Stamped concrete cost in Los Angeles, CA

Optional extras in Los Angeles

Extras are quoted nationally and then scaled to Los Angeles by the average of the local wage index (1.20) and goods index (1.07), a factor of 1.13. Tick any of them in the estimator above to add them to your total. Treat these as planning figures: an add-on touches different trades than the main job, so the scaling is an approximation.

Climate in Los Angeles: timing your stamped concrete job

We use NOAA's 1991-2020 climate normals for Culver City (in the city). These are 30-year monthly averages, not forecasts.

Weather is not a serious constraint for pouring concrete in Los Angeles: no month in the averages is cold enough (an average overnight low of 40°F or below) or hot enough (an average daytime high of 90°F or more) to rule it out, so the workable window is all year.

Los Angeles gets about 14 inches of precipitation in a normal year. The wettest months are January, February and December (3.5 inches in February). The station averages about 7 days a year at 90°F or above.

Does the season change the price? Probably, but we do not have a sourced seasonal price curve, so the estimator shows a year-round figure and does not adjust by month. When you collect quotes, ask whether scheduling in a slower month gets a better rate.

Stamped concrete: what moves the price in Los Angeles

• Pattern and color

  Basic to average coloring runs $8-$19 per sq ft. A 2-car stamped driveway runs $12-$18 per sq ft (HomeGuide); Estimators.us puts decorative slabs at $15-$30.

• Specialist labor

  Stamping has to be done before the concrete sets, so crews arrive in larger teams and charge for it.

• Sealing and vapor barrier

  Sealer is usually quoted separately; vapor barrier material is $0.20-$1.50 per sq ft depending on thickness (HomeGuide).

Los Angeles: what basic, standard and premium work costs

Three bands are cut from the same cited range and localized for Los Angeles wages and prices. They overlap on purpose: a good standard job and a modest premium job can cost the same. The grid below prices the same bands at 3 common sizes.

Is Los Angeles cheap or dear? The local comparison

Same job, same size (400 sq ft), priced for the nearest metros. San Diego is the priciest of the group at $6,400. Bakersfield is the cheapest at $6,000.

Across 300 US metros, Los Angeles comes in at #23 from the top. The priciest is Kahului, HI at $8,150; the cheapest is McAllen, TX at $4,550 (midpoints, 400 sq ft). Statewide, Los Angeles is 1% above the California figure.

Other California metros

Cities with a workforce like Los Angeles's

Big cities and small ones price differently, so here is Los Angeles against the 4 metros with the closest total employment.

Los Angeles labor market for stamped concrete

Wages are the part of this estimate that changes most from town to town. 3 trades carry the job here, and each is compared with its US median. The weighted result for Los Angeles is 1.20 times the national level.

For cement masons and concrete finishers (47-2051, weighted 60%) the local median is $30.67 an hour, which is 12% above the national $27.41. The middle half of them earn between $25.10 and $40.34 an hour. BLS counts 7,810 of them working in the area, 12.5 for every 10,000 jobs (US: 13.3), so the local bench is about average.

Construction laborers (47-2061), 30% of the weighting: a median of $28.28 an hour, 25% above the US median of $22.66. The middle half of them earn between $22.75 and $37.31 an hour. About 21,730 work in the metro. That is 34.6 per 10,000 jobs, compared with 70.5 nationally, so expect fewer local crews to bid.

For operating engineers and other construction equipment operators (47-2073, weighted 10%) the local median is $44.66 an hour, which is 55% above the national $28.78. The middle half of them earn between $31.40 and $60.51 an hour. BLS counts 8,780 of them working in the area, 14.0 for every 10,000 jobs (US: 30.7), so the local bench is thinner than average.

Quotes come from real crews, not medians. If the cement masons and concrete finishers on your job are paid at the 75th percentile ($40.34 an hour) instead of the median, the labor line grows by about $570. At the 25th percentile ($25.10) it shrinks by about $330. The total moves by 9.0% or 5.2%, so wages alone rarely explain a quote that is far outside our range.

For context on the local economy, BLS counts 6,271,560 jobs in the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim area. That makes it the 2nd largest of the 300 metros we cover, with 4.03% of US employment.

Planning more than one job in Los Angeles?

Because every project leans on different trades, Los Angeles's wage level does not move all prices equally. Against the US midpoint, gravel driveway runs +23% and paver patio +12%.