Living in Long Beach, CA

It's elevated — there's no way to sugarcoat a violent crime index of 131 when the national average sits at 100. Property crime is at 145. That said, city-wide averages hide a lot of variation. There are safe, quiet neighborhoods in Long Beach where people raise families without much worry. The key is doing granular research: talk to residents, check precinct-level data, and visit at different times of day before signing a lease. FBI UCR numbers.

Most households manage fine. Median rent in Long Beach is $1,803/month, and the typical household pulls in $83,969/year — a 25.8% rent-to-income ratio. That's under the 30% threshold where housing costs start to pinch, though not by a huge margin. If you're a single earner or have significant debt payments, run your own numbers carefully. For dual-income households, the math works out comfortably. Census ACS 2023.

It can be. The mean commute is 26 minutes, a bit above the national average. 68.3% of workers drive solo, which means congestion during rush hour is real. 3.9% rely on public transit, and 14.4% skip the commute by working from home. If you're choosing between neighborhoods, proximity to your workplace should rank high on the list — a few miles can mean 20 extra minutes each way during peak hours.

Mixed. The city-wide graduation rate is 82.0% and classrooms average 21 students per teacher. Some schools here are legitimately excellent — strong test scores, engaged communities, good resources. Others struggle. The gap between the best and worst is wider than you might expect. Do your homework on individual schools rather than relying on the city-wide number.

A bit less than you'd pay in most U.S. cities. The average monthly utility bill in Long Beach is around $213 (covering electric, gas, water, sewer), compared to a national average of $230. That $17 monthly savings won't change your life, but it's a nice perk — especially if you're coming from a more expensive market.

Higher than average, yes. The total effective tax rate lands around 18.0% when you add up income, property, and sales taxes. Sales tax is 10.3%. High-tax areas often come with better public schools, infrastructure, and services — but that's not guaranteed, and it's cold comfort on payday. If you're moving from a low-tax state like Texas or Florida, brace for a noticeable dip in take-home pay.

Everything on this page is built from public government sources: rent and income figures from the Census Bureau's American Community Survey (ACS 5-Year Estimates, 2023); commute and transportation data from Census ACS tables B08303 and B08006; crime rates from the FBI Uniform Crime Report; school data from the National Center for Education Statistics; utility cost estimates from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. We refresh each dataset monthly through an automated pipeline and cross-check for anomalies. No surveys, no user-submitted guesses — just official federal data presented in a way that's actually useful for people researching a move.