigate exactly how much L.A. residents are taking home at the end of the day and how locals are coping with the wild price tag that comes with living in the City of Angels.
TikTok user Salary Transparent Street (@salarytransparentstreet) spent a day on Venice Beach asking people about their hourly and annual income.
In her viral video series, the content creator interviewed people from a wide variety of jobs and backgrounds. Earnings ranged from just a couple hundred dollars a month to $120,000 a year.
Some of the annual incomes of the people interviewed were:
- Bartender - $75,000
- Recording Artist - $30,000
- Technical Director in the film industry - $80,000
- Professional Soccer Tricks - $40,000 to 60,000
- Teacher - $90,000
- Carpenter - $120,000
An interesting trend throughout the series is how common it was for Venice Beach pedestrians to have an unconventional job.
@salarytransparentstreet Los Angeles (Venice Beach), CA📍The cost of living in LA is 49% higher than the national average. The average annual salary is $70,879, or $34/hr. The median home price is $910,328, and median rent is $2,781. Source: Payscale, ZipRecruiter. #salarytransparency #salarytransparentstreet #paytransparency #equalpay #closethepaygap #diversityandinclusion
One girl describes her job title as a "roller skater" and revealed she makes only $100-300 a month from this hobby.
Another beach-goer explained that he works professionally as a surf instructor and gets paid roughly $35/hour for the job.
"Photographer" was another popular job title, and those who said they do it professionally mentioned they bring home about $1,000-2,000 monthly.
@salarytransparentstreet Venice Beach, CA📍#salarytransparentstreet #salarytransparency #paytransparency #equalpay #closethepaygap #diversityandinclusion
When asked about annual income, the recording artist who brings home just $30k a year described things as "hard" in LA.
Two men who work as "boxing trainers" claimed to make only $50 each daily and said they were making "just enough to get through and get by."
Despite the creative job titles and unique sources of income, it's clear that a lot of people in California are just scraping by with inflation on the rise and the city becoming more expensive than ever.