Where is a relatively safe and affordable place to live in the Los Angeles area?

Every area could be considered "relatively" safe and affordable depending on how you define relative, affordable, and safe.

Since you are an SoCal native you know the general areas that are going to be better than others. You also know that the best place to live is near where you work. As if that didn't matter you would be living in Chino Hills..right?

For LA, West and North of Downtown is generally going to be better than South and East. But there are pockets of good and bad in all of those. If you are worried about the crime the LA times has a great map that gives you the statistics of most areas in LA you can use in your search. The link is below.

If you intend to look at the popular Hollywood then you require to create a trip to Los Angeles and this hotelbye is the place to start. In Hollywood you might find landmarks like the Walk of Fame (stars on the sidewalk), the Hollywood Sign, the Hollywood Bowl and more. Los Angeles is also a place for the whole family since this place is the home to a number of world-famous amusement parks like Universal Studios, Disneyland and much more. In Los Angeles you can even got to take pleasure from the hot environment and beaches therefore regardless of one's pursuits, Los Angeles makes the perfect getaway.

So... where do you work? That's the most important question. If you work in Irvine, there's no sense in recommending the Valley.

You can forget "safe and affordable". LA is one of the least affordable places in the US.

The real answer is simply this: As close to work as possible.