Can a Data Scientist afford to live in Los Angeles?
Excellent46% of take-home left to save — you can save aggressively here.
Median salary (gross)
Data Scientist · Los Angeles
$131,110
Income tax (~35% effective)
United States
– $45,349
Take-home pay
$7,147/mo
$85,761
Living costs (1 person)
$3,860/mo · derived
– $46,320
Savings potential
$3,287/mo · 46% of take-home
$39,441
Single professional, after-tax. Salary − tax − living costs = what you could save each year.
Full salary breakdown →Is this a good salary in Los Angeles? →Compare Los Angeles with another city →
How we calculated this
• Salary: BLS OES median for Data Scientist, adjusted for Los Angeles.
• Tax: United States single-filer effective rate (~35%). Official calculator.
• Living costs: derived from cost-of-living index for a single professional.
Planning estimates, not financial or tax advice. Updated 2026. Your situation will differ.