What $700,000 Can Get You In Fayette County And Los Angeles [PHOTOS]

It’s no secret that the cost of living differs from state to state and in Iowa, we are lucky because our cost of living is cheaper than the US average. On the other end of the spectrum, we know that California is one of the most expensive states you can live in.

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Just looking at a cost-of-living calculator, I compared Los Angeles, California to Clermont, Iowa, and to no surprise, LA is 132.5 percent more expensive to live in. In fact, if you made $50,000 in Clermont, you are going to need to make around $118,386 in LA if you want to maintain a similar quality of life. (This is assuming that you are a homeowner with no childcare and taxes are not considered.)

But besides just the quality of life, comparing what you can get for the same amount of money can lead to some very different lives. Let’s take buying a house. Let’s compare one of the most expensive houses on the market in Fayette, County to LA.

In Clermont, there is a house for sale for $725,000. Similarly in LA, I found a home for sale for $761,000- which is a little more expensive than Clermont but will still work for the sake of this comparison.

The LA home is a 954-square-foot, 2 bed, and 2 bath condominium. The Clermont house is a 3,300-square-foot, 4 bed and 3-bathroom house. Already we have a big size difference.

But instead of me telling you about the two places, let’s take a look inside.

Now for the sake of the comparison, I did my best to do an equal representation of the houses.

While we are comparing houses, let's take another look at a comparison between a Fayette County house with LA.