It is a fast growing city as most of the rural people migrate to urban areas and settle on the peripheries where the land is cheaper but without water and electricity. The upper class neighbourhoods are located at the lowest points where the air quality is better than higher up the mountainsides. The climate of La Paz is often inclement, with heavy rains from November to March, temperatures below freezing and cold winds on the hillsides and Altiplano where most of the poor people live. The land is subject to flooding and landslides because of the steep inclines. Many of the houses are therefore, not connected to a piped water or sewage system because the hazards can damage the delivery system of pipes.
Families are large and tend to live in small, overcrowded houses.
The high population density and lack of sanitation and water services, together with the high altitude and harsh climate, have adverse effects on the health of the residents and cause high infant mortality . The residents usually get their water from public taps if there are any. These taps however, are located at the bottom of the hills, too far for many residents to transport buckets of water by foot up hill. Unfortunately, sometimes the only available sources of water are in unsanitary conditions such as rivers, drainage ditches and stagnant pools, where children play and household waste is dumped. They are mostly located on steep slopes of the mountains, where land, prone to erosion especially during heavy rainfall, is cheaper.