The neighbourhoods
Downtown & the East Village Arts District
USD 2,000–2,700 / month for a 1-bedThe city's tallest and newest housing next to its oldest — glass towers on Ocean and Pine above 1920s brick lofts and galleries, with the Metro A Line terminus in the middle of it
Commute: Walk to downtown offices and the convention centre; Metro A Line to downtown Los Angeles in about an hour; 15 minutes by car to the port or the airport
- The only part of the region south of Los Angeles where you can genuinely live without a car — rail, buses, water shuttles and a separated beach path all meet here
- Newest stock in the city, with parking, lifts and amenities included
- Restaurants, galleries and the Fourth Friday art walk on the doorstep
- Much of the newest stock is under 15 years old and therefore OUTSIDE the statewide rent cap — the city's just-cause ordinance still applies, but the rent ceiling does not
- Street parking is in a preferential district and a permit needs a California-registered vehicle
- Weekend and event noise around Pine Avenue and the Grand Prix circuit in April
Alamitos Beach, Bluff Park & Retro Row
USD 1,850–2,400 / month for a 1-bedThe densest neighbourhood in the city — 1920s Spanish courtyard buildings and Art Deco blocks a street back from the sand, with Fourth Street's vintage shops and independent cafés running through it
Commute: Walk or cycle everywhere along the beach path; 10 minutes by bike to downtown; buses along Fourth and Broadway
- Beautiful older stock at prices well below Belmont Shore for a similar walk to the water
- The beachfront bike path runs the length of it, separated from traffic
- Genuinely mixed and long-established — this is where most newcomers who fall in love with the city end up
- Very little off-street parking and a permit district on top; a car here is a daily negotiation
- Older buildings mean no lifts, thin walls and occasional wiring that has not been touched since Truman
- The blocks vary a lot street by street — view in the evening, not at midday
Belmont Shore, Belmont Heights & Naples
USD 2,300–3,100 / month for a 1-bed; USD 4,000–6,000 for a 3-bed houseThe affluent beach end — Second Street's restaurants and shops, Craftsman bungalows on Belmont Heights, and the canal-laced islands of Naples in Alamitos Bay
Commute: 20–25 minutes by car to downtown; buses along Second Street and Livingston; a long but flat cycle along the beach path
- The best walkable retail street in the city and the calmest water, with sailing, kayaking and paddleboarding out of Alamitos Bay
- Consistently the strongest primary schools within Long Beach Unified
- Naples and the peninsula are genuinely unusual places to live, and people do not leave them
- The most expensive rents in the city and very tight stock — good units go on word of mouth
- Parking in the Shore and on the peninsula is close to hopeless in summer
- Low-lying: check the flood zone and get a real insurance quote, especially on the peninsula and around the bay
Bixby Knolls & California Heights
USD 1,800–2,300 / month for a 1-bed; USD 3,200–4,200 for a 3-bed houseNorth Long Beach's leafy half — Spanish Revival and Craftsman houses on wide streets, two designated historic districts, and an atmosphere closer to Pasadena than to the beach
Commute: 15–20 minutes by car to downtown; 25–35 to central Los Angeles on the 710 or the 405; limited transit
- Much more house for the money than anywhere south of the 405, with mature street trees and real gardens
- The California Heights and Los Cerritos historic districts are among the prettiest residential streets in the county
- First Fridays on Atlantic Avenue gives the district a genuine centre
- You will need a car; transit here is thin and the walkable retail is limited to a few blocks of Atlantic
- Proximity to the 710 corridor matters for air quality — check how many blocks away the address actually is
- Further from the beach than the map suggests once traffic is involved
Wrigley, Central Long Beach & Cambodia Town
USD 1,600–2,000 / month for a 1-bedThe working heart of the city — dense older apartment stock and small houses along Anaheim Street, Pacific Avenue and Willow, with the best and cheapest food in Long Beach through the middle of it
Commute: 10 minutes by car or bus to downtown; A Line stations at Willow, Pacific Coast Highway and Anaheim Street; 5 minutes to the 710
- The cheapest rents in the city by a clear margin, and central rather than peripheral
- Extraordinary Cambodian, Mexican and Filipino food, most of it family-run and cheap
- Several A Line stations, so downtown Los Angeles is reachable without a car
- The 710 truck corridor runs through it and diesel exposure is a documented issue on the closest blocks
- Older stock with variable maintenance — use the city's proactive rental inspection records and view carefully
- Crime rates run above the eastern half of the city, and it varies corridor by corridor rather than by neighbourhood name
East Long Beach — Los Altos, Park Estates & the university
USD 2,000–2,600 / month for a 1-bed; USD 3,600–4,800 for a 3-bed housePost-war suburban Long Beach east of the 605 approach — single-storey ranch houses, cul-de-sacs, El Dorado Park and the Cal State Long Beach campus
Commute: 20–30 minutes by car to downtown; buses along Bellflower and Seventh; almost no rail access on this side of the city
- Space, gardens and garages, with El Dorado Park and the nature centre as the local back garden
- Strong schools within Long Beach Unified and an easy run to Orange County employers
- Quieter and further from the freeway corridors than anywhere else in the city
- Car-dependent — this side has no light rail and the buses are slow
- Student rental pressure around the campus distorts prices and turnover in the surrounding blocks
- Long way from the beach and the walkable districts everyone moves here for
How renting works in Long Beach
Twelve-month leases are the norm and the market runs through Zillow, Apartments.com, the large complexes' own portals and, for the older courtyard buildings, small local managers and Craigslist. Two layers of protection apply. California's statewide Tenant Protection Act caps most annual increases at 5% plus regional inflation to a 10% ceiling and requires just cause — but only on buildings more than 15 years old, and single-family houses and condos owned by a natural person are exempt if the landlord serves the statutory notice. On top of that, Long Beach's own ordinance (LBMC 8.99) requires a specific at-fault or no-fault reason to terminate a tenancy of twelve months or more, and attaches relocation payments to a no-fault termination: USD 4,500 or two months' rent, whichever is greater, where the landlord intends to demolish or substantially remodel, and one month's rent otherwise. Security deposits taken from 1 July 2024 are capped at one month's rent, with a narrow two-month exception for small landlords who are natural persons owning no more than two rental properties totalling four units. California requires the deposit or an itemised statement within 21 days of move-out, and refusing a housing choice voucher is unlawful source-of-income discrimination.
- 1
Establish which of the two layers covers the unit, in writing
Ask two separate questions. First, is the building covered by the statewide Tenant Protection Act — which turns on whether it is more than 15 years old, and on whether a house or condo is owned by a natural person who has served the exemption notice. Second, is the tenancy covered by Long Beach's own just-cause ordinance, which reaches further. In the new downtown towers the honest answer to the first is usually no and to the second usually yes. Over a three-year tenancy the difference between capped and uncapped is thousands of dollars.
- 2
Do not pay more than one month as a deposit
California capped residential security deposits at one month's rent for deposits taken from 1 July 2024, furnished or unfurnished. Small landlords who are natural persons owning no more than two properties totalling four units may ask two. Southern California agents quoted two months for decades and many still do out of habit. Advance rent is a different thing from a deposit and is negotiable — if a nervous landlord wants more from a tenant with no US credit file, that is what it should be called in the lease.
- 3
Fix the credit problem before you start viewing
Screening here is automated and aggressive, and a newcomer's absent US credit file reads worse than a poor one. The workable answers are an employer offer letter stating salary, six months of bank statements, a co-signer, several months of rent in advance, or a small private landlord who will look at international references — and the older courtyard buildings in Alamitos Beach and Wrigley have far more of those than the corporate downtown towers. California limits screening fees to actual costs, so ask for the receipt.
- 4
Check the parking district before you check the parking space
Much of downtown, Alamitos Beach, Belmont Heights and the area around Cal State Long Beach sits in preferential parking districts where overnight street parking needs a permit tied to your address and a vehicle registered in California. A newcomer with out-of-state plates cannot get one until the DMV process is finished. If the flat has no off-street space, find out what the block actually requires before you sign.
- 5
Look at how many blocks the address is from the 710
Traffic from the second-busiest container port in the country runs up the 710 through the west and centre of the city, and diesel exposure along that corridor has been the subject of decades of regulatory attention. It is not a reason to avoid west Long Beach — it is a reason to count blocks, look at which way the address faces and ask about air filtration, particularly if anyone in the household has asthma.
- 6
Document the move-in and know the 21-day rule
Photograph every room and every defect on day one and email the set to the landlord with the timestamp. California requires the landlord to return the deposit or provide an itemised statement of deductions within 21 days of move-out, with receipts for work above a threshold, and recent legislation tightened the photographic evidence a landlord must hold to justify a deduction. Ask about the pre-move-out inspection you are entitled to request.
Upfront cost
First month's rent plus a security deposit capped at one month for deposits taken from 1 July 2024 — two months only for qualifying small landlords. Add application and screening fees per adult, limited by California to actual costs. Utility accounts split two ways: water, sewer and gas from Long Beach Utilities, the city's own department, and electricity from Southern California Edison, each with its own deposit policy for a customer with no credit history. There is no broker fee culture; the large complexes have leasing offices and private landlords let directly. Realistically budget two to three months' rent to move in, and more if you are covering a thin credit file with advance rent.
Where to search
Insider tips
- Ask whether the building is enrolled in the city's Proactive Rental Housing Inspection Program and what the last inspection found. The city runs the programme through its Community Development department, and a building's inspection history is a far better read on a landlord than anything they will tell you at a viewing.
- A newer building is not automatically the better deal. Downtown stock under 15 years old sits outside the statewide rent cap, so model year three of the tenancy rather than year one — the city's just-cause ordinance protects your tenancy but not your rent.
- Price the car out properly before choosing between east and central. Living downtown or in Alamitos Beach and using the A Line, the buses and the beach path can remove a car entirely; in Los Altos or Bixby Knolls it cannot. In LA County a car means insurance at county rates plus a value-based annual licence fee.
- Your energy bills here will be small. The marine layer keeps coastal Long Beach far cooler than inland Orange County or the valleys, so a one-bedroom often runs under USD 170 a month for gas and electricity combined. Weigh that against a cheaper inland rent with air conditioning running all summer.
- Renters' insurance does not cover earthquake damage anywhere in California — that is a separate policy, usually through the California Earthquake Authority. In the city that gave the state its seismic building code, it is worth at least pricing.
- If a listing says 'Section 8 welcome' that is not a description of the building, it is the law: refusing a housing choice voucher is unlawful source-of-income discrimination in California. Do not read it as a signal about quality.
Avoid these
- Assuming Long Beach has no local tenant ordinance because Anaheim and most Orange County cities do not. It has one, and it is stronger than state law.
- Signing in a new downtown building without realising the statewide rent cap does not apply to it.
- Paying a two-month deposit to a landlord who is not a qualifying small owner.
- Renting in a preferential parking district with out-of-state plates and no off-street space.
- Assuming renters' insurance covers earthquake damage. It does not.
- Taking a low-lying address near the bay or the peninsula without checking the flood zone and pricing the insurance.
Some of this may be out of date. Spotted something inaccurate? Help us keep it right for the next newcomer.