We rented a sizable 2-bedroom apartment in a good area of North Hollywood, CA’s arts district for $1200 a month 10 years ago. I don’t even want to know how much it’s going for now.
About 15 years ago, we had 1200 sq ft apartment with a nice deck that overlooked some woods and ponds at the bottom of the hill. It was $800 a month and we afforded it just fine. Now, I make almost double what I made then, and we live in a 900 sq ft apartment that stares down into a parking lot, has creaky floors, barely functioning appliances, and we pay $2000. The old apartment was $5.2k a month last time I checked (early 2022).
My cousin has a rent-controlled studio apartment in LA that he pays something like $900 a month for. I didn’t even know rent control was a thing anywhere in LA but apparently it is and his rent can only go up 2% or so a year. The only negative is that he’s basically stuck in this little place for the rest of his life.