Map of Long Beach California Area | What is Long Beach Known for?

Aerial view of RMS Queen Mary ocean liner, Long Beach, CA
Aerial view of RMS Queen Mary ocean liner, Long Beach, CA

Map of Long Beach California Area

 

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Interested in visiting Long Beach, California? Or do you just want to learn more about it? Either way, we’re happy to give you a bit of information on the subject! 

Where is Long Beach Located on a Map?

The most important knowledge about any location is where it actually is. You can see the location of Long Beach within California here. It’s about twenty miles south of downtown Los Angeles. It’s part of the Gateway Cities region. It completely surrounds the city of Signal Hill.

How Big is Long Beach, and What is its Population?

As far as size goes, Long Beach is not a very big city. In fact, it’s only about 51 and a half square miles, or 133.2 kilometers. Almost all of that area is land, but just over one square mile is water. While the city itself is relatively small, it’s actually the 7th largest city in California, and 43rd in the US.

Despite being a relatively small city, Long Beach is fairly populated: as of 2020, the population was 456,154. With the city spanning over roughly 80 miles, it has an approximate population density of roughly 9,000 people per square mile.

The Demographics of Long Beach

Of the 456,154 people living in Long Beach, just over 50% are Caucasian. Roughly 13% are Asian, 12.7% are African American, 4.7% are mixed, 1% are Native American, and under 1% are Pacific Islanders. Approximately 16.5% are of a different race not mentioned above.

Is Long Beach a Good Place to Live?

Well, naturally this kind of assessment depends on what you are looking for in a place to live. But the general consensus is that Long Beach is a very nice city to live in. That probably has something to do with California being a pretty nice place overall.

For one, it is called Long Beach, so of course you have easy access to a nice beach no matter where you live in the city. That’s a pretty nice selling point, and of course you can’t get that in, say, Kansas. Not to mention, access to a beach means access to watersports, like surfing, parasailing, and a lot more.

Also noteworthy is the vast array of attractions and places to visit in Long Beach. Bluff Park, the Retired RMS Mary, Villa Riviera, the Aquarium of the Pacific Blue Cavern exhibit, and much more. Needless to say, if you want to live in a place where there’s plenty to do on a regular basis, Long Beach is a pretty nice choice. There’s lots of farmer markets as well.

Another good reason to consider Long Beach a nice place to live is the temperate climate. Days are fairly sunny on the regular, Summers can get hot, but winters are mild. And with the ocean breeze constantly rolling in, you’ve always got that going for you as well. Basically, if you value an outdoor lifestyle, Long Beach has great weather for it.

It’s a great city for walking, and very dog-friendly as well.

Unfortunately, it’s not all good.

The Bad Bits of Long Beach

Because Long Beach is within close proximity to two large ports and the winds tend to blow the air pollution from those ports towards the city, Long Beach suffers from pretty bad air pollution: some of the worst in the country, in fact.

Long term average toxic pollutants in the air are two to three times worse than other Los Angeles metropolitan areas, such as Westside or San Gabriel Valley. At times, the water pollution is just as bad. 

Because the Los Angeles River discharges directly into the San Pedro Bay (which is close to Long Beach), during the rainy season the coastal waters are filled with runoff from the entire Los Angeles metropolitan area. This severely affects the quality of the beach during the rainy season.

This isn’t as much of a problem during sunny periods, which, admittedly, is the majority of the climate at Long Beach. Even so, these are things to take into consideration if you are thinking about moving to Long Beach.

What Is Long Beach Known For?

You don’t get to become a popular city without having some special things that you’re known for. Naturally, Long Beach has some qualities that most people instantly recognize about it. At the least, they are considered vital to its identity.

Considering the name of the city, it goes without saying that the waterfront is one of the things Long Beach is best known for. The aforementioned urban waterfront attractions like the RMS Queen Mary and the Aquarium of the Pacific are quite well-known, and some of its most major attractions.

However, it’s not just about the attractions and the beaches, even though that’s kind of a shared identity across all of California. You see, we called Long Beach small relatively speaking, but it is still one of the larger cities in California.

But despite that, Long Beach feels a lot more like a small, quaint town. Provincial like, almost. There’s a ton of artist collectives, bike-friendly streets, many active neighborhood associations, lots of farmer’s markets… it feels like a smaller, closer knit community than its size as a California city implies.

Because of things like that, Long Beach is also known for a wide array of celebrations, festivals, and the like. It has more art, music and cultural festivals than any other city in southern California. Also of note is the annual Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach, which turns downtown streets into a race course.

Basically, Long Beach is known for what you would expect a beach city to be known for: lots of fun attractions, plenty of outdoor activities, and a thriving cultural scene that includes great food, music and art. It’s a very small town type city, with all the things you would expect out of that, including a great walking city.

Long Beach is not without its problems, but the general consensus doesn’t lie: a lot of people believe it’s a great place to live, or at the least, a great place to go on vacation. 

See Also

US CITIES MAPS

What is Long Beach, California Famous for?

Hi and welcome to my travel blog! Based in London, I work in investment banking in a quantitative field and although I am not part of the travel industry, I have a ton of passion for travel. My blog is a reference guide for my fellow travelers with the same passion as me. Hopefully the blog is easy to navigate and my aim is to bring the most relevant and interesting information before you begin your journey!