What did you expect? Located along the beautiful SoCal coast, Long Beach’s beaches and public parks are the ideal settings for the city’s dependable highs of 85 and lows of 65. Warm, without the humidity of the Great Lakes or the stormy weather of the Southeast Coast, Long Beach might be the top destination for those looking for a long day at the beach (bad pun, I know). For those looking for more in a city than just the beach, being less than 30 miles from Los Angeles and Anaheim, the home of Disneyland, certainly doesn’t hurt.

Good luck finding a parking spot. The downside that comes from being somewhere everyone wants to be is that, well, everybody wants to be there. From droves of tourist crowds to sizable homeless populations, current Long Beach residents complain about the number of people consistently flooding into the city from all walks of life. If sharing is caring, then future Long Beach residents should be prepared to do a whole lot of caring for non-residents looking for the same lifestyle they are.



The Coast

LookyLOO Review of Long Beach?

Long Beach is one of if not the most affordable big cities in California. There are stunning neighborhoods with fabulous homes and plenty of affordable beach apartments and condos. Belmont Shore is a wonderful stretch of coffee shops, restaurants, boutique stores, and locals and tourists enjoying the beach and people-watching. Almost every weekend there is a festival or big-name concert and pretty much whatever you’re looking for: beach lifestyle, downtown party scene, or luxury living are all here. 

If you want to see the happenings in Long Beach check out the [**calendar of events**](https://www.visitlongbeach.com/events/).


Lifestyle 

Long Beach has an incredibly diverse employer base. Aviation and aerospace are huge here -  ditto healthcare, hospitality, tourism and technology. The Port of Long Beach is a massive driver of the local economy but really a whole range of things make it all work. The SoCal location, warm weather, and quick trips to LA or San Diego via freeway or anywhere else via airports make it a great place to do business. The office structure is split between big suburban office parks and downtown financial and creative class office types. Pre-Covid there were plenty of people living in the burbs and driving to suburban office spaces or living downtown and walking to downtown spots. Everything feels pretty much up for grabs now. 


Worklife

[**Long Beach Unified School District**](lbschools.net) is a highly rated district, rating an [**"A" on niche.com**](https://www.niche.com/k12/d/long-beach-unified-school-district-ca/). It gets an "A+" for College Prep and A for Diversity.

LBUSD assigns schools based on geography/neighborhood but families can apply for an interdistrict transfer and they are frequently granted. 

Part of what makes LBUSD special is the absolute pearls among the schools in the district. Some of these superstars include:

-[**California Academy of Mathematics & Science**](cams.lbschools.net) is the #1 rated public school in the entire state of California and receives an [**"A+" on niche.com**](https://www.niche.com/k12/california-academy-of-mathematics-and-science-carson-ca/?map). It's outside the border of Long Beach, in the city of Carson, but it's a magnet school so kiddos from all over can apply. 
-[**Eunice Sato Academy of Math & Science**](sato.lbschools.net) is the #4 rated Public Magnet in California, focused on STEM, and receives an [**"A+" on niche.com**](https://www.niche.com/k12/eunice-sato-academy-of-math-and-science-long-beach-ca/?map). 
-[**Polytechnic High School**](https://poly.lbschools.net/) is another STEM-centric gem in LBUSD, receiving an [**"A+" on niche.com**](https://www.niche.com/k12/polytechnic-high-school-long-beach-ca/?map) as well. High scores for Academics, Teachers, Diversity, and College Prep. 

There is a theme to the high-performers in LBUSD, the district skews high for STEM/Tech-centric schools. If that interests you or your kiddos, you'll very much like it here. 





Schools

While most of the attention (understandably) goes to how beautiful this beach city is, the weather isn’t the only thing with a strong forecast. The job market in Long Beach is growing with employers (such as Boeing, Frontier Communications, and California State Long Beach) from diverse industries providing locals potential jobs if your WFH dream falls apart. If on the other hand, you maintain your WFH setup, then Long Beach is not a bad place to work from either.


Work Hard, Play Hard

Why You Should Move Here Now?

**akathisiac**
Living in Long Beach
2y ago
✭✭✭

Moved from the East Coast (NJ most recently) to LB in 2019. I love it here, but it's a very different place than West LA.

LB can be really fancy in some little pockets, but it's also super run down in many others. The air quality is pretty rough over much of the city. Rent is rapidly rising here to the point where many places you'd want to live are getting close to Santa Monica prices.

Also, it's not so much a "beach city" as it is a port town; the beach is kinda gross (the LA river empties here and the breakwater keeps the tide from turning over the water as effectively, lots of trash in the water). You can get to cleaner beaches in either LA or Orange County in a 20min drive though.

That said, in my experience it's a lot more lowkey than many other parts of LA. It's a super diverse, largely working class city. There's lots of cool niches to discover if you're persistent about exploring. People are a lot more relaxed and less career/image-focused, and there's a sense of informality that I really love about this city (even as it brings frustrations too.)

For more reviews of what living in Long Beach is like from locals check out: [**The Reviews**](https://lookyloomove.com/locations/long-beach/reviews).

No Clouds, More Crowds

Reviews of Long Beach from Locals

**The Best Thing About Long Beach?** The Coast

What did you expect? Located along the beautiful SoCal coast, Long Beach’s beaches and public parks are the ideal settings for the city’s dependable highs of 85 and lows of 65. Warm, without the humidity of the Great Lakes or the stormy weather of the Southeast Coast, Long Beach might be the top destination for those looking for a long day at the beach (bad pun, I know). For those looking for more in a city than just the beach, being less than 30 miles from Los Angeles and Anaheim, the home of Disneyland, certainly doesn’t hurt.

**The Worst Thing About Long Beach?** No Clouds, More Crowds

Good luck finding a parking spot. The downside that comes from being somewhere everyone wants to be is that, well, everybody wants to be there. From droves of tourist crowds to sizable homeless populations, current Long Beach residents complain about the number of people consistently flooding into the city from all walks of life. If sharing is caring, then future Long Beach residents should be prepared to do a whole lot of caring for non-residents looking for the same lifestyle they are.

**How You Living?** The City or the Shore

There are a lot of different ways to live in Long Beach. Neighborhoods with charming vintage homes and the vibe of small beach towns like Rose Park to hotspots like Bixby Knolls or Belmont Shore that are just a few blocks from the beach. 

The downside of much of these choices is price, although comparatively speaking Long Beach is much cheaper than LA or god forbid, San Francisco. Regardless of what you’re living in, the allure of being just a short bus or bike ride, or walk away from the beach makes Long Beach an option many consider worth the price tag.

**Why You Should Move Here Now?** Work Hard, Play Hard

While mostl of the attention (understandably) goes to how beautiful this beach city is, the weather isn’t the only thing with a strong forecast. The job market in Long Beach is growing with employers (such as Boeing, Frontier Communications, and California State Long Beach) from diverse industries providing locals potential jobs if your WFH dream falls apart. If on the other hand, you maintain your WFH setup, then Long Beach is not a bad place to work from either.


Belmont Shores is one of the coolest neighborhoods in Long Beach for young professionals (and college students). While it has a mix of urban/suburban living options there are plenty of apartments and condo buildings for those getting their start. Most notably the area has beautiful beaches, lagoons, canals and boardwalks that burst with day and nightlife. This includes a number of great pubs and breweries and perhaps the coolest thing: Rosie’s Dog Beach, a four-acre playground for your furry friends. 
- Belmont Shores
- East Village Arts District
- Downtown Long Beach


Young Professionals

Belmont Shores

Naples is one of the cooler neighborhoods in Long Beach. Built on three islands and separated by canals it is designed to look and feel like an Italian neighborhood. Beautiful homes line the waterways, along with walking paths to get you around the extremely walkable area. If living by water, and boating, kayaking or even gondola-ing around the area appeals to you then Naples is your spot. 
- Naples
- The Waterfront
- Bixby Knolls


DINKs/SINKs

Naples

Bixby Knolls is in the heart of the city but remains a hotspot for families due to the tree-lined streets, big beautiful home and rating as being one of the safest neighborhoods in the city. It also has an incredible open-air shopping center with tons of boutique shops and great restaurants. It also has several amazing parks including Scherer; which has a pond, dog park, playground, tennis/pickleball courts and a community center. Cherry Avenue park is another draw with baseball and soccer fields, and tennis and volleyball courts.
- Bixby Knolls
- Lakewood Village
- Alamitos Heights


Families

Bixby Knolls

Long Beach

**akathisiac**
Living in Long Beach
2y ago
✭✭✭

Moved from the East Coast (NJ most recently) to LB in 2019. I love it here, but it's a very different place than West LA.

LB can be really fancy in some little pockets, but it's also super run down in many others. The air quality is pretty rough over much of the city. Rent is rapidly rising here to the point where many places you'd want to live are getting close to Santa Monica prices.

Also, it's not so much a "beach city" as it is a port town; the beach is kinda gross (the LA river empties here and the breakwater keeps the tide from turning over the water as effectively, lots of trash in the water). You can get to cleaner beaches in either LA or Orange County in a 20min drive though.

That said, in my experience it's a lot more lowkey than many other parts of LA. It's a super diverse, largely working class city. There's lots of cool niches to discover if you're persistent about exploring. People are a lot more relaxed and less career/image-focused, and there's a sense of informality that I really love about this city (even as it brings frustrations too.)

**tummlr**
Living in Long Beach
2y ago
***

Love, love, love Long Beach. It's still pretty affordable by local standards. Pretty unpretentious compared to the rest of LA.

Has some very walkable neighborhoods (basically everything south of PCH, west of obispo, and east of MLK-- I don't mind walking those stretches, anyway). The food is good and getting better. You can take the blue line all the way downtown if you want a change of scene. You're near the beach.

You're close to Torrance and San Pedro if you want to explore some other zones. Also Westminster in OC has a huge Vietnamese community with amazing culture and food; ditto Garden Grove for Korean culture and food.

But like most folks here, it's pretty amazing to live near your work, if you can afford to.

**TheJBerg**
Living in Long Beach
2y ago
✭✭✭

Don’t listen to the haters. Weather is way better than the Bay, and everyone is a lot more supportive of local businesses/neighborhood vibes.

A search will show you that south of 4th and east of Cherry is safest/nicest but more suburban vibes can be found in Bixby Knolls and around El Dorado Park. Downtown is like any other CA city downtown; decent during the day but can get gritty at night.

There’s a lot of aerospace tech in LB (Blue Origin, Spinlaunch, Relativity Space), and logistics tech due to the port. Lots of satellite offices for bigger companies in LA and Irvine as well.

**shelbyerickson**
Living In Long Beach
2y ago
✭✭✭

Depends what you want?

Downtown LB area Modern living. Always new/cool restaurants and things to do. Near a freeway (710)

Belmont Shore area Beach living. 2nd street is the city’s most popular strip of shops & restaurants. Between walking & biking, there’s limitless things you could do. Freeways are 10-15 mins away (405, 22, 605)

Bixby Knolls Suburb living. Quiet & quaint. Atlantic is gaining momentum as more and more shops & restaurants are popping up. Very close to freeways (405 & 710)

Those are the 3 areas that quickly came to mind, but there are literally cool pockets all over the place - it’s a BIG CITY. For reference SF had a population of ~875k, Long Beach has ~470k. That being said, there are a lot of cool people doing cool things all over the place in this city 😬

Long Beach, California

The LBC

Looklyloo Score: 81

Reviews

What's it like to live in Long Beach?