Yeah, that would be pretty lame. Considering you have just graduated college, you may not have much professional experience in the industry. If the employer is

Yeah, that would be pretty lame. Considering you have just graduated college, you may not have much professional experience in the industry. If the employer is hiring you based on your degree rather than your actual skills then you might need a month or two just to get to a point where you can start to be useful to them. Just tell the company what you are planning. Depending on your / their situation, they may still have a use for you. In fact, if it's something which would be a good fit with that company you might actually be able to make more money as a freelancer. If not, then maybe try to find a freelance gig either locally or remotely. Another option would be to reach out to possible employers in L.A. to see if you can start out with remote work with the promise to move if things work out. That would be perfect because you would already be setup with a job when arriving and you would likely be able to move on a more relaxed time frame. As for average salary, does it really matter? Jump on the Google and work out taxes, housing costs and whatever other expenses you might need / want to take on while in L.A. Need a Lambo? Add that in. Make sure to tack on savings. If you come up with a bat shit crazy number (maybe you need to drop the Lambo) then you might need to adjust. Keep it realistic for someone in your position. You probably don't need a 5 bedroom house next to Justin Bieber just yet. Once you figure out your number, then tack on a bit of a buffer (maybe 10 - 20%) so that you have some negotiating room and throw it out there. If it's not too crazy then they should come back with a counter-offer. If you are way off, then perhaps you don't want to work for that place anyways. This is important because L.A. is an expensive place. Regardless of any average salary, you need enough money to live on. Further, you need enough money to make L.A. a more logical choice over another location where you could make nearly as much money but with a much lower cost of living. If you really must do L.A. and the offers aren't matching your number, then at least you will get an idea of where the market is at and do another adjustment of your expectations.