I am in my eleventh quarter at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh on my way to getting a bachelor’s of science in photography. I am so close to graduation, I can see the light at the end of the tunnel of school stress. Being this close to graduation, I need to start thinking about where I want to live. The first step I had to take was researching cities that have a lot to offer me, especially in the fashion and advertisement photography field.
I will be looking for research on the cost of living, jobs, closeness to home, and family members or friends in the areas. Hopefully when I finish my research I will be able to make a decision based on my research.
Cost of Living
For me to determine the cost of living in both Los Angeles and Pittsburgh, I had to look into what it would cost to rent, the groceries, utilities, and transportation. I found a site called info please that really helped me figure this out.
In Los Angeles the average one bedroom apartment rent is $2,282.00, while Pittsburgh’s average apartment rent is $958.33. In Los Angeles the average you would spend on weekly groceries is $106.00. Pittsburgh’s average weekly groceries are about the same at $104.10. Los Angeles’s monthly utilities are around $101.70. Pittsburgh’s monthly utilities are around $97.00. Finally, Transportation in Los Angeles on an average costs $113.60, while Pittsburgh’s transportation costs $105.90. The rent was the main difference, but I still think it’s necessary to talk about the groceries, utilities, and transportation.
I would like to say that I am not at all surprised by the rent differences between Pittsburgh and Los Angeles, because I know that Los Angeles is one of the most expensive places in the United States to live. Pittsburgh is 34.4 percent less expensive to live than Los Angeles. You would need to make $30,792 in Pittsburgh, and $50,000 in Los Angeles to keep the same standard of living.
Distance
The distance from friends and family is a very important part of this to me, but not necessarily a deal breaker, especially with social media. I know a few people in California, one of my best friends and her husband live about 5 hours away from Los Angeles, which would be nice when I want a getaway, I also have a few friends closer to Los Angeles, one even living in the city, working for Paramount, which would be a fantastic networking opportunity for me. The down fall of Los Angeles is that my family Lives in Midland, Michigan which by plane is a 6 and a half hour flight, and I grew up in Cleveland, Ohio which is a 5 hour flight if I wanted to see my friends from back home. Pittsburgh is has much shorter distances from Michigan and Cleveland. From Cleveland it’s only a 2 hour drive, and a 6 hour drive to Michigan.
Jobs
As a fashion photographer it is very important to be in the fashion cities. I cannot just go out and get jobs anywhere, and still be doing what I love. Or if I am, I won’t be making very good money. I used the website indeed to figure out the salary and available jobs.
In Los Angeles, there are 5,720 fashion photography jobs to choose from. The average yearly Salary for a fashion Photographer in Los Angeles is $59,000. In Pittsburgh there are 2,396 fashion photography jobs available. A Pittsburgh fashion photographer’s yearly salary is $47,000.
Conclusion
The cost of living right now in Los Angeles is far too expensive for a just graduated college student. In order for me to be able to move there I would need to work in Pittsburgh I would need to save up money. Especially because it will still take me months to get a job probably in my industry especially one in my field.
The only fall back Pittsburgh has is under the jobs category. Unfortunately there are not as many options, which would make getting a job a lot harder.
The distance from friends and family is important also, but as I said before would not have been a deal breaker. I know that if I had to I could make new friends in another city. I had to do it before when I moved here. I would rather be closer to my family and friends. It would also be nice to visit California again since I have not been there since I was a little kid to experience what is is like to get around down in LA.
Now that I have researched all categories, cost of living, jobs, distance from family and friends I have decided that it would be better for me to go to Los Angeles for my job, but nothing else right now and chose Pittsburgh. Until I can afford to move to Los Angeles anyway.
I hope this has helped out any other photographer that is in the same place I am, because before going into all of this research, i felt seriously lost. at least now I know what I am getting myself into, before just up and moving. just for a little bit of a throw back, here are some pictures of me and my family hiking and exploring California when i was a little girl, and some of the memories i have made in Pittsburgh as well. Enjoy!
