Climate
Boston logs 12 hot days a year to Los Angeles's 65 — Boston wins by 53. Los Angeles also leads on sunny days by 112.
Boston
Feels-like °C
Dinner outside
Los Angeles
Feels-like °C
Dinner outside
Cost of Living
Los Angeles is $231/mo cheaperBoston runs about $4,582/mo for a balanced lifestyle against Los Angeles's $4,351/mo — Los Angeles comes in $231 cheaper each month, roughly 5% less.
Boston
$4,582monthly · balanced
Los Angeles
$4,351monthly · balanced
Mobility
On mobility, Boston scores 3.8 vs Los Angeles's 2.0 (0–5 scale), with the biggest gap on walkability.
Culture
Boston and Los Angeles score neck-and-neck on culture (4.0 vs 4.2, 0–5 scale).
Nature & Outdoors
Boston and Los Angeles score neck-and-neck on nature & outdoors (4.0 vs 4.0, 0–5 scale).
Safety
Boston's safety score is ~1.7× Los Angeles's — in the middle of the scale, while Los Angeles lands below average, with the biggest gap on wildfire safety. Los Angeles still holds an edge on flooding safety.
Career
Boston and Los Angeles score neck-and-neck on career (4.6 vs 4.4, 0–5 scale).
Social & Community
Boston and Los Angeles score neck-and-neck on social & community (3.4 vs 3.6, 0–5 scale).
Food & Dining
On food & dining, Los Angeles scores 4.8 vs Boston's 4.2 (0–5 scale), with the biggest gap on restaurant variety.
Family
Boston and Los Angeles score neck-and-neck on family (3.9 vs 4.0, 0–5 scale).
Healthcare
On healthcare, Boston scores 3.5 vs Los Angeles's 2.8 (0–5 scale), with the biggest gap on private healthcare quality.
Air Quality
Boston averages 6.7 µg/m³ (good) PM2.5 annually versus Los Angeles's 13.8 µg/m³ (moderate) — Boston breathes ~51% cleaner air (7.0 µg/m³ lower).
Boston
Los Angeles
PM2.5 annual average
WHO classification
City Scale
Both maps at the same real-world scale — 1 cm on either map is the same distance.
Boston (1.7M) and Los Angeles (13.5M) are 8.1x in population — Los Angeles is the larger metro, Boston the smaller; on land area Los Angeles spans roughly 8.9x more ground.
Los Angeles is roughly 8.5x the scale of Boston
Combined population & area comparison
Los AngelesBostonCity Scale Rankings
Los Angeles13.5M8.1xBoston1.7M1xLos Angeles4,498 km²8.9xBoston508 km²1xBoston
Los Angeles
Who Thrives Here
Boston favours the park & garden lover, while Los Angeles suits the sunshine lover. Both cities work well for the english speaker.
Also compared
Frequently asked about Boston vs Los Angeles
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