The 10 Worst Long Beach Suburbs For 2021


We used science and data to determine which Long Beach suburbs are the real pits.

Sam Sparkes, RoadSnacks
December 22, 2020 - 2,072 views
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Editor’s Note: This article is an opinion based on facts and is meant as infotainment. Don’t freak out we updated this article for 2021. This is our seventh time ranking the worst suburbs around Long Beach.

Not everyone is cut out for city life. Some people would prefer to live in the cities and towns that surround Long Beach.

So the question arises, do the suburbs maintain a semblance of the larger-than-life appeal of their more famous neighbor?

Today, we'll use science and data to determine which Long Beach 'burbs need a little tender loving care - the sore thumbs of the Long Beach area if you will. Realistically, you can't expect all the suburbs to live up to Long Beach proper, although Hermosa Beach certainly tries.

Of course, not all suburbs of Long Beach are created equally, which is precisely why we set out to find the best ones..

We examined the 97 biggest suburbs of Long Beach to find out the worst places to live. And while you won't necessarily find them on the worst places to live in california lists, these ten places are a little too far downwind of Long Beach in terms of quality of life.

Here are the 10 worst suburbs around Long Beach for 2021:

  1. Commerce
  2. Bell Gardens
  3. Huntington Park
  4. Maywood
  5. Compton
  6. Cudahy
  7. Pomona
  8. Bell
  9. South Gate
  10. Lynwood

What's the worst suburb of Long Beach? Commerce ranks as the worst suburb of Long Beach for 2021 based on the most recent Census and FBI data.

Read on to see how we determined the places around Long Beach that need a pick-me-up. And remember, don't blame the messenger.

Or, if you're thinking of moving to elsewhere in california check out the best places in california overall or the worst.

And remember, there are some good places to live around Long Beach too.

Editor's Note: If you see a slight difference between the worst in state rankings and this suburb ranking, it's because of the methodology. We needed a way to include more places, so we eliminated crime and commute times as criteria for this analysis.

For more California reading, check out:

The 10 Worst Long Beach Suburbs To Live For 2021

1. Commerce

Commerce Location In California

Commerce, CA

Source: Wikipedia User Justefrain | CC BY-SA 3.0
Overall SnackAbility

4
/10

Population: 12,830
Rank Last Year: 1 (No Change)
Median Income: $47,518 (7th lowest)
Unemployment Rate: 6.1% (23rd highest)
Median Home Value: $411,200 (15th lowest)
More on Commerce:  Data | Photos

We'll get the ball rolling with Commerce, the absolute worst place to live around Long Beach according to the data.

And in the world of worst rankings, Commerce beat the competition pretty handily thanks to scoring in the bottom 15% in three major categories. Income is the 7th worst in the Long Beach area, and to make matters worse, the city ranks 15th worst when it comes to home values.

But hey, at least it's cheap to live there. But there's a reason for that... it's Commerce.

You won't feel bad about not having a great income for the area, there aren't a bunch of places to spend your money anyway.

2. Bell Gardens

Bell Gardens Location In California

Bell Gardens, CA

Source: Public domain
Overall SnackAbility

6
/10

Population: 42,421
Rank Last Year: 5 (Up 3)
Median Income: $42,223 (lowest)
Unemployment Rate: 7.4% (9th highest)
Median Home Value: $388,100 (10th lowest)
More on Bell Gardens:  Data | Photos

Welcome to Bell Gardens. Home to KMart, Big Lots, and a lot of gas stations.

This city is 10.7 miles to Long Beach. Income levels here are the lowest in the metro area, where families bring in about $42,223 a year, which doesn't go a long ways even on a shoestring budget.

But on the bright side, there are a lot of fast food joints in the area.

3. Huntington Park

Huntington Park Location In California

Huntington Park, CA

Source: Wikipedia User Jmiles92 | GFDL
Overall SnackAbility

4
/10

Population: 58,353
Rank Last Year: 2 (Down 1)
Median Income: $42,447 (2nd lowest)
Unemployment Rate: 8.3% (5th highest)
Median Home Value: $412,600 (16th lowest)
More on Huntington Park:  Data | Photos

Back up the highway we go for the third worst Long Beach suburb you can live in. You might have expected to see Huntington Park on here. While the cost of living is low, your entertainment and work options are limited. And that's an understatement.

In terms of numbers, it's in the worst 15% for insurance, and the adult high school drop out rate is poor compared to other Long Beach suburbs.

But at least there are nice parks to bring the kids during the day.

4. Maywood

Maywood Location In California

Maywood, CA

Source: Wikipedia User Justefrain | CC BY-SA 3.0
Overall SnackAbility

6
/10

Population: 27,332
Rank Last Year: 3 (Down 1)
Median Income: $44,241 (4th lowest)
Unemployment Rate: 7.8% (7th highest)
Median Home Value: $387,000 (9th lowest)
More on Maywood:  Data | Photos

If you live in Maywood, most likely you struggle to make ends meet every month. It ranks as the 4th lowest Long Beach suburb when it comes to residents making money.

Not only that, but this is the 7th worst unemployed suburb you can live in if you choose to live near Long Beach. Remember, we looked at 97 cities for this study.

Maywood is about 12.5 miles to downtown.

5. Compton

Compton Location In California

Compton, CA

Source: Wikipedia User Epolk at English Wikipedi | GFDL
Overall SnackAbility

5
/10

Population: 96,803
Rank Last Year: 6 (Up 1)
Median Income: $52,883 (13th lowest)
Unemployment Rate: 9.4% (2nd highest)
Median Home Value: $355,200 (5th lowest)
More on Compton:  Data | Photos

Compton has the distinction of being a Long Beach suburb. Which means that's about all it has going for it.

All snarkiness aside, Compton has the 5th lowest home values in the metro Long Beach area, where the median price is $355,200. To put that into perspective, in Hermosa Beach, the median income is $194,543, which is the best in the area.

Compton has an unemployment rate of 9.41% which ranks 2nd worst.

6. Cudahy

Cudahy Location In California

Cudahy, CA

Source: Flickr User [email protected] | CC BY 2.0
Overall SnackAbility

6
/10

Population: 23,890
Rank Last Year: 7 (Up 1)
Median Income: $46,642 (6th lowest)
Unemployment Rate: 8.5% (3rd highest)
Median Home Value: $420,700 (20th lowest)
More on Cudahy:  Data | Photos

Cudahy has 23,890 residents that probably know it's a pretty crummy place to live when you look at the data. (Or, if you've ever been there, you don't need to look at the data.)

Incomes are towards the bottom and the poverty rate sits at 26.16120505181891%.

7. Pomona

Pomona Location In California

Pomona, CA

Source: Public domain
Overall SnackAbility

6
/10

Population: 152,209
Rank Last Year: 4 (Down 3)
Median Income: $60,598 (24th lowest)
Unemployment Rate: 7.1% (11th highest)
Median Home Value: $394,500 (11th lowest)
More on Pomona:  Data | Photos

Ah, Pomona. You rank as the 7th worst place to live around Long Beach.

It's the place with the 11th most out of work residents in the Long Beach metro area (7.1%).

8. Bell

Bell Location In California

Bell, CA

Source: Public domain
Overall SnackAbility

6
/10

Population: 35,682
Rank Last Year: 12 (Up 4)
Median Income: $44,327 (5th lowest)
Unemployment Rate: 7.4% (10th highest)
Median Home Value: $413,400 (17th lowest)
More on Bell:  Data | Photos

Bell is a city about 11.9 miles from Long Beach, but Long Beach probably wishes it was further away. It ranks as the 8th worst burb for 2018.

You'd be hard pressed to find a worse place to live. Bell has the 9th most uninsured people, 5th worst incomes, and has the 10th highest unemployment rate (7.35%) in the entire Long Beach metro area.

Homes only cost $413,400 for a reason. That's cheap for Long Beach standards.

9. South Gate

South Gate Location In California

South Gate, CA

Source: Public domain
Overall SnackAbility

5
/10

Population: 94,642
Rank Last Year: 8 (Down 1)
Median Income: $52,321 (12th lowest)
Unemployment Rate: 9.6% (highest)
Median Home Value: $408,200 (13th lowest)
More on South Gate:  Data | Photos

If you absolutely have to live near Long Beach, then South Gate might be a place for you to consider as it's only the 9th worst Long Beach suburb.

About 9.55% of residents are out of work.

10. Lynwood

Lynwood Location In California

Lynwood, CA

Source: Public domain
Overall SnackAbility

6
/10

Population: 70,635
Rank Last Year: 9 (Down 1)
Median Income: $52,213 (11th lowest)
Unemployment Rate: 8.4% (4th highest)
Median Home Value: $399,100 (12th lowest)
More on Lynwood:  Data | Photos

Rounding out the ten worst Long Beach suburbs to call home is Lynwood.

Located 8.4 miles outside the city, Lynwoods is a real pit when you look at the data. Its residents have the 4th highest unemployment rate (8.37%), and poverty is far above the area average.

Determining The Worst Suburbs Around Long Beach for 2021

To figure out how bad a place is to live in, we only needed to know what kinds of things people like and then decide what cities have the least amount of those things.

We threw a lot of criteria at this one in order to get the best, most complete results possible. Using the most recent American Community Survey data from 2015-2019, this is the criteria we used:

  • High unemployment rate
  • Low median household incomes
  • Low population density (no things to do)
  • Low home values
  • A lot of high school drop outs
  • High poverty
  • High rate of uninsured families

FYI: We defined a suburb as being within 30 miles of Long Beach.

Best Places To Retire In California

Additionally, we limited the analysis to places that have over 3,000 people. This left us with a grand total of 97 suburbs to evaluate around Long Beach.

We ranked each place with scores from 1 to 97 in each category, where 1 was the "worst".

Next, we averaged the rankings for each place to create a quality of life index.

And finally, we crowned the city with the worst quality of life index the "Worst Suburb near Long Beach." We're lookin' at you, Commerce. You can download the data here.

Read on below to learn more about what it's like to live in the worst of the worst. Or skip to the end to see the list of all the suburbs ranked from worst to best.

The areas around Long Beach where the dream is more of a nightmare for 2021

Well there you have it -- the worst of the 'burbs surrounding Long Beach with Commerce casting itself ahead of the pack.

As we mentioned earlier, the suburbs around Long Beach aren't all bad. Hermosa Beach takes the cake as the best place to live around Long Beach.

  • Hermosa Beach
  • Redondo Beach
  • Manhattan Beach

For more California reading, check out:

Detailed List Of The Worst Long Beach Suburbs

Rank City Population Median Income Median Home Values
1 Commerce 12,830 $47,518 $411,200
2 Bell Gardens 42,421 $42,223 $388,100
3 Huntington Park 58,353 $42,447 $412,600
4 Maywood 27,332 $44,241 $387,000
5 Compton 96,803 $52,883 $355,200
6 Cudahy 23,890 $46,642 $420,700
7 Pomona 152,209 $60,598 $394,500
8 Bell 35,682 $44,327 $413,400
9 South Gate 94,642 $52,321 $408,200
10 Lynwood 70,635 $52,213 $399,100
11 South El Monte 20,721 $52,204 $445,500
12 El Monte 115,517 $49,003 $454,900
13 Hawaiian Gardens 14,337 $49,483 $363,500
14 Montebello 62,742 $56,150 $492,300
15 Inglewood 109,613 $54,400 $483,000
16 Paramount 54,513 $55,670 $343,800
17 Azusa 49,753 $68,216 $418,800
18 La Puente 40,020 $64,592 $419,800
19 Los Angeles 3,966,936 $62,142 $636,900
20 Baldwin Park 75,892 $65,904 $408,600
21 Santa Ana 332,794 $66,145 $491,300
22 Stanton 38,377 $57,598 $386,400
23 Hawthorne 87,107 $54,215 $564,300
24 Duarte 21,559 $75,083 $482,200
25 Anaheim 349,964 $71,763 $575,600
26 Bellflower 77,195 $60,011 $458,600
27 La Habra 60,594 $79,325 $539,200
28 Signal Hill 11,512 $75,508 $505,900
29 Gardena 59,709 $58,447 $474,700
30 Pico Rivera 63,001 $67,636 $440,600
31 Santa Fe Springs 17,810 $68,685 $447,400
32 Norwalk 105,304 $70,667 $440,800
33 Temple 4,549 $58,594 $122,100
34 Carson 92,079 $82,305 $462,600
35 Rosemead 54,282 $57,999 $556,600
36 Midway 3,221 $59,625 $147,700
37 Glendale 200,232 $66,130 $769,900
38 Lawndale 32,819 $62,013 $518,000
39 Westminster 91,137 $62,625 $603,700
40 Garden Grove 173,258 $69,278 $554,400
41 San Gabriel 40,143 $62,541 $680,700
42 Covina 48,095 $70,780 $509,200
43 Monterey Park 60,439 $61,819 $616,000
44 Artesia 16,758 $67,647 $542,200
45 Fullerton 139,611 $79,978 $650,000
46 Buena Park 82,489 $78,932 $579,100
47 Downey 112,322 $75,878 $569,300
48 Monrovia 36,816 $77,111 $663,400
49 West Covina 106,589 $82,938 $540,500
50 Glendora 51,801 $96,132 $601,800
51 Burbank 103,703 $75,827 $730,100
52 Laguna Woods 16,053 $44,020 $288,400
53 Orange 139,887 $91,793 $656,100
54 Costa Mesa 113,159 $84,138 $749,400
55 Alhambra 84,647 $61,384 $612,700
56 Pasadena 141,258 $83,068 $785,700
57 Whittier 86,090 $77,270 $574,400
58 Seal Beach 24,204 $68,852 $371,600
59 Los Alamitos 11,534 $88,729 $761,200
60 Tustin 79,863 $84,697 $647,500
61 La Mirada 48,764 $95,685 $569,500
62 Lomita 20,514 $71,606 $604,300
63 San Dimas 34,048 $86,410 $576,800
64 Brea 42,678 $94,492 $660,400
65 Diamond Bar 56,211 $99,083 $664,400
66 Chino Hills 80,701 $106,347 $622,300
67 Placentia 51,818 $95,757 $630,500
68 Lakewood 80,292 $93,432 $568,600
69 Fountain Valley 56,026 $93,075 $734,800
70 Irvine 273,157 $105,126 $838,000
71 Arcadia 58,152 $93,574 $1,097,600
72 Sierra Madre 10,932 $100,988 $969,700
73 West Hollywood 36,450 $74,044 $755,400
74 Cerritos 50,143 $106,190 $685,300
75 Lake Forest 83,974 $109,492 $647,500
76 La Habra Heights 6,574 $115,762 $928,200
77 Cypress 48,893 $93,137 $632,900
78 El Segundo 16,731 $109,577 $1,094,300
79 Walnut 29,903 $108,669 $774,400
80 Huntington Beach 200,259 $95,046 $771,100
81 Beverly Hills 34,186 $106,936 $2,000,001
82 Laguna Beach 23,036 $129,983 $1,771,600
83 Santa Monica 91,577 $96,570 $1,382,700
84 Torrance 145,492 $93,492 $762,700
85 La Palma 15,604 $107,724 $659,100
86 Villa Park 5,861 $165,000 $1,184,100
87 Rolling Hills Estates 8,169 $150,135 $1,326,600
88 Aliso Viejo 50,663 $112,689 $632,900
89 South Pasadena 25,661 $104,308 $1,071,000
90 Yorba Linda 67,725 $129,995 $858,300
91 Newport Beach 85,694 $127,223 $1,898,900
92 Rancho Palos Verdes 42,030 $138,557 $1,156,700
93 San Marino 13,194 $166,607 $2,000,001
94 Palos Verdes Estates 13,434 $194,543 $2,000,000
95 Manhattan Beach 35,500 $153,023 $2,000,001
96 Redondo Beach 67,423 $113,499 $926,500
97 Hermosa Beach 19,539 $136,702 $1,542,900
Download The Entire Long Beach Worst Suburbs Ranking Data

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