Everything else equal, we can all agree that living in a cheaper place is better than living in a more expensive place.
I’d much rather pay $500/mo in rent than $1,000. And I’d rather pay $2 for coffee than $5.
And while every neighbhorhood in Long Beach might be more expensive than living in rural California, there are certain neighborhoods that are definitely cheaper.
What exactly are those Long Beach neighborhoods where your dollar goes a little further — you can get that one bedroom instead of the studio?
Instead of relying on public opinion and speculation, we wanted to get the facts straight and determine which neighborhoods in Long Beach are the cheapest using Saturday Night Science.
What’s the cheapest neighborhood to live in Long Beach for 2024? According to the most recent census data, City Of Signal Hill looks to be the cheapest Long Beach neighborhood to live in.
At this point, we should make it clear that you do get what you pay for — some of these neighborhoods might not be the best places to live in Long Beach. You could be sacrificing location or crime rates for more space and cheaper groceries.
Read on to see how we determined the places around Long Beach that deserve a little bragging rights, or maybe you’re interested in the worst neighborhoods in Long Beach.
For more California reading, check out:
- Best Places To Live In California
- Cheapest Places To Live In California
- Cheapest Cities To Live In America
- Cheapest States To Live In America
Table Of Contents: Top Ten | Methodology | Summary | Table
The 10 Cheapest Neighborhoods To Live In Long Beach For 2024
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Population: 10,207
Cost Of Living Index: 121 (6th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 4.6 (cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.017 (4th cheapest)
More on City Of Signal Hill: Data | Real Estate
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Population: 329
Cost Of Living Index: 95 (cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 4.8 (2nd cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.021 (15th cheapest)
More on Wilmington: Data | Real Estate
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Population: 10,728
Cost Of Living Index: 126 (9th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 5.7 (4th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.018 (7th cheapest)
More on North West Long Beach: Data | Real Estate
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Population: 12,810
Cost Of Living Index: 115 (4th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 6.1 (7th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.021 (16th cheapest)
More on Downtown: Data | Real Estate
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Population: 408
Cost Of Living Index: 98 (2nd cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 7.2 (16th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.019 (9th cheapest)
More on Airport Area: Data | Real Estate
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Population: 12,643
Cost Of Living Index: 141 (15th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 5.6 (3rd cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.021 (14th cheapest)
More on City College Area: Data | Real Estate
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Population: 9,578
Cost Of Living Index: 150 (18th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 5.8 (5th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.019 (10th cheapest)
More on Los Altos: Data | Real Estate
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Population: 26,743
Cost Of Living Index: 115 (4th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 7.6 (18th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.02 (12th cheapest)
More on Wrigley: Data | Real Estate
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Population: 4,992
Cost Of Living Index: 154 (20th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 6.3 (11th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.018 (5th cheapest)
More on Los Cerritos Area: Data | Real Estate
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Population: 7,786
Cost Of Living Index: 154 (20th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 7.5 (17th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.015 (cheapest)
More on Lakewood Village: Data | Real Estate
Methodology: How We Determined The Cheapest Long Beach Hoods In 2024
To rank the cheapest places to live in Long Beach, we had to determine what criteria define “cheap” and then apply Saturday Night Science.
Using Census and extrapolated BLS data, we arrived at the following set of criteria:
- Overall Cost Of Living
- Rent To Income Ratio
- Median Home Value To Income Ratio
We then ranked each neighborhood with scores from 1 to 27 in each category, where 1 was the cheapest.
Next, we averaged the rankings for each neighborhood to create a cheap neighborhood index.
And finally, we crowned the neighborhood with the lowest cheapest neighborhood index, the “Cheapest City Neighborhood In Long Beach.” We’re lookin’ at you, City Of Signal Hill.
We updated this article for 2024. This is our fourth time ranking the cheapest neighborhoods to live in Long Beach. Skip to the end to see the list of all the neighborhoods in the city, from cheapest to most expensive.
Summary: Lowest Cost Places To Live In Long Beach
If you’re measuring the neighborhoods in Long Beach where prices are low, and it’s cheap to live, this is an accurate list.
The most affordable neighborhoods in Long Beach are City Of Signal Hill, Wilmington, North West Long Beach, Downtown, Airport Area, City College Area, Los Altos, Wrigley, Los Cerritos Area, and Lakewood Village.
As mentioned earlier, the neighborhoods in Long Beach aren’t all cheap. Bixby Knolls takes the title of the most expensive neighborhood to live in Long Beach.
The most expensive neighborhoods in Long Beach are Bixby Knolls, East Side, Park Estates, Alamitos Heights, and Belmont Shore.
We ranked the neighborhoods from cheapest to most expensive in the chart below.
For more California reading, check out:
- Most Dangerous Cities In California
- Richest Cities In California
- Safest Places In California
- Worst Places To Live In California
Detailed List Of The Cheapest Neighborhoods To Live In Long Beach For 2024
| Rank | Neighborhood | Cost Of Living Index |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | City Of Signal Hill | 121 |
| 2 | Wilmington | 95 |
| 3 | North West Long Beach | 126 |
| 4 | Downtown | 115 |
| 5 | Airport Area | 98 |
| 6 | City College Area | 141 |
| 7 | Los Altos | 150 |
| 8 | Wrigley | 115 |
| 9 | Los Cerritos Area | 154 |
| 10 | Lakewood Village | 154 |
| 11 | Californial Heights | 144 |
| 12 | West Side | 122 |
| 13 | State College Area | 140 |
| 14 | Bixby Area | 139 |
| 15 | Belmont Heights | 164 |
| 16 | North Long Beach | 123 |
| 17 | The Plaza | 152 |
| 18 | El Dorado Park | 136 |
| 19 | Circle Area | 132 |
| 20 | Naples-Marina Area | 194 |
| 21 | Poly High District | 120 |
| 22 | Dominguez | 138 |
| 23 | Belmont Shore | 155 |
| 24 | Alamitos Heights | 166 |
| 25 | Park Estates | 171 |
| 26 | East Side | 144 |
| 27 | Bixby Knolls | 167 |