It’s no secret that Los Angeles – and California in general – is one of the most expensive places to live in the U.S., but one SoCal metropolitan area has beat out the City of Angels to rank as the most difficult place to save money in the nation, according to new research from Forbes Advisor.
The Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim metro area did finish second, researchers found, ranking second for the highest percentage of income spent on housing – just over 25% — in addition to percentage of renters who spend at least half of their income on rent, about 30%.
L.A. and its surrounding cities also struggle with high debt levels, having the fourth-highest debt-to-income ratio of all fifteen metro areas analyzed by Forbes Advisor. Over 11% of households in the L.A. metro area experience food scarcity – the third-highest percentage in America – and more than a third of households have difficulty paying “usual expenses” as of the third quarter of 2023.
When it comes to the hardest metro area in the United States to save money in, one does not have to travel far outside of Los Angeles.
The Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario metropolitan area finished above L.A., having the highest debt-to-income ratio of the 15 metros Forbes analyzed (2.59).
The Inland Empire’s principal cities also placed within the top three for the percentage of households experiencing recent difficulty paying usual expenses, percentage of households facing food scarcity, percentage of income spent on housing and percentage of renters spending at least half of their income on rent (40.12%, 13.44%, 24.74% and 29.71% respectively).
A list of America’s hardest metro areas to save money in can be viewed below:
| Overall rank | Metropolitan area | Debt-to-income ratio | Hourly wage | Difficulty paying for expenses | Income spent on housing | Total score |
| 1. | Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario | 259.30 | $25.77 | 40.12% | 24.74% | 100 |
| 2. | Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim | 178.00 | $27.57 | 33.89% | 25.81% | 99.06 |
| 3. | Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach, FL | 154.80 | $25.77 | 34.98% | 29.03% | 85.36 |
| 4. | New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ-PA | 113.10 | $28.04 | 30.75% | 22.08% | 64.47 |
| 5. | Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Alpharetta, GA | 148.20 | $25.83 | 28.60% | 21.90% | 53.34 |
On the statewide level, the Golden State ranked as the hardest state to save money in, having the fourth-highest cost of living index in America, according to data from the Missouri Economic Research and Information Center obtained by Forbes Advisor.
Housing is a “major drain” for Californians, the study noted, adding that many residents struggle with other everyday bills.
“[California] ranks sixth highest for the percentage of residents reporting difficulty paying their usual household expenses,” researchers said. “A Census Bureau survey conducted in January and February 2024 revealed that 34.53 percent of California households found it somewhat or very difficult to cover their typical expenses the previous week.”
The top ten most difficult states to save money in can be viewed below:
| Overall rank | State | Debt-to-income ratio | Cost of Living Index* | Effective income tax rate | Income spent on housing | Total score |
| 1. | California | 1.69 | 139 | 14.92% | 24.51% | 100 |
| 2. | Hawaii | 2.32 | 180 | 17.73% | 23.53% | 87.53 |
| 3. | Nevada | 1.82 | 101 | 10.94% | 24.24% | 85.44 |
| 4. | Oregon | 1.74 | 115 | 18.98% | 21.73% | 83.66 |
| 5. | Maryland | 2.00 | 117 | 15.24% | 19.58% | 83.36 |
| 6. | Florida | 1.77 | 101 | 10.94% | 26.41% | 81.53 |
| 7. | New York | 0.98 | 126 | 15.82% | 22.61% | 79.06 |
| 8. | South Carolina | 1.98 | 95 | 15.57% | 20.29% | 76.38 |
| 9. | Colorado | 1.81 | 105 | 14.53% | 22.12% | 71.67 |
| 10. | Louisiana | 1.46 | 91 | 14.09% | 21.31% | 70.31 |
According to Forbes Advisor, ways that Americans can cut costs in expensive areas include trying to cook at home to minimize spending on dining out, moving into a smaller place, seeking cheaper forms of transport and cutting out unused memberships.
The full study, including the methodology used by the researchers, can be found here.
