Studio Apartments for Rent in Los Angeles

What to know about renting a studio in LA

Updated June 2026

A studio is the most affordable way to have a place that is entirely your own in Los Angeles — no roommates, no shared common space, just one open room, a bathroom, and a kitchen. That trade of square footage for privacy and price is why studios are the default first solo apartment for young professionals, the practical choice for students near USC and UCLA, and the smart play for anyone who would rather live alone in an expensive neighborhood than split a two-bedroom in a cheaper one. If you are out of the house most of the day, a studio in West Hollywood or Hollywood can cost less than a room in a shared 2-bedroom nearby — and you get your own front door.

In LA you will run into a few words that all describe roughly the same thing. A 'studio' is the modern term: one open living-and-sleeping room with a separate bathroom and a real or kitchenette-sized kitchen. A 'single' is the older name for the same layout, common in the 1920s-1940s courtyard buildings of Koreatown, East Hollywood, and Mid-Wilshire, and it often comes with a Murphy bed or built-ins that make the one room work harder. A 'bachelor' is the bare-bones version — a room and a bathroom with only a hot plate or a kitchenette instead of a full kitchen, and the cheapest thing you will find. At the top of the range, an 'alcove studio' or 'junior one-bedroom' adds an L-shaped nook or half-wall that carves out a semi-separate sleeping area, bridging the gap to a true 1-bedroom. Knowing which one a listing actually is tells you what you are really paying for.

Expect a studio to run roughly $1,600-$2,000 in Koreatown and East Hollywood, $1,900-$2,500 in Silver Lake, Echo Park, and Downtown LA, and $2,000-$2,800 on the Westside in West Hollywood, Santa Monica, and Beverly Hills. A large share of LA's studio inventory sits in buildings with a certificate of occupancy on or before October 1, 1978, which puts them under the city's Rent Stabilization Ordinance and caps how much the rent can rise each year — for a small apartment you plan to keep for a while, that protection can make an older studio the best long-term value in town. Before you sign, check the three things that make or break studio life: storage (a studio with real closet space and built-ins lives far larger than one without), the kitchen (confirm whether it is a full kitchen or a two-burner kitchenette, especially in older 'single' buildings), and parking (many vintage studio buildings have none, so factor in street-permit parking or a nearby lot).