Long Beach, CA — Momentum Score, Home Values & Best-For

All states·California·Long Beach

Los Angeles County · Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim · population 450,901

ShrinkingBig-city amenities
Long Beach, CA
Image: Wikipedia · Long Beach, California
OverviewCost of livingMoving guide
View watchlist →
59
Stable
Momentum score · 0–100

Where Long Beach stands

At or near all-time high. population shrinking 0.9% per year.

Median home $862,599
1-year +1.0%
5-yr CAGR +4.3%
vs 5-yr peak -0.9%
Population -0.9%/yr

Home value trajectory · last 10 years

Zillow ZHVI · monthly
peak 2024-12$863k$428k$587k$746k$906k201620182020202220242026

Lifestyle scores

🚶
Walkability
86/100
Walker's paradise
Estimated from population density. Higher = denser, more amenities within walking distance.
🚉
Public transit
38/100
Minimal transit
Curated list of major US transit systems + population-based estimate. Higher = real subway/rail/bus options.
💻
Remote work fit
53/100
Workable for remote workers
Composite of city size, housing cost, state tax structure, and region's remote-work track record.

Scores are heuristic estimates from population density, state, and known transit/walkable cities. Not based on a paid Walk Score / Transit Score API — see methodology for the formula.

Rent trajectory · last 5 years

Zillow ZORI · monthly
$2,307/mo$1,771$2,108$2,446202220242026

Home value vs rent · indexed to 100

Both rebased at first month of ZORI data (~2015)
Home valueRent124122100120202220242026

Rent vs buy

Price-to-rent ratio: 31.2
Rent

At a 31.2 price-to-rent ratio, renting beats buying in Long Beach for most shorter holds. The premium you pay to own would take many years of rent savings to recoup, and that's before maintenance, taxes, and opportunity cost on the down payment.

How the momentum score breaks down

methodology →
Home YoY
55 · w22%
Home 5-yr CAGR
61 · w22%
Distance from peak
84 · w18%
Population growth
32 · w16%
Rent YoY
55 · w12%
Home 10-yr CAGR
70 · w10%
Long thesis

Long Beach has held up across the cycle: home values at $862,599 with +4.3% 5-year CAGR. The bull case is structural — population, location, employer base — and holds even if next year's print is soft.

Short thesis

Long Beach's population is shrinking 0.9% per year. Housing demand has to come from somewhere — if people are leaving, the buyer pool is shrinking faster than the inventory. That eventually shows up in price.

About Long Beach

Long Beach is a city in Los Angeles County, California, with an estimated population of 450,901. It anchors the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim metro area. The population has contracted 0.9% per year on average since 2020. The median home value in Long Beach is $862,599 as of 2026-04, up 1.0% over the last 12 months. Over the last five years, home values have averaged +4.3% annual growth, with prices at or near the 5-year peak. Rents in Long Beach average $2,307 per month, roughly flat year-over-year (+1.5%). The composite momentum score is 59 of 100 (Stable). Conditions are neither hot nor cold, so the local fit matters more than market timing.

▲ Bull case

●Held the highs: currently -0.9% from the 5-year peak — this market refused to give back gains.
○The data is the data: Long Beach has at least 5 years of Zillow tracking, full Census identification, and is included in the 2-criteria momentum score on this page.

▼ Bear case

●Expensive AND not growing: median home $862,599 with only +1.0% YoY. You’re paying premium pricing for a flat trend.
●Flat or shrinking population: -0.9% per year. Housing demand has to come from somewhere — verify the source.

About Long Beach (Wikipedia)

Long Beach is a coastal city in southeastern Los Angeles County, California, United States. It is the 44th-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 451,307 as of 2022. A charter city, Long Beach is the 7th-most populous city in California, the 2nd-most populous city in Los Angeles County, and the largest city in California that is not a county seat.

Source: Wikipedia · this summary is contributed and licensed under CC-BY-SA.

City facts

MayorRex Richardson (D)
Area77.84 sq mi
Elevation52 population_total = 466742 ft
IncorporatedDecember 13, 1897
Motto"The International City"
Density9205.96/sq mi

Extracted from the Wikipedia infobox. Values may be slightly out of date relative to the latest sources.

Playbook

Buyer

Lifestyle fit matters more than market timing in a Stable market. Take your time on the home and neighborhood; the macro trend isn't urgent. Negotiate normally.

Seller

Price competitively from day one or risk a 60+ day listing. Staging, photography, and presentation matter more in Stable markets than in Hot ones.

Investor

Stable cap rates, no big appreciation story to lean on. Underwrite this as a pure cash-flow play — the math has to work on rent alone.

Local safety & alerts

No active National Weather Service alerts for Los Angeles County right now.

NWS active alerts (CA)California Emergency ManagementHow to prepare (NWS)

Public-safety links are official .gov sources, not curated by us. Los Angeles County routes NWS alerts; check the state EM portal for non-weather emergencies.

Neighborhoods of Long Beach

41 tracked · ranked by median home value
1Peninsula$2,250,602+6.2%
2Naples$2,020,944+5.1%
3Belmont Park$1,600,042-0.1%
4Bixby Hill$1,419,297+2.0%
5Belmont Shore$1,351,065+1.0%
6Bixby Knolls$1,325,263+0.5%
7Rancho Estates$1,312,120+3.0%
8El Dorado Park Estates$1,267,469+4.2%
9Los Cerritos Area$1,266,777+3.7%
10Park Estates$1,261,971+2.4%
11University Park Estates$1,241,304+1.5%
12Alamitos Heights$1,186,642+3.2%
13Belmont Heights$1,183,554+4.6%
14Marina Area$1,177,574-1.3%
15State College Area$1,128,196+3.3%
16Lakewood Village$1,098,491+3.8%
17El Dorado South$1,084,198+2.8%
18Los Altos$1,078,512+1.6%
19The Plaza$1,018,146+2.2%
20City College Area$1,010,297+4.1%
21California Heights$958,862-2.1%
22Imperial Estates$922,618+3.9%
23Bixby Area$909,053+0.2%
24Rose Park$870,789+5.8%

See the full neighborhood ranking →

Cities like Long Beach

Torrance, CA60 · StableEl Monte, CA60 · StableDowney, CA61 · StableGlendale, CA55 · Stable

Run the numbers for Long Beach

ToolCan I afford Long Beach?Income → city shortlistToolROI on a Long Beach rentalCap rate, cash-on-cash, DSCRToolCompare Long Beach to anywhereSide-by-side up to 3 citiesToolLong Beach cost-of-livingEquivalent income elsewhere

Sources: Zillow ZHVI (home values), Zillow ZORI (rents), US Census ACS + place population. Updated when source agencies publish revisions.

Climate & natural-disaster risk

Winter (Jan)
60° / 41°
avg high / low
Summer (Jul)
82° / 60°
avg high / low
Sunny days/yr
258
~71% of year
Annual precip
22″ rain
8″ snow
Disaster risk (1=very low, 5=very high)
Hurricane
Very low
Tornado
Very low
Wildfire
Very high
Earthquake
Very high
Flood
Moderate

State-level averages from NOAA Climate Normals (1991-2020) and FEMA National Risk Index. City-level conditions can vary significantly within a state.

Local sports teams

Major professional teams the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim area cheers for. Detailed stats, schedules, and player pages on intherafters.com.

Current weather

Loading current conditions…

7-day forecast on weather.gov →

Find rentals & listings

Open current Long Beach listings on the major real-estate sites.

Links open the live search on the destination site — results are always current.

Local news & community

Updated 2026-05-21 from Google News + Reddit RSS. Headlines link to original sources.

Local economy & environment

Humidity
65%
Moderate climate
Median household income
$91,500
California state median
Top industries (state-level)
TechEntertainmentAgriculture

Humidity is annual average relative humidity (NOAA). Income is Census ACS 5-year estimate. Industries are largest employment sectors statewide (BLS); the local mix in a given city may vary.

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