Amazon’s bid to purchase Whole Foods Market for nearly $14 billion was viewed as a large investment in the future of grocery shopping — and also, fresh produce delivery. It’s also, perhaps more than any other market, an investment in Los Angeles.

The 2014 United States Census claims there are 10.12 million people residing in Los Angeles County. Some quick research on Whole Foods locations shows 28 in the county, including regular Whole Foods Markets and two 365 store — Whole Food’s lower-priced concept — locations. That’s one Whole Foods for every 361,429 people (and nearly three Whole Foods per million residents, which would be close to the top of a 2014 study of Whole Foods distribution per state.

It also ends up that those residents are more prepared than most to receive groceries via delivery. Delivery service Instacart launched in LA in 2014 and has since ballooned to 20 states. But recent blowback to the service has included findings around employee pay and markups of 40 percent on purchases. 

For Amazon, that markup potentially vanishes. As the owner of Whole Foods, it’s not a middle man. Amazon Fresh, its grocery delivery service, is just the owned-and-operated way consumers would receive their orders.

Still, even with a reduction in extra fees, Amazon’s Whole Foods buy banks on higher home values nearby and thus, more disposable income to spend on Whole Foods products — both essential and not-so-much. Zillow’s recent study shows that the average U.S. home price within a mile of Whole Foods is $376,000; a value $200,000 higher than the national average. 

Median home prices in LA recently matched an all-time high at $550,000, indicating potential for the Whole Foods effect to be even more extreme here. It may also indicate an ability for those homebuyers to spend more on Whole Foods products — something Amazon will need to make the purchase worth it in the long run.