How Big Is Los Santos Compared To Los Angeles
What is the size of Los Santos compared to the real world? This article will compare the city to the average American metropolitan area, as well as some of the bigger cities in America!
Los Santos comes packed with lots of things to do, so it can sometimes feel like there’s not enough time to see everything. Luckily, you don’t have to spend much time at all to cover almost every part of the city!
This article will give you an idea of how big Los Santos really is by comparing it to some other major urban areas in North America. We'll also take a look at some fun facts about Vespers, the fictional city that appears in The Sims and The Get To Know Me Episode 1-2. More than anything, we hope you enjoy this comparison and learn something new!
Disclaimer: All distances are approximate only. Mileages may vary due to differences in where highways end and streets start, etc.
Urban sprawl typically refers to the spread out nature of large cities. Due to limited space, most of the surrounding land has become housing developments or empty spaces for parks and recreational facilities.
However, just because people live far apart from each other doesn't mean they're any closer to their neighbors. It's common practice for developers to include private roads and gated communities within walking distance of the homes in the neighborhood, making it seem even longer between houses.
Bigger than New York
When you compare The City at its peak with what it is now, there’s no way that anyone could ever say that it has gone up, not even close. At its height, just like in our current day era of skyscrapers, The City boasted some of the tallest buildings anywhere in the world!
At one time, there were over 5,000 homes for every person in the city which made housing expensive but was also very popular as people wanted their own home. There are only about 4,500 homes left today making it increasingly difficult to find a house or apartment.
Also, more cars meant traffic congestion which slowed down transportation and commerce within the city. These days, we have less cars so things have improved slightly. However, we still struggle with heavy road construction and traffic due to events such as the Olympics!
The size of the city will always be limited by the amount of land available and natural resources. This includes water, soil, air and other valuable substances needed to live.
Same size as Paris
If you’ve never been to California before, how much of Los Santos is defined by what area it covers compared to the city it represents.
Los Santos in The Gangster Squad is almost exactly one square mile (0.2 miles per side). This makes it about the same size as the City of Paris, France.
In fact, if you took all of South America out into the ocean, then put Los Santos at its highest elevation, it would still only cover an area slightly larger than Paris. It would be very tall!
Slightly taller than the Eiffel Tower, but not by much. And even though it wouldn’t quite reach the moon, it would get close - just like Sean Johnson did while filming his scenes here.
Much bigger than Rome
One of the most popular features in GTA Online is the ability to explore and search for new locations. You can do this by going into GPS mode, which lets you access the game’s map feature.
The map has very different layers that show various things about the game. For example, there will be a list layer showing all of your cars, an buildings one showing all of your current homes, and a terrain one showing where you are currently located.
By clicking on any vehicle or house entry, you’ll bring up more detailed information about it, as well as a menu with several options. These include viewing interior pictures, looking at furniture lists, and exploring some details around the area like roads and railways.
There’s also an option to add either part or whole of the location to your collection, but remember, only people who have been invited to join your crew can take advantage of this. Once taken, you cannot remove it unless someone else invites you to give back their property!
Overall, the maps in Grand Theft Auto V are quite large- not just in size, but also in content. There are usually at least ten vehicles to choose from along with three to four houses to look through depending on how advanced you become as a player.
These additions are always being updated and expanded upon so never feel limited in terms of finding something to play around with.
About the same size as Shanghai
When talking about how large or small an area is, it is important to know what you are comparing it to. The city of Los Angeles has enough space for almost 1 million people.
Los Santos is only slightly smaller than that. At most there are 800,000 residents in all of Southern California. This means there is around 3% free room in the area for expansion.
This article will talk more in depth about some of the bigger areas in the game like Vineland and East Beach, but first we should discuss something similar- how big or small these cities feel to be lived in.
About the same size as Dubai
When talking about how big or small an open-world game like The New GTA is, it’s important to remember that we are comparing it to another open world game with its own fan base. Just because City doesn’t contain as many buildings as San Francisco doesn’t mean it’s any smaller!
Dubai and San Francisco both have five-star hotels in them so they're not exactly comparable. A better way to look at it is how much space there is available for you to explore and what kind of environments there are for your character to interact with.
There's a reason why people call The New GTA an "urban" experience, and it has nothing to do with location settings. It's just because that's all you'll find here!
The city sages spent most of their time making sure every inch was filled with things to do and see. They also made sure to include lots of iconic landmarks and gaudy decorations where possible.
About the same size as Hong Kong
When talking about the sizes of cities, how big or small they are is usually determined by two things - how much land there is and how tall buildings can be.
Land area is important because it gives you space for parks, roads, and other structures. It also allows for future development. The more available land, the bigger the city can get.
Hong Kong has plenty of room to grow since it is an island with very little surface area that cannot be built on. This makes it expensive to buy property here!
Los Santos does not have this problem due to its coastal location. There are always opportunities to expand by buying empty beachfront lots or building higher in the mountains.
However, people may find it hard to afford a house at these heights so only the rich will be able to live in such towns.
About the same size as Tokyo
Never before has there been an open-world game with such beautiful settings. The city of San Andreas is just over one million square feet (9,200 m²) in size. This makes it about the same size as the City of London or the Downtown area of Detroit!
San Andreas’s map is divided into three regions that are all accessible at any time. There is Valley, Town and Coast.
The Valley region is home to most of Southern California including Lake Elsinore, Temecula, Palm Springs and many other famous cities. You will need to do some exploring to find everything this region has to offer.
The Town region includes places like Palos Verdes and Pacific Palisades. These two areas feel separate from each other so much that people don’t know what to make of them. They both have their own theme songs which only adds to the mystery.
The Coast region covers Malibu, Venice, Marina Del Rey and more. In comparison to the rest of the country, these coastal towns are very wealthy. People live here because they can afford to - not cause of location.
Overall, the best way to explore San Andreas is by going car-free. Take public transportation, use taxis or create your own route through traffic or street racing.
About the same size as Paris
The city of Los Santos in GTA V is a lot bigger than it seems at first glance! It feels like an endless urban jungle with lots of areas to explore, but it’s actually only about one and half times larger than the average sized town in France.
That being said, there are some tall buildings in the game that seem much taller than they really are due to the way Rockstar has designed their open world setting.
By having most landmarks be reachable by vehicle or foot, sometimes very few skyscrapers feel particularly imposing because you can just hop into your car and drive up to them if you want to check out the view.
Another reason why big cities like San Francisco or New York may feel even more impressive is because they were built around a central business district (like City Hall) which usually sits pretty high above sea level.
In Grand Theft Auto Online, players will find themselves working for either the London or Italian Mafia groups, both of whom have their own island bases where they hold meetings and recruit new members.