Long Beach · Los Angeles
the long beach
the long beach
relocation guide.
everything worth knowing before you move here, from someone raising a family here.
everything worth knowing before you move here, from someone raising a family here.
Last reviewed July 2026 · Isayas Theodros, Real Estate Advisor & CPA
the honest version, from someone who chose it.
I grew up in the OC, spent years in LA, and chose Long Beach to raise my family. That order matters because Long Beach is not a consolation prize between Los Angeles and Orange County. It is the rare Southern California city that gives you real city amenities and an actual beach-town pace at the same time.
Practically speaking you have a waterfront, a walkable and fast-changing downtown, over 70 neighborhoods with authentic character, as opposed to a bland continuous suburb. The food and coffee scene punches well above the city's profile. Its own airport, where security takes minutes instead of hours. And home prices that, for comparable coastal living, consistently undercut the LA and OC neighborhoods people compare it to.
It is still a big city, and I will always give you the honest take on the blocks and trade-offs that come with that. But if you are weighing a move to Southern California, Long Beach belongs on your shortlist. This guide is my case for it, neighborhood by neighborhood.
long beach isn't one market. it's more than seventy neighborhoods stitched together.
That number surprises people, but it is what makes this city work. Each pocket has its own character, price point, and answer to "who is this for?" This is not meant to be a comprehensive tour of all seventy. Think of it as the highlights: the neighborhoods clients are most often curious about first when they are moving in from outside. When you are ready, I will match the rest to your life.
Bungalows and craftsman homes on tight, walkable blocks a few minutes from the sand. Second Street carries the neighborhood's restaurants and shops, and it's the closest thing Long Beach has to a true beach-town main street.
Good for: people who want to walk to dinner and the water and don't mind paying a premium for it. Nearby: Belmont Pier, Mother's Beach (calm water, good for families).
Man-made canals modeled after the original Naples in Italy, with gondola rides still running on the water today. Homes here are largely waterfront or near-waterfront, and it's priced accordingly. This is the top of the Long Beach market.
Good for: buyers prioritizing water access and privacy over walkability to a commercial strip.
A designated historic district of craftsman bungalows on tree-lined streets, right next to Retro Row on 4th Street with its vintage shops, cafes, and small restaurants. It draws young families and creatives who want character and walkability without Belmont Shore prices.
Good for: people who want an old-Long-Beach feel, a front porch, and a coffee shop they can walk to.
Historic craftsman and Spanish Revival homes on wide, tree-lined streets. The Atlantic Avenue corridor has been steadily filling in with small local businesses, and the neighborhood hosts a well-known monthly street event that draws people from across the city.
Good for: families who want character and space without the Belmont Shore price tag.
A protected historic district of well-kept Spanish and craftsman homes on quiet, tightly-knit blocks. It does not get the attention Belmont Shore does, which is exactly why the people who live here love it. A neighborhood locals recommend before it shows up on any "best of" list.
Good for: buyers who want vintage character and a settled, residential feel close to the center of the city.
Post-war single-family homes on larger lots in the east part of the city, near Cal State Long Beach and anchored by its own shopping center. It trades walkable-downtown energy for space, driveways, and an easy, suburban rhythm.
Good for: families who want room to spread out and a quieter, car-friendly daily life. Nearby: CSULB, easy 405 and 605 access.
A calm, family-first neighborhood built around El Dorado Regional Park, one of the largest parks in the city with lakes, miles of trails, a nature center, and a golf course. Living here means green space and open air are part of your everyday, not a weekend drive.
Good for: outdoorsy families who want parks, bike paths, and space, with quick 605 access. Nearby: El Dorado Regional Park, the nature center.
A central, well-located neighborhood of craftsman and Spanish homes named for the chewing-gum magnate who helped develop it. It sits along the LA River bike path and has been steadily on the upswing, which makes it one of the better value stories in the city right now.
Good for: buyers who want character and a central location at an approachable price, and don't mind a neighborhood still coming into its own.
The city's northern edge, and where your dollar stretches the furthest. You get larger lots and more square footage than almost anywhere else in Long Beach, in a diverse, established part of town that has seen real investment and new development in recent years.
Good for: first-time buyers and anyone who wants the most house for the money. I will always give you the honest, block-by-block read here, because it varies.
Tell me where you're moving from, your budget, and your timeline, and I'll send back the two or three Long Beach neighborhoods that actually fit your life, and why.
for a lot of families, this is the whole decision.
Long Beach Unified is one of the largest districts in California and one of the most respected in the country. It has been recognized nationally for how well it serves a big, diverse student body, and that reputation is a real part of why families choose this city.
Here is the honest part: a district's reputation is not the same as any single school's fit for your kid. Quality varies campus to campus, and Long Beach runs magnet, dual-language, and school-of-choice programs that let you apply beyond your home boundary. There are also strong private and charter options across the city.
Beyond K-12, you are minutes from Cal State Long Beach, one of the largest campuses in the CSU system, and Long Beach City College. That matters for families with older kids and for the energy a university brings to a city.
not the most exciting chapter. one of the most important.
Long Beach is well covered for a city its size. You have major medical centers right in town rather than a drive away, which is worth more than people realize until they need it.
On top of that, you are a short drive from the deep bench of hospitals and specialists across Los Angeles and Orange County, so specialized care is never far.
long beach is not a bedroom community. it has its own engine.
Plenty of residents commute to LA or Orange County, and that is easy to do. But one of the most underrated things about this city is that it has a real, diversified economy of its own.
The short version: people are moving here for the lifestyle and finding that the work followed them, or was already here.
the world is coming to our waterfront. that is not nothing.
When Los Angeles hosts the Summer Olympics in 2028, Long Beach is set to be one of the biggest venue hubs outside of central LA. Our waterfront is slated to host a cluster of water events, including sailing, marathon swimming, and triathlon, along with other events around the convention center and marina, putting this city on a global stage. Preparing for it is already pulling real investment into the waterfront, the marina, and the way people move around the city.
There is a nice bit of history in it, too. Long Beach helped host the Games back in 1932, so this is a return, not a debut. For residents, an Olympics on your doorstep tends to accelerate the things that were already happening: transit improvements, waterfront investment, and a wave of attention on a city that has spent years quietly getting better.
the commute question, answered before you sign anything.
Where you land in Long Beach should depend heavily on where you need to be on a Tuesday morning. Ask me and I will match neighborhoods to your actual commute, but here is the lay of the land.
If you have the option, Long Beach Airport is the best airport in the region to fly out of, and it is not close. You can get through security in truly under five minutes. It is small, historic, and so laid back that flying out of it barely feels like airline travel. For frequent flyers, living ten minutes from LGB is a quality-of-life upgrade that is easy to underrate until you have it.
The Metro A Line runs from downtown Long Beach all the way to downtown Los Angeles, and it is the reason some Long Beach residents commute to DTLA without owning a second car. If a rail commute would change your life, tell me. It genuinely narrows the neighborhood search.
small things that shape daily life here more than the big ones.
the lifestyle is the easy part to sell. this is the stuff i make sure you understand before you sign.
Everything up to here has been my case for Long Beach. This chapter is the fine print I walk every client through, because the difference between a smooth move and an expensive surprise is almost always something nobody bothered to tell them. So here is the honest read on the money and the mechanics.
Do not rule yourself out before you have asked. There are state, county, and city programs built to help first-time buyers, and in some cases first-generation buyers, with down payments and closing costs. The catch is that they open and close with funding. Long Beach's own first-time buyer program, for example, has run and then paused once its money ran out. That is exactly why you should never rely on an article, a forum post, or an older edition of a guide like this one for what is available today. Part of my job when we start working together is telling you what is actually live right now and getting you in front of a lender who knows the current programs cold. A five-minute question there can be worth thousands.
California taxes you on what you paid, not on some older number. Proposition 13 resets a home's assessed value to your purchase price when you buy, then caps how fast it can grow after that. What catches almost every new owner off guard is the supplemental bill: a separate, one-time bill for the gap between the old assessment and your new one, and it usually is not folded into your escrow the way your first year of regular taxes is. Plan for it so it does not plan for you.
As a rough rule, budget around 1.25% of your purchase price a year for property tax, which is the 1% base rate plus local voter-approved items that vary by neighborhood. The regular bill comes in two installments: the first is late after December 10, the second late after April 10.
A lot of what makes Long Beach beautiful, the craftsman bungalows and the Spanish revivals and the pre-war character, also means you are buying homes that are seventy, eighty, sometimes a hundred years old. That is not a reason to walk away. It is a reason to inspect well. The things that come up here more than in newer-build markets: aging sewer laterals running from the house to the street, foundations on older bungalows, garage conversions done at some point without permits, and dated wiring. On the wiring, watch specifically for knob-and-tube: some older Long Beach homes still have it, it is very hard, sometimes impossible, to insure, and you should assume you will have to remedy it if you buy a home that has it. I always recommend a dedicated sewer scope on top of the general inspection, and I pull a property's permit history from the city before you ever waive a contingency. None of this is scary when you see it coming. All of it is expensive when you do not.
If a condo or townhome is on your list, and in places like Naples, downtown, and Belmont Shore it often is, the building's finances matter as much as the unit itself. Before your contingency period ends, we read the HOA's reserve study, its recent meeting minutes, and its insurance status, not just the monthly-fee summary. The combination to watch for is a low HOA fee, a thin reserve account, and an older building all at once. Together, that usually means a large special assessment is coming, because the money to keep the place standing has to come from somewhere. Insurance non-renewals on older buildings can force the same thing. Confirm your parking is actually deeded to you in writing, too. I go through all of it with you.
You've seen how I think about neighborhoods and how I protect buyers. If you're weighing a move, tell me your budget, timeline, and what matters most, and I'll come back with the two or three Long Beach neighborhoods that fit, and why.
our family's favorite spots. not a "best of" list, just the truth.
My wife and I live here, and these are the places we actually go when we get a night out. If you end up moving here, consider this your head start.
Great drinks, a menu we've never been let down by, and live music in a space with a genuinely great aesthetic. The happy hour alone is worth building an evening around.
Perfect outdoor vibes and delicious food, but what keeps us coming back is the ownership. Some of the kindest people running a restaurant in this city.
Our go-to when we want to order a bunch of shareable small bites and try a little of everything. Fusion done right. Every plate is full of flavor.
Actual, legitimate vibes. A live DJ, an excellent atmosphere, and a rooftop setting that makes it the right call when you want the night to feel like an event. (The drinks are fine. You're there for the atmosphere.)
where our kids run and our weekends slow down.
A big part of choosing Long Beach for our family was the green space. These are the parks we come back to.
The best views of the water in the city, yoga on the bluff, and just enough room for the kids to scooter around. On Saturdays, cross Ocean to the other side and you'll find some amazing food vendors. The pupusas are my personal favorite.
If you have a dinosaur kid, this one wins on arrival. The playground is dinosaur-themed and my son could stay for hours. Beyond it, Rec Park is one of the city's great all-purpose green spaces, with big open lawns, a golf course, and room to let a Saturday run long.
Our favorite when we want something more relaxed. There are benches around the perimeter of the lake that are perfect for hanging back and watching the ducks, or if you want something more active, the open fields are perfect for little kids to run around chasing geese.
A fan favorite for any family with kids who love planes. Just check it out and you'll see what I mean. They also host an amazing summer concert series, and the neighborhood tradition says everything: people leave their lawn chairs out in the morning to reserve their spots, then come back in the evening for the show.
long beach was ranked the #3 coffee destination in the country. once you live here, it makes sense.
We take our coffee seriously, and the city rewards it. Here is our rotation.
A great latte and even better pastries. A reliable first stop.
The most unique flavors of any shop on this list, run by amazing owners with a vibe to match. Worth crossing the city line for.
Plant-based and genuinely great tasting. No compromise required.
Very kind owners and a great atmosphere for settling in on a remote work day.
A striking spot with a bold black exterior and patio seating right on the sidewalk. It has become a family favorite, even the kids ask to go, and it is the kind of place that feels like a little destination, not just a quick coffee stop.
how we help people land here, from anywhere.
Relocating is different from shopping. You are choosing a life from a distance, usually on a deadline, often without knowing which questions to ask. That is the exact gap my team fills.
the questions people ask me most before they move here.
Yes. It is the rare Southern California city that pairs real city amenities with an actual beach-town pace: a walkable, fast-changing downtown, a working waterfront, its own airport, and over 70 neighborhoods with genuine character. It is why I chose to raise my family here.
Of course I think so, that is why we are talking. That said, it is a big city, and some neighborhoods are safer than others, and even within a neighborhood it can vary street to street. So instead of a citywide generalization, I will always give you the candid, block-by-block read on any home you are serious about.
For comparable coastal living, yes. Long Beach home prices consistently undercut the LA and Orange County neighborhoods people compare it to, and you often get the same feeling, a walkable beach town, a creative bungalow street, a canal home, for less. See the LA-to-Long-Beach comparison in Chapter Two.
It depends on what matters most: schools, space, or walkability. Bixby Knolls and Los Altos are popular with families for character and room, El Dorado Park for green space, and Belmont Shore for walk-to-the-beach living. And if you want a centrally located, prestigious gated community, La Linda is worth a look. I match neighborhoods to each family's commute, schools, and budget.
If you have read this far, you are more than just curious. You are really thinking about making a life here, and I do not take that lightly.
I chose Long Beach on purpose. It is where my wife and I are raising our three kids, where I coach the people I care about through the biggest financial decisions of their lives, and where I get to point a camera at a city I genuinely love. Everything in this guide is the same thing I would tell you over coffee, because that is exactly how I want us to start.
So here is my ask. Do not move here blind, and do not do it alone. Send me a note, tell me what you are looking for, and let me give you the honest read. Whether that is next month or next year, I would be honored to help you find your place here.
Buying, selling, or moving from out of the area. Reach out. Every conversation is welcome.