Sell Your Commercial Property Fast In Long Beach, CA

Who rents in Long Beach

Long Beach is a renter city. The Census Bureau's American Community Survey for 2020–2024 counts 455,548 residents and 170,927 occupied homes, and 100,564 of those homes are rented. That is 58.8% of households, compared with 54.1% across Los Angeles County as a whole. Median household income in the city is $87,430, a little below the county's $90,112.

The renter base draws on three large employment anchors named on our Long Beach page. The Port of Long Beach reports that port-related trade supports 543,000 jobs in Los Angeles and Orange counties, about one in 17. Cargo has held up through 2026: the port reported 4,829,578 TEUs moved in the first half of the year, 1.7% more than the same period of 2025. Not all of those jobs are in the city, but many of the warehouse, trucking and terminal workers who fill them rent within a short drive of the harbor.

The other two anchors are education and healthcare. Cal State Long Beach describes itself as serving more than 41,000 students, and its campus on the east side of the city feeds demand for smaller units near the university and in nearby neighborhoods. MemorialCare Long Beach Medical Center, on Atlantic Avenue, has operated for more than 115 years and runs cancer, heart, neuroscience and trauma programs. Hospital staffing, shift work and medical training all add renters who want to live close to work.

Rents and affordability

Median gross rent in Long Beach was $1,871 a month over 2020–2024, below the county median of $1,954. The difference is modest, and it reflects the city's older, smaller units more than any discount on location. A tenant moving from elsewhere in the county does not find Long Beach cheap.

Rent burdens are high. Of renter households, 53.1% spend 30% or more of income on rent and 26.7% spend at least half, per ACS table B25070. Countywide, those shares are 54.8% and 29.4%. These numbers matter for underwriting: a building with rents already near market has less room to push renewals before turnover rises.

HUD's FY2026 Fair Market Rents for the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale area are $1,863 for a studio, $2,085 for a one-bedroom, $2,601 for a two-bedroom, $3,298 for a three-bedroom and $3,672 for a four-bedroom. These figures drive Housing Choice Voucher payment standards, so they are a useful check on what subsidized tenants can pay in a given unit size.

The apartment stock

Apartment buildings make up a large share of the city. Of 181,477 housing units, 72,755, or 40.1%, are in buildings of five or more units, according to ACS table B25024. The mix leans toward small and mid-size properties: 19,967 units sit in 5–9 unit buildings and 20,071 in 10–19 unit buildings, against 12,526 in 20–49 unit buildings and 20,191 in buildings of 50 or more. Another 24,157 units are in duplexes, triplexes and fourplexes.

Put together, 40,038 units, more than one in five homes in the city, sit in buildings of 5 to 19 units. That range sits squarely inside our buy box, whether the building is in Downtown Long Beach and Alamitos Beach near the coast or in Belmont Shore and Bixby Knolls. For any building held a long time, the tax reset described below is one of the biggest items in a buyer's math.

The stock is old. Long Beach's median year built is 1959, six years earlier than the county's. About 78.6% of units were built before 1980, 52.3% before 1960 and 19.2% in 1939 or earlier. Only 2.9% were built in 2010 or later. Buyers looking at a 1920s courtyard building or a 1960s stucco walk-up will price in roofs, plumbing, electrical panels and, for wood-frame buildings over tuck-under parking, seismic work. Our page notes that deferred maintenance and seismic items deserve close review, and the age data explains why.

New supply

Very little of the city's housing is new. Units built in 2020 or later account for 0.6% of the stock, about 1,018 homes, per ACS table B25034. Another 4,287 units date from 2010 to 2019, so the decade before that added little either. At the citywide level, the inventory has barely changed in fifteen years. For owners of older buildings, limited new supply means that most competing units are of similar age, so condition and management carry more weight than amenities.

Property taxes in Los Angeles County

California assesses apartment buildings under the same rules as other real property. The Board of Equalization explains that Proposition 13 sets a base rate of 1% of assessed value, plus voter-approved bond levies, and that assessed value can rise no more than 2% a year until a change in ownership or new construction. The Los Angeles County Assessor sets values as of the January 1 lien date, and supplemental bills follow a mid-year sale.

A sale resets the base to market value. The BOE's Assessors' Handbook 401 also treats the acquisition of more than 50% of an entity that owns real property as a change in ownership. For a long-held Long Beach building, the gap between the current tax bill and a buyer's reassessed bill can be large, and buyers include that higher number in their offer. State law lets the county charge a documentary transfer tax of $0.55 per $500 of value when a deed is recorded, and allows cities to add up to half that rate.

Landlord rules and local compliance

Long Beach has no local rent control ordinance, so most apartments fall under the state Tenant Protection Act. It limits increases over any 12 months to 5% plus regional CPI, or 10%, whichever is lower, and runs until January 1, 2030. Units with a certificate of occupancy issued in the last 15 years are exempt. Because so much of the stock predates 1980, nearly all older buildings are covered.

The city adds its own layer. Its Just Cause for Termination of Tenancies Ordinance, Chapter 8.99 of the municipal code, protects tenants who have lived lawfully in a unit for 12 months or more and limits terminations to listed at-fault and no-fault reasons. For no-fault terminations, owners owe relocation assistance equal to one month's rent. For a demolition or substantial remodel, the payment is the greater of $4,500 or two months' rent, and it must be paid within 15 calendar days of the written notice. Long Beach adopted its Tenant Relocation Assistance Ordinance, Chapter 8.97, in June 2019.

The city also runs a Proactive Rental Housing Inspection Program under municipal code section 18.30.120, which authorizes periodic inspections of residential rental properties. A buyer will want any inspection reports and proof that cited items were cleared. Statewide, Civil Code 1950.5 limits most security deposits to one month's rent and requires an itemized return within 21 days, and CCP 1161 requires a three-day notice for nonpayment that excludes weekends and judicial holidays.

What this means if you own a building here

Long Beach combines a deep renter base, a stock dominated by small pre-1980 buildings and very little new competition. Those are good conditions for occupancy, but rent burdens above 50% and the state increase cap limit how quickly in-place rents can catch up to market. Buyers will underwrite trailing net operating income, a reassessed tax bill, relocation obligations if they plan renovations, and the capital needed for an older building.

Before you talk to buyers, our apartment building value calculator can help frame a range. Skyline Capital Investments buys 5+ unit buildings across Long Beach, from Downtown and Alamitos Beach to Belmont Shore and Bixby Knolls, listed or off-market. Our seller page explains how we review a property.