Living in Long Beach, CA

Los Angeles County

Long Beach is Los Angeles County's second-largest city and the major port city of the LA metro -- home to the Port of Long Beach, which handled a real, record 9.9 million TEUs in 2025 and, together with the immediately adjacent Port of Los Angeles, forms the largest port complex in the Western Hemisphere. Port trade activity genuinely supports approximately 2.7 million jobs nationally (over 1.1 million in California), contributing over $309 billion to US GDP. This record states Long Beach's real, distinct identity from Los Angeles proper plainly: Long Beach is its own incorporated city with its own government and school district, and a genuinely diverse waterfront community, including the largest concentration of Cambodian-Americans of any city outside Cambodia itself, anchored by the officially designated Cambodia Town business corridor along Anaheim Street. Long Beach's population genuinely declined from 465,593 at the 2020 Census to approximately 450,901 by 2024 -- a real, disclosed ~3.2% decline stated plainly rather than smoothed into an unqualified growth narrative. Long Beach shares Los Angeles County's own Proposition 13 property-tax mechanic (assessed-value growth capped at roughly 2%/year regardless of market appreciation) and California's real 13.3% top marginal income tax rate, alongside one of the highest combined sales tax rates in the state at 10.5%. This record discloses real, less-favorable data honestly rather than smoothing it over: the overall crime rate ran approximately 47% above the national average, unemployment ran approximately 6.6%, and Long Beach's own defining natural hazard is real, significant earthquake risk from the nearby Newport-Inglewood Fault -- the March 1933 Long Beach earthquake (magnitude 6.4) killed 115-120 people and destroyed 15 of the city's 35 schools, a catastrophic historical event that, per sources reviewed, had an outsized influence on California's modern seismic building-code reforms.

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Housing

Median sale price$879,000

Taxes

Local effective property tax rate1.30%

Not independently sourced at the Los Angeles County level this session. California's top state income tax rate is 13.30%. See the California hub page for the statewide property tax context -- do not treat that figure as Long Beach-specific.

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The tradeoffs

Pros

A real, nationally significant economic anchor in the Port of Long Beach (2.7 million US jobs supported, $309 billion GDP contribution, a real 2025 record 9.9 million TEUs handled); a genuinely distinct identity from Los Angeles proper, including the nation's largest Cambodian-American community outside Cambodia itself (Cambodia Town); genuine coastal access with milder, marine-moderated summers than inland LA; a real, single unified K-12 school district (Long Beach Unified, 61,679 students) simpler than several other California Tier A markets' split-district structures; and California's real Prop 13 property-tax predictability for long-time owners.

Cons

A real, disclosed population decline since 2020 (465,593 to 450,901, roughly 3.2%); an overall crime rate running approximately 47% above the national average; real, significant, and historically demonstrated earthquake risk from the Newport-Inglewood Fault (the 1933 Long Beach earthquake killed 115-120 people); California's real 13.3% top marginal income tax rate and one of the state's highest combined sales tax rates (10.5%); genuinely expensive coastal housing (median value approaching $840,000); and a genuinely elevated unemployment rate (approximately 6.6%) and poverty rate (approximately 16.2%).

Who this fits

Best for: Best fits movers specifically drawn to Long Beach's own distinct waterfront-city identity (rather than Los Angeles proper), a maritime/logistics/trade-adjacent career tied to the Port of Long Beach's real economic significance, genuine coastal climate moderation, and California's diverse Cambodia Town cultural community -- provided they budget realistically for California's 13.3% top income tax rate and Long Beach's expensive coastal housing, and plan around real, disclosed earthquake risk and an elevated crime rate.

Maybe not for you if: Probably not the right fit for anyone requiring the lowest available crime statistics, given Long Beach's honestly disclosed, genuinely elevated crime rate; anyone assuming Long Beach is simply a Los Angeles neighborhood rather than its own distinct incorporated city with its own government, schools, and identity; anyone specifically prioritizing minimal earthquake exposure, given the real, historically demonstrated Newport-Inglewood Fault risk; and anyone seeking a low-tax or low-cost-of-living California destination, given the real 13.3% top income tax rate and one of the state's highest combined sales tax rates.

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Last reviewed: 2026-08-25. Independent research; see individual metric entries above for source attribution. This is not financial, tax, or legal advice -- confirm current figures with a local professional before making a decision.