More Angelenos Planning To Move Out Of LA County, Survey Finds
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) – A new survey released Wednesday by USC has found a drastic increase in the number of people planning to move out of Los Angeles County.
The second annual USC Dornsife-Union Bank LABarometer livability survey found that 10% of Angelenos plan to leave L.A. County in the next year, a 40% increase from 2019.
In 2019's survey, 7% of respondents said they were planning to move out of L.A. County.
The survey also found that life satisfaction in L.A. County is lower than both across the U.S. and California overall. According to the study, on a scale of one to seven, where one denotes low life satisfaction and seven denotes high life satisfaction, the average life satisfaction in L.A. County is 4.3, nearly unchanged from 2019. But it's almost half a point lower than the U.S. and California average of 4.7 -- double the gap observed in 2019.
However, survey respondents perceived there to be less crime, vandalism, and drug and alcohol use in their neighborhoods than they did in 2019. Survey respondents were asked a series of questions about whether or not problems like drug and alcohol use, vandalism and crime were common in their neighborhoods. Residents who perceived those to be issues in 2019 were significantly less likely to consider them to be common issues in the most recent survey.
LABarometer Director Kyla Thomas called the findings "a red flag."
"It's encouraging that perceptions of neighborhood crime are down and that consumer confidence in L.A. is rising, even as confidence has stalled in other parts of the state and nation," Thomas said in a statement. "The 40% increase in the number of people who plan to leave L.A. in the coming year, however, raises a red flag. It's also worrisome that the gap in life satisfaction between L.A. County and the national average has grown."
The USC Dornsife Center for Economic and Social Research acquired the results of its survey through an online internet survey panel with about 1,800 L.A. County residents.
(© Copyright 2021 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. City News Service contributed to this report.)
