Most LA City Employees Didn’t Live In Los Angeles Last Year

Most city of Los Angeles employees, excluding the Department of Water and Power (DWP), didn’t live in the city they worked for last year, according to data released this week by the L.A. City Controller’s office.

64% of city employees, which is equal to 32,066 people, lived outside of L.A. in 2022. That means 36% of L.A. employees, or 18,246 people, lived in the city they serve.

Where did they live then?

The top 20 other cities employees lived in are all in Southern California, according to the Controller’s office.

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These are the top 5 other cities:

1. Long Beach with 1,208 employees
2. Whittier with 883 employees
3. Inglewood with 723 employees
4. Santa Clarita with 720 employees
5. Simi Valley with 717 employees

Some employees didn’t even live in California. The Controller’s office said 506 L.A. city employees lived out of state.

These are the top 5 other states:

1. Idaho with 78 employees
2. Texas with 69 employees
3. Nevada with 57 employees
4. Tennessee with 45 employees
5. Arizona with 42 employees

How did it break down by department or office?

The police and fire departments had the most employees living outside of the city.

About 86% of the Los Angeles Fire Department, which is equal to 3,552 employees, lived somewhere other than L.A. Nearly 81% of the Los Angeles Police Department, or 10,575 employees, lived outside of L.A.

Seventy-one percent of the employees who lived out of state work for the police or fire departments, the Controller’s office notes.

There are some city departments and offices where most of their employees lived in L.A.

These are the top departments and offices where employees lived in the city:

1. Aging with 72%, which is equal to 122 employees
2. Recreation and Parks with 70%, or 5,939 employees
3. Council with 66%, or 317 employees
4. Library with 63%, or 1,034 employees

How did it break down by salary?

Controller Mejia told LAist his office wanted to see if affordability was a factor.

Their analysis found that nearly half of the employees who lived in L.A. made less than $50,000 a year.

On the other hand, 80% of the employees that lived outside the city made more than $50,000. About 18,300 of those people, which is a little less than half, were making more than $100,000 a year.

“Affordability is one reason,” Mejia said. “But when you look at the data, you notice a lot of people make well over enough to actually afford here.”

Why isn’t DWP included?

DWP handles their own payroll, and the Controller’s office gets that information from them secondhand.

“For this analysis, we use the departments that we do have control over,” Mejia said.

Why does it matter where city employees live?

Controller Mejia said nearly a third of the city’s budget goes to payroll.

But if the employees don’t live in L.A., their property, utility, and sales taxes aren’t going back into the community, which he said is a missed opportunity.

“We're missing tens of millions of dollars that could be added to our budget to help fund other city services and resources for Angelenos,” Mejia said.

He added that while residency is not required, it’s helpful for employees to engage with the areas they serve.

Plus, if they live in L.A., they’d have shorter commutes, which the Controller’s office said means less traffic, stress, and greenhouse gas emissions.

Mejia said the goal of this analysis is to give city leaders the tools to attract more people to work, and live, in L.A.