You can map the distance to public transportation or groceries, read school ratings and crime statistics, or consider any number of “livability” rankings, but your mileage with these sources may vary when it comes to assessing a community according to your own needs and values. We asked five households of different compositions and socioeconomic circumstances what their considerations were when they chose a new place to call home.
Because asking someone in rural Alaska and someone in downtown Miami would yield wildly different results, we decided to interview people who had recently moved within the Los Angeles County area and its wide array of distinct neighborhoods. We spoke with a newlywed couple renting an apartment, twin sisters who’d just purchased a condo, a new owner of a midsize townhouse, a couple renting in an active adult community, and a family in a three-story single-family house. Their neighborhoods stretch from those close to downtown to the farthest-flung reaches
