You have to really love this town to live here. There's a lot to like, of course. But between the sky-high rents and real estate, the worst traffic in America, and the worst roads in the nation, you have to be quite active in whatever it is you do to tread water.

See also: L.A. Has the 2nd Least Affordable Housing Market in America

A new look at U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis data shows how much cash you actually just throw away to be here.

National Public Radio crunched those federal numbers and concluded …
]
 … it costs nearly $6,000 more than the national average to live in L.A. Or, put another way, the median single income of $29,815 (more on that later) actually is reduced to $23,929 because of the increased cost of living in Los Angeles.

That would be official poverty territory for a family of four. 

Now $29,815 is the exact middle income of all the folks in Los Angeles, but you know that doesn't get you anywhere. You have to earn $55,920 a year in Los Angeles to be able to afford just an average 2-bedroom apartment here.

See also: California Rents Are Almost America's Worst

Credit: NPR

Credit: NPR

The Bureau of Economic Analysis data showed that California ranked fifth in “the price levels of goods and services” behind Washington, D.C. (1), Hawaii (2), New York (3), and New Jersey (4).

One in four SoCal children lives in poverty, according to the Southern California Association of Governments, so this data isn't surprising, it's just a bummer.

So keep chasing your dreams, because you'll have to work all that much harder just to make it to the middle in L.A.

Send feedback and tips to the author. Follow Dennis Romero on Twitter at @dennisjromero. Follow LA Weekly News on Twitter at @laweeklynews.

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