How much would it cost to live for an single 18 year old male in Los Angeles?

Im a single 18 years old male and Living in San Diego with my parents just curious, how much would i need to make a month to support myself in LA assuming i move in with a roommate.

more that you'll make working at burger king

you should start applying to colleges, and dorm instead.

Try this: Find out how much your parents are paying for rent, utilities, etc.

A decent 1 BR in LA will cost around $1,200-$1,500. A 2 BR will cost $1500-$2000. So splitting it will cost $750.

Gas isn't too bad, it fluctuates by season. Should be less than $50 on average.

Electricity could be a real bear. Remember your parents getting upset because you left the lights on? You'd be surprised how much you notice those lights on when you have to pay the bills. And you don't keep the A/C on as much, either. Try to get in the City of LA, it's cheaper. LA Dept of Water and Power is about half as much as Edison. When we lived in LA, we'd pay about $100 per month (billed every two months) in summer. Now we pay $200 every month.

Don't forget water/sewage/trash, phone ($30), cell phone ($30-$50), cable ($40-$100), Internet ($40, usually added to the cable or phone bill). Then add car payment and insurance.

I'll let you do the math. Good luck. Basically, you'll need to be making $20 per hour or more.

Are you in college?
LA is a expensive city to live.
Try going to Calstate Los Angeles and live in the dorms.

About the same as you would need living in San Diego.

The Los Angeles area is a very expensive place to live. You would need to make $20 per hour just to rent a room for $800 per month.

I like obviousman's answer, but what about other aspects of living? It took my best friend's daughter three tries to get out on her own, even sharing with friends, because of the high cost of living. It's REALLY hard to do!

May I respectfully suggest you use this youthful time to take care of your education? Go to college now. Stay in a dorm, living there or at home as is most prudent. Save every penny you reasonably can. Learn learn learn. When you can, you will be prepared to start out. Even then, it won't be easy, but you will be better prepared.

Best of luck to you.

Stay where you are. You wont make it.

Ok well depending where exactly you move..
Here is the basics the cheapest you can get..

Rent - 1200 for a 2 bedroom (in the complex where I live this actually gets you a rather large apartment with balcony, central air & heat (rare in L.A.!!) new oven and dishwasher! I live in Glendale. This is a good area. So $600 a month.

Gas or MTA bus - Except anywhere from $50-100 a month on transportation. Bus pass is around $60.

Power Bill - Ours is around $180 every 2 months. We use ALOT though. Like the A/C on all night and the TV. So if you ration it and share with a roomate you can probably expect to put in around $75 every other month. This includes trash pickup and most apartments pay water.

Gas - Our complex does not use gas for alot of things so our gas bill is like $5 a month.

Phone/Internet - $40 we have AT&T fast DSL internet and basic $10 land line phone service. So shared with a roomate $20 a month.

Prepaid Cell Phone - $40 a month just about.

Car Insurance / Car Payment - Cheapest insurance $100-250 a month .. Average car payment $100-250 a month depending what kind of car you have. The bus sucks but I used it for 3 years and just finally got my first car. It is still dependable if you can't afford your own ride.

So you could theoretically make minimum wage and pull it off if you work alot of hours. Having a roomate helps. That is just the SoCal way - you have to make it stretch. I'm 20 and husband is 22 and we've made it ok.

$715-745 + 75 power bill every other month split between the 2 of you + any car insurance/payments you have.

An idea - my husband works at McDonalds and is pretty much part time. He gets paid around $8/hr I think and his paychecks are about $350-450 each time (every 2 weeks). I used to work at a company called Gamefly - it's in Culver City - it is a VERY good job, gives you lots of hours, pays well for a starting job, and is not too picky with hiring. It's a video game company and it was an awesome and fun job. Pays $10/hr and $15/hr overtime! My checks were usually around $500-600 ..