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Second Most Desirable neighborhood in the U.S.

#2 Goes to Brentwood, Bel Air, Beverly Crest Neighborhood!

A new study by economists David Albouy and Bert Lue, name Brentwood/Bel Air/Beverly Crest area in the hills on the Westside of Los Angeles to be the second most desirable place in the country! They looked at about 2,000 of the US Census’s Public Use Microdata Areas (which in cities are essentially neighborhoods) and analyzed the real take-home pay of residents in those areas to see “how much of that pay people are willing to sacrifice to live in the best neighborhoods and to access the best possible services and amenities.” They calculated their research based on its intrinsic desirability, as measured by how much of their incomes people will put toward living there.

Overall, economists found people were willing to pay for good, well-funded schools, lower murder rates, and more bars and restaurants. Brentwood/Bel Air/Beverly Crest is kind of an outlier, then— the area is in the city of LA, so it’s served by the LAUSD. Even though it has other educational advantages and more money to supplement public school funding, and it’s fairly suburban and remote, with bars and restaurants clustered around, and the murder rates are definitely low.

The study also found that “a neighborhood’s size, density and ‘artificial amenities’—those that are created by a neighborhood’s residents—create demand, more so than aspects of its natural environment, like mountains or coastlines.” The neighborhoods Brentwood/Bel Air/Beverly Crest don’t necessarily have a ton of “artificial amenities,” but they do have glorious views and a lot of privacy afforded by the geography.

 

… And just incase you were wondering, the Upper East Side topped the list at #1.

Brentwood

Brentwood


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