Cheapest Long Beach & South LA Neighborhoods to Rent (2026)

Last updated: October 29, 2026. By the Apartments Club Editorial Team.

Long Beach and South Los Angeles are two of the most overlooked places for renters in LA County, and two of the most affordable. Zillow’s September 2026 data shows several Long Beach ZIPs under $2,000 a month. Almost every South LA ZIP we looked at comes in under the City of LA’s typical rent of about $2,772.

This is part seven of our Cheapest LA Neighborhoods to Rent series. Earlier parts covered the cheapest City of LA ZIPs, the San Fernando Valley and the areas around Downtown.

About the numbers: every rent figure in this article comes from the Zillow Observed Rent Index (ZORI), at the ZIP-code level for City of LA areas and the city level for separate cities, all homes plus multifamily, smoothed, for September 2026 (the latest month published when we wrote this), compared with September 2025. ZORI measures the typical asking rent for listed units in the middle of the market (roughly the 35th to 65th percentile), so it covers all unit sizes together. It is not a per-bedroom figure, and you will find listings above and below it. ZIP codes don’t line up exactly with neighborhood borders, so read each ZIP as an approximation of the area named next to it.

Long Beach ZIP codes ranked by typical rent

Area	ZIP	Typical rent, Sep 2026	Change vs Sep 2025
Wrigley / Central	90806	$1,909	+0.6%
Downtown / Central (Washington, Willmore)	90813	$1,923	+0.9%
North Long Beach	90805	$2,168	+4.6%
East Side / Zaferia	90804	$2,225	-0.2%
West Long Beach	90810	$2,263	n/a
Bixby Knolls / California Heights	90807	$2,340	+2.5%
Belmont Heights / Bluff Park	90814	$2,489	+3.4%
Belmont Shore / Naples	90803	$2,538	+3.0%
Downtown / Alamitos Beach	90802	$2,605	+3.6%
Los Altos	90815	$2,877	+0.6%
El Dorado / Lakewood Village	90808	$2,949	+7.7%

Source: Zillow ZORI (ZIP and city level), September 2026 vs September 2025.

Long Beach as a whole comes in at about $2,412, roughly $360 under the City of LA. The cheapest ZIPs, Wrigley / Central and Downtown / Central (Washington, Willmore), are in central Long Beach. The coastal neighborhoods (Belmont Shore, Alamitos Beach) and the east-side neighborhoods (Los Altos, El Dorado) cost the most.

Why Long Beach works for renters

Transit: the Metro A Line runs from Downtown Long Beach to Downtown LA.
Beach access without Westside prices.
A separate city: Long Beach has its own rules. It doesn’t have the City of LA’s RSO, so most qualifying units fall under the statewide AB 1482 cap. Check the City of Long Beach Community Development site for local tenant programs.

See our Long Beach neighborhood guide.

South LA ZIP codes ranked by typical rent

Area	ZIP	Typical rent, Sep 2026	Change vs Sep 2025
Baldwin Hills / Crenshaw	90008	$2,136	-0.6%
Jefferson Park / West Adams	90018	$2,219	-4.1%
Vermont Vista / Westmont edge	90044	$2,303	+0.7%
Hyde Park / View Park edge	90043	$2,382	+6.0%
Historic South-Central	90011	$2,418	+0.6%
Vermont Square / South Central	90037	$2,434	-0.8%
Vermont Knolls / Leimert edge	90062	$2,455	+5.6%
Hyde Park / Chesterfield Square	90047	$2,678	+5.5%
South Park / Florence	90003	$2,752	+1.3%
Florence / Watts area	90002	$3,108	n/a
West Adams (west)	90016	$3,296	-1.9%

Source: Zillow ZORI (ZIP and city level), September 2026 vs September 2025.

South LA is part of the City of Los Angeles, so the RSO covers many older units here. See our RSO guide. The Metro A, C, E and K Lines all run through or along South LA. That makes it possible to live without a car, as we explain in our E Line guide.

Highlights

Baldwin Hills and Crenshaw (90008) has one of the lowest typical rents on the list. It’s along the K Line, with the Crenshaw corridor’s restaurants and the Kenneth Hahn State Recreation Area nearby.
Jefferson Park and West Adams (90018) has historic Craftsman homes and is close to USC. See living near USC on a budget.
Hyde Park and Leimert Park areas (90043, 90047) sit in the middle of the range, with a more residential, single-family feel.

Long Beach or South LA?

If you want the beach, a downtown with nightlife, and a separate city government, Long Beach is the answer. If you work in Downtown LA, near USC, or around Inglewood’s stadium district, South LA gives you shorter commutes and RSO protection. Either way, budget the full move-in cost with our rent affordability calculator, and read our moving to LA cost checklist.

How we picked the areas

We included every area in this part of the county that Zillow tracks and that has enough rental listings to publish a typical-rent figure. Inside the City of Los Angeles, we used ZIP codes so neighborhoods show up separately. For separate cities, we used Zillow’s city-level figure, which blends all of that city’s ZIPs. A few smaller places don’t appear because Zillow doesn’t publish a reliable figure for them. Rents change every month, and we’ll update this table as new data comes out.

Frequently asked questions

How often is this rent data updated?

Zillow publishes ZORI once a month, usually around the middle of the month, covering the previous month. We plan to refresh the tables in this series when new data comes out. You can always download the raw files from Zillow Research yourself.

Why does my listing search show higher prices than the table?

Listing sites usually sort by newest or featured, and newer, larger and renovated units get the most exposure. ZORI is a middle-of-the-market measure across all unit sizes, so a typical studio will often cost less than the figure shown and a typical two-bedroom more. Use the table to compare areas, not to predict the rent on any one apartment.

Is a rent-stabilized apartment always cheaper?

Not on day one. Under the RSO, a landlord can generally set the rent at market rate when a new tenant moves in. The benefit is that annual increases afterward are limited to the amount the city sets each year. The LA Housing Department publishes the current allowable increase. Over a multi-year stay, that limit can be worth more than a lower starting rent somewhere else.

Are these areas safe?

Safety varies block by block, so we don’t rate whole ZIP codes. Visit at night and on weekends, talk to current tenants if you can, and check the LAPD’s official crime mapping and statistics for the exact address.

Before you sign: how to make a cheaper neighborhood actually cheaper

A lower rent only helps if the rest of the deal holds up. Some checks to run on any listing in these ZIPs:

Find out if the unit is rent-stabilized. In the City of Los Angeles, the Rent Stabilization Ordinance (RSO) generally covers rental units built on or before October 1, 1978. These areas have plenty of older buildings, so an RSO unit is common, and that limits how much your rent can go up each year. You can look up any address on the LA Housing Department site. Newer buildings may still fall under California’s statewide cap (AB 1482).
Know the deposit rules. Since July 1, 2024, California’s AB 12 caps most security deposits at one month’s rent. Our guide on getting your security deposit back covers what happens when you move out.
Budget for the full monthly cost. Add parking, utilities and renters insurance, then run the total through our rent affordability calculator. Our guide to how much rent you can afford explains the 30% rule and where it falls short.
Watch for scams. Below-market listings attract fake ones. Read how to spot a rental scam before you send money to anyone.
Get your application ready early. Good-value units in these ZIPs go fast. Our rental application tips cover the documents landlords ask for.

Looking, or renting one out?

Our free Apartments Club rentals board is new. Landlords and property managers in these neighborhoods can list a rental for free. If you’re still deciding where to live, start with our LA neighborhood guides.

Cheapest Long Beach and South LA Neighborhoods to Rent in 2026