Best PlacesThe Plaza, Long Beach, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around The Plaza, Long Beach, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The coast is close, and the measures below put a number on how close. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
The Plaza, Long Beach ranks 560th of 5,983 U.S. neighborhoods on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on the weather by a wide margin, and air quality ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in The Plaza, Long Beach
BestNeighborhood is the only ranking that scores 40 measures of daily life neighborhood by neighborhood and lets you re-weight every one of them yourself.
The Plaza, Long Beach's strengths and weaknesses
Where The Plaza, Long Beach ranks high
- Nice weatherabout 298 pleasant days a year, better than 97% of neighborhoods
- School gradeA, better than 96% of neighborhoods
- Big-city accessBetter than 95% of neighborhoods
- Voter turnoutBetter than 91% of neighborhoods
- Household income$146,084 median, better than 90% of neighborhoods
Where The Plaza, Long Beach ranks low
- Air qualityBetter than only 6% of neighborhoods
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 20% of neighborhoods
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 25% of neighborhoods
- WalkabilityBetter than only 25% of neighborhoods
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 26% of neighborhoods
What it costs to buy a home in The Plaza, Long Beach
A household needs to earn about $244,000 a year to comfortably buy the median The Plaza, Long Beach home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $146,084, so buying stretches a typical household.
Where the monthly payment goes
Assumes a 20% down payment, a 6.6% 30-year fixed rate, and a 28% share of income going to the payment. The rate is the 2026-07-23 30-year fixed average, series MORTGAGE30US from the St. Louis Fed, which publishes Freddie Mac's weekly survey. Against the median home value, property tax uses The Plaza, Long Beach's effective rate of 0.63%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in The Plaza, Long Beach
The Plaza, Long Beach runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for The Plaza, Long Beach.
Who works in The Plaza, Long Beach, and how
Work in The Plaza, Long Beach centers on education and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 76%
- Work from home 20%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in The Plaza, Long Beach
The Plaza, Long Beach has more parkland per resident than 88% of neighborhoods. The coast is about 7 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of The Plaza, Long Beach and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in The Plaza, Long Beach, month by month
The Plaza, Long Beach sees roughly 298 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 degrees. January highs sit near 70, with lows near 47. Every month averages in that range.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 70° | 57° | 47° |
| April | 75° | 63° | 54° |
| July | 84° | 72° | 65° |
| October | 83° | 69° | 60° |
Flying in and out of The Plaza, Long Beach
The nearest airport, Long Beach (Daugherty Field), is about 3 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is John Wayne/Orange County, about 16 miles away.
The best schools in and around The Plaza, Long Beach
Schools across The Plaza, Long Beach average an A, better than 96% of neighborhoods.
Top elementary schools
- Emerson Parkside AcademyA · 65% proficient
- Tincher PreparatoryA · 63% proficient
- HenryA− · 59% proficient
Top middle schools
- Helen Keller MiddleA · 60% proficient
Top high schools
- Eunice Sato Academy Of Math & ScienceA+ · 83% proficient
- Ernest S. Mcbride Sr. HighA− · 63% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every The Plaza, Long Beach school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
The Plaza, Long Beach measure by measure
Cards are ordered by how much each measure matters to you, so the ones you weighted highest come first. Expand to see every measure. Percentages compare The Plaza, Long Beach against the other 5,982 neighborhoods.
Who The Plaza, Long Beach suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 20% already work from home.
Retirees
The weather beats 97% of neighborhoods and health care access beats 79%.
Common questions about living in The Plaza, Long Beach
Is The Plaza, Long Beach a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, The Plaza, Long Beach ranks 560th of 5,983 neighborhoods. It scores highest on the weather, good schools, and big-city access, and lowest on air quality and taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is The Plaza, Long Beach expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $953,883. The overall cost of living runs about 52% above the national average. Set against a $146,084 median income, cost of living beats 66% of neighborhoods.
Is The Plaza, Long Beach safe?
Yes, The Plaza, Long Beach is safer than 71% of neighborhoods. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $343 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in The Plaza, Long Beach?
July highs average about 84 degrees, and January highs near 70 with lows near 47. That works out to about 298 pleasant days a year, more than 97% of neighborhoods.
Is The Plaza, Long Beach good for families?
Schools beat 96% of neighborhoods, crime safety beats 71%, and childcare runs $1,130 a month.
Compare The Plaza, Long Beach with other neighborhoods
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to The Plaza, Long Beach. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in The Plaza, Long Beach represents the same real quantity as a 60 anywhere else, and the ranking is a weighted average of those absolutes. The map colors come from a national scale calibrated against a population weighted random sample of 5,000 neighborhoods. That absolute scoring is what no other places-to-live ranking does: it puts a single neighborhood, a town, a metro, and a state on one scale, so the same 40 measures answer both which metro to move to and which street inside it to buy on. Read the full methodology.
The Plaza, Long Beach detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for The Plaza, Long Beach: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in The Plaza, Long Beach: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of The Plaza, Long Beach: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in The Plaza, Long Beach: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
The Plaza, Long Beach detail on related sites:
- CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
- ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
- CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.
Federal and public data:
- U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey: income, home value, rent, vacancy, commute time and mode, educational attainment, home age, age structure, household type, industry, and race.
- NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
- FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
- Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
- FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
- U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
- FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
- CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
- National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
- FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
- Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.
Your priorities
Move a slider to say how much a measure matters. Zero turns it off.