HB is a whole vibe. The people are laid back, the waves are impeccable, and everything moves with that signature SoCal ease. The city is most known for its surf culture, hosting a ton of competitions and tourists every year. What you might not know is why it’s been named (and trademarked!) as Surf City. The legendary waves are due to a combination of factors. The first is that the ocean currents in HB build up along either side of the pear in the shape of a fan, making waves higher as they approach the shore. The second is that the city lies in the center of a “bay” between Dana Point and Long Beach, which takes the majority of waves from South Pacific storms. If you’re looking for a great spot to surf, check out the Cliffs, Dog Beach, Bolsa Chica, and the Southside of the Pier!

Here are some pros from a local:
*-Mild climate in every season.*
*-More clear, sunny days than in most parts of the world.*
*-It’s semi-arid. The air is pleasantly dry on hot days.*
*-It's a beach.*
*-It has a harbor. The back bay is a bird refuge; you can walk around it or visit by kayak.*
*-The beach at the end of the peninsula is called The Wedge, and is considered one of the most challenging surfing spots in the world.*
*-Good restaurants.*
*-Whale watching.*
*-Proximity to Los Angeles without actually being in it. Jobs and commerce.*
*-Unlike most of Southern California, the air is always clean and fresh.*
*-No rocks in the surf (apart from the jetty at the entrance to the harbor.*
*-The beach is raked frequently to keep the sand clean.*

Surf City USA

Best Part About Huntington Beach

Huntington Beach is unfortunately a tourist town. It’s not just the great surfing that brings people here from all over the world, but also the amazing nightlife. Weekends downtown can find you back to front with people you do not know in a bar that reeks of spilled vodka red bulls. In a COVID-19 world, this can be uncomfortable for more reasons than just having someone slosh their drink on you within 10 minutes of entering the bar. The good news is that if you’re a local, you can get insider info on the best places to go on the weekends and the surf spots that won’t be absolutely crawling with people every weekend morning!

Here's a local with a pov about Newport Beach vs. Huntington Beach: *I’m 26 myself and I’d lean towards Newport (I’ve lived in Huntington Beach my whole life) Newport’s waves tend to be smaller so it would be good for learning to surf (beaches there have always seemed cleaner too) , the nightlife is better in Newport....Huntington can attract a trashy crowd. As far as commute it depends where exactly you are in relation to the freeway but Newport is obviously closer in distance.*

Weekend Warriors

Worst Part About Huntington Beach 

Huntington Beach is first and foremost a beach town. There is a huge surf culture here and beach life is alive and well. Locals are so protective over their beachfront that construction is prohibited without a vote by current homeowners. There are a ton of beach events year round including US Open of Surfing, the Pacific Air Show, and a famous Fourth of July parade every year. Besides being protective over the beach, residents are also always fighting for the state parks, protected wetlands, and marshes within city limits. This can cause tension, at times, when you also find out that Huntington Beach is also known for its offshore drilling. A spill in October 2021 caused irreparable damage to wetlands and instilled once again how happy residents will be when that underwater well finally runs dry which, according to local sources, is sooner than you’d think! 

If you want to know everything happening in Huntington Beach check out the calendar of events:
https://www.surfcityusa.com/events/

Lifestyle of Huntington Beach

The economy of Huntington Beach has historically relied heavily on oil. HB sits above a large natural fault structure that contains plenty of it. Residents are thankful, though, that oil production will likely cease eventually and tourism will replace oil as the main source of revenue for the city, along with technology. The city is home to over 650 industrial businesses including Boeing (the city’s top employer), Quicksilver, and Cambro Manufacturing. Besides manufacturing, tourism leads the economy and there are a number of businesses, including shopping and restaurants, that thrive due to the city’s history of being a vacation destination.


Workstyle of Huntington Beach

Huntington Beach is the perfect place if you’re a burnt out millennial looking for some respite from crowded cities and swapping air with strangers on the subway. The relaxed vibe of the city plus the amazing schools, parks, and public spaces, also attracts families from California and beyond who want to soak up the sun, enjoy the beaches and the Cali weather!


A Respite from the Madness

Why You Should Move Here Now?

Huntington Beach is a remote work paradise. You’ll find yourself getting less and less stressed about last minute meetings when you know the beach is just a stone’s throw away when you’re finally able to log off. If dog beaches and great restaurants are your thing, check out these neighborhoods:
- Golden West
- Bolsa Chica
- Downtown


Young Professionals

Golden West

Young Families are going to love Huntington Beach because it’s laid back. It has the perfect atmosphere for over-tired first-time parents in need of a quiet neighborhood and great amenities. 
- Fountain Valley
- Golden West
- Bolsa Chica


Young Families

Fountain Valley

Huntington Beach is far enough away from LA that you won’t have the same mind-numbing traffic or overcrowded streets. If you have older families, you’ll want to stay in the neighborhoods away from the craziness of downtown. There are a ton of areas with large homes and even larger yards.
- Edwards Hill
- Huntington Harbor
- Sunset Beach


Established Families

Edwards Hill

Huntington Beach

**What is it like to live in Huntington Beach, CA?**

Huntington Beach (HB), and much of coastal Orange and San Diego counties, enjoys a near perfect Mediterranean climate year-round. Daytime temperatures typically range from 18–19C in Jan-Feb to 23–24 C in Jul-Aug. Evening temperatures are usually 5–7C degrees cooler. Humidity is usually low, but can vary widely. When a hurricane is offshore of Baja California, it can be in the 90–95% - as uncomfortable as Florida in July. During a Santa Ana wind, humidity can be in the single digits - drier than the Sahara.

There are over 330 days of sunshine, but the sun isn’t as intense as Hawai’i or FL. Depending upon how close one lives to the beach, mornings start out overcast, as an offshore marine layer moves inland. This clears up rapidly and gives way to cloudless, sunny skies. Rain typically falls in Dec-Feb, with little or none from mid-Mar to mid Nov. Average rainfall is ~ 25 cm or 12 inches.

In terms of amenities, HB has more parkland per capita than any other city in Southern California, including over 11 miles of beach. Public facilities are well maintained, attractive and safe.

Safety carries over into other aspects of our City. HB is one of the safest cities in the US, but as one might expect, there are areas one would do well to avoid, such as the bars along downtown Main Street on a weekend. That said, the city is very safe, gang violence minimal, and HBPD is well supported by the community. I think it’s safe to say that the biggest risk to one’s safety is the constant presence of coyotes throughout HB, and the danger they represent to pets.

HB is a very livable community. It isn’t as “glitzy” or pretentious as Newport Beach, nor does it want to be. Most of our homeowners could afford to live elsewhere, but chose HB because it’s unpretentious where one doesn’t need to put on airs. Your next-door neighbor might be “Dean” of Jan and Dean, or Cameron Diaz - both live here. Or it might be an HBPD officer, a retired military member, or a marketing professional.

When I moved to HB in 2000, one often went to another city for dinner or shopping. That changed significantly over the next few years, and today, I seldom leave HB to go out to dinner. In addition to several well known chain restaurants, we also have some very good locally owned establishments that span seafood, Mexican, Italian, etc. There are also several excellent high-end restaurants in the Hyatt, Hilton, Pasea and Shorebreak hotels along the beach. Shopping is also excellent, with Pacific City and Bella Terra bookending opposite ends of the City, and a good selection of typical go-to stores - Home Depot, Lowes, Target (and unfortunately, a WalMart) - are available.

Apart from the above, the main attraction HB has for me relative to other cities in the LA Basin is its location. I’ve already mentioned the beach and climate, but it’s also very convenient to two airports, several Freeways and major business centers in Orange County.

Some other responders to this question mentioned that HB is expensive. I’d say “it depends” upon whether one has lived in HB for a while, and what expenses one has in terms of owning or renting. I bought my home before prices soared in the 2000s, so my housing cost is very low. I also installed solar, so my electricity cost is very low. Heating expenses are almost non-existent, but water/sanitation costs are expensive. Property taxes are reasonable, as under Prop. 13, the longer one lives in his/her home, the less they are relative to market value, and increases are limited to 2% per year. Rent, on the other hand, is high, especially in some of the newer properties that have been built since 2014. Renting a home can also be costly, with those in my HOA ranging from $3200–3900/month for a 1600–2000 sq ft home.

Overall, I find HB to be an extremely desirable place to live, with a tremendous quality of life and spectacular natural and physical amenities. I wouldn’t live anywhere else!

**What are the pros and cons of living in Newport Beach?**

Pros:

- Mild climate in every season.
- More clear, sunny days than in most parts of the world.
- It’s semi-arid. The air is pleasantly dry on hot days.
- It's a beach.
- It has a harbor. The back bay is a bird refuge; you can walk around it or visit by kayak.
- The beach at the end of the peninsula is called The Wedge, and is considered one of the most challenging surfing spots in the world.
- Good restaurants.
- Whale watching.
- Proximity to Los Angeles without actually being in it. Jobs and commerce.
- Close to Disneyland.
- Unlike most of Southern California, the air is always clean and fresh.
- No rocks in the surf (apart from the jetty at the entrance to the harbor).
- The beach is raked frequently to keep the sand clean.

Cons:

- The back bay stinks because of the birds. It’s also directly under the flight path of John Wayne Airport; the jets are deafening.
- It's one of the most expensive places in the world to buy or rent a home.
- The old money has died off or moved away. The new rich now occupy it, which can be good or bad depending on your personality. I find them to be nigh-intolerable, self-centered assholes who can't talk intelligently about anything except their business and who are quick to descend into rudeness.
- It's a party zone all Summer. People in the streets and on the boardwalk being loud at all hours. Expect passers-by to ring your doorbell all night as a hilarious joke.
- It's peaceful in the other seasons, but humid. Clothes and bedding never feel dry (except in Summer).


**What is it like to live in Huntington Beach, CA?**

Anywhere close to the ocean the cost of living is not cheap. Expect 3000 for anything livable 2 bed two bed to rent , 7 bucks for a beer and 12 bucks for a burger. I bought 5 houses in lower to moderate areas before I could afford to buy after I bought 4 blocks from the ocean I couldn’t afford to furnish it for 6 month but it was the best investment I every made. You deserve to be happy so if you want to live it the ultimate climate and convince that’s the price you have to pay. If you have a job that pays well then you will love it. If not look inland and put up with the heat and air quality.

hope that helps

**What's HB really like?**

The comments on here are so ridiculous lol, the people who are saying how terrible HB is are killing me. I'm dead.

Honestly, though. I've lived within blocks of the pier for 40+ years and none of these negatives ring true for me in any way. I've witnessed one racist outburst and a handful of Friday night fist-fights in that time and literally nothing else negative I can remember. I think that should be pretty standard for a town that attracts thousands of visitors a day. The people who live in HB aren't even from HB anymore - they are literally from all over the world (and they bring the variety of the world with them.) Let me tell you a little story about downtown. I drive Lyft/Uber on the side and one night I picked up a guy and his wife. The wife was dressed completely normal and the guy was dressed as a fairy princess - pink tutu, tiara, magic wand...the whole bit. He gets in the car and I ask about his attire. He tells me he lost a bet and had to go out with all his friends dressed as a fairy princess. I ask him how it went and I assume he's going to tell me horror stories based on the shell-shocked look on his face, but after 20 seconds of silence he slowly says, "it was the best night of my life." Long story short, like many people in this thread he assumed he would have a terrible time and be harassed by all the "HB nazi's", but what he encountered instead was lots of friendly people who bought him drinks and accepted him for what he was (at the time). HB may attract a bad crowd from other areas, but by and large the people that live here are friendly, down-to-earth and a pleasure to be neighbors with. Disagree with me? Come have drinks on Main St and show me all the negativity you say people will see. I'll buy the first round. :)

Huntington Beach, California