At a glance, many see Boston and Los Angeles as polar opposites but taking a closer look at the data comparing the two, there’s more that we have in common than meets the eye.  Many like to consider state size or the weather when comparing the City of Angels and Boston with its ever-changing seasons but when comparing the numbers — many would be shocked at where each city lands when scaling economy, health, diversity, education and housing. Thanks to data, it is easier to compare the different cities and get an idea of what they face.

To start off, both cities are drastically different in terms of population as Boston has 695,926 people and Los Angeles has a whopping 3.99 million. Surprisingly, there has been a decrease in population in LA since 2018 but Boston seems to be gaining more within the last year with a 1.89% increase. The median household income grew from 2017 to 2018, with Boston’s household income going from $66,578 to $71,834, a 7.6% increase. Whereas, Los Angeles grew from $60,197 to $62,474, giving the city a 3.78% increase in 2018. One of the biggest similarities Bostonians and Angelenos can agree on is driving! Boston traffic and LA traffic are the worst in the United States and both cities have a commute rate of about 30 minutes and a more people are driving their own vehicles on-average.

In Los Angeles, around 2.06 million people are employed with Health Care and Social Assistance, Retail Trade, and Accommodations and Food Service being the largest industries in the city. However, Boston employs about 383,000 individuals and similar to LA, Health Care and Social Assistance are at the top of the industry list with Educational Services, and Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services coming in close behind. Another similarity between the cities is the intense income inequality between men and women in each location. Los Angeles, having a lower overall salary offers men $78,575 on average, while Angeleno women are only paid $62,298 on average. In Boston, there is  higher pay for both men and women in comparison to LA but the gap between Bostonian men and women is arguably worse. On average, men in Boston receive $89,637 for salary, while the average woman would only get $66,042.

These comparisons are only scratching the surface when looking at the data for both. Health standards, poverty rates, and educational assets are also taken into consideration when looking at Data USA for any two cities including the two I mentioned in this post.