Culver City Ranked Most Expensive City for Businesses in LA County and Western US

A survey published by El Segundo economic development consulting firm Kosmont Cos. and the Rose Institute of State and Local Government at Claremont McKenna College has pronounced Culver City as the most expensive city for businesses in both Los Angeles County and several states in the Western United States as reported by The LA Business Journal.

The survey was an analysis of costs levied by cities on businesses in 150 cities which compares taxes, fees, rents for businesses and other associated costs of doing business in those 158 cities. The cities surveyed were not only in Southern California but also in nine of the states in the Western United States and Minnesota and Texas.

The survey found that out of the top ten most expensive cities, seven of them were at the top of the 158 cities surveyed. In addition to Culver City, as the most expensive city, the cities of Los Angeles, Irwindale, Inglewood, El Segundo, Long Beach and Covina were the other six cities in the top ten. It also found that no city within Los Angeles County is among the least expensive cities on the list.

Ken Miller, director of the Rose Institute and a co-author of the survey said, as quoted by The LA Business Journal, “Doing business in Southern California has many benefits, but the costs make it increasingly hard to pull off.”

Back from a pandemic break, the survey has been revised to include sales and utility taxes, business license fees and taxes, minimum wage levels, average office rents, median home values and crime frequency. Survey’s authors consider crime, which includes property theft to be a cost for businesses.

Previously, Los Angeles was usually noted as the most costly or second on the list but has now dropped to third after Culver City and Irwindale and is tied with Seattle as the third on the list. The survey’s press release claims that “Los Angeles city voters’ recent approval of Measure ULA…illustrates how businesses – especially those buying or selling property in the county’s largest city – will bear extra costs.”