Long Beach

Sister cities

• Pohang
• Sochi
• İzmir
• Valparaíso
• Yokkaichi
• Phnom Penh
• Kolkata
• Manta
• Mombasa
• Qingdao

History

Indigenous people have lived in coastal Southern California for over 10,000 years, and several successive cultures have inhabited the present-day area of Long Beach. By the 16th-century arrival of Spanish explorers, the dominant group was the Tongva, who had established at least three major settlements within the present-day city. Tevaaxa'anga was an inland settlement near the Los Angeles River, while Ahwaanga and Povuu'nga were coastal villages. Povuu'nga was particularly important to the Tongva, not only as a regional trading center and hub for fishermen, but for its deep ceremonial significance, being understood as their place of emergence as a people from which their lives began. In 1784, the Spanish Empire's King Carlos III granted Rancho Los Nietos to Spanish soldier Manuel Nieto. The Rancho Los Cerritos and Rancho Los Alamitos were divided from this territory. The boundary between the two ranchos ran through the center of Signal Hill on a southwest to northeast diagonal. A portion of western Long Beach was originally part of the Rancho San Pedro. Its boundaries were in dispute for years, due to flooding changing the Los Angeles River boundary between Rancho San Pedro and Rancho Los Nietos. By 1805, what had been the major Tongva village of Puvunga was thoroughly depleted of villagers, most of whom were brought to Mission San Gabriel for conversion and as a labor force. Many villagers died at the mission, which had a high rate of death, particularly among children, attributed to many factors like diseases that spread quickly in the close quarters of the mission's walls, as well as torture, malnourishment, and overworking. In 1843, Juan Temple bought Rancho Los Cerritos, having arrived in California in 1827 from New England. He built what is now known as the…

Geography

Long Beach is about south of downtown Los Angeles. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which is land and (34.9%) is water. According to data analysis provided by the NWS, The annual average temperature of Long Beach is , of which August is the hottest month with an average temperature of , while December is the coldest month with an average temperature of . The annual precipitation in Long Beach is , of which the precipitation from December to March of the following year accounts for 81% of the whole year. | source 2 = National Weather Service }} Long Beach is composed of many different neighborhoods. Some neighborhoods are named after thoroughfares, while others are named for nearby parks, schools, or city features. Long Beach suffers from some of the worst air pollution in the entire United States. Most of the city is in proximity to the twin ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, and the prevailing westerly-to-west-south-westerly winds bring a large portion of the twin ports' air pollution directly into Long Beach before dispersing it northward then eastward. Heavy pollution sources at the ports include the ships themselves, which burn high-sulfur, high-soot-producing bunker fuel to maintain internal electrical power while docked, as well as heavy diesel pollution from drayage trucks at the ports, and short-haul tractor-trailer trucks ferrying cargo from the ports to inland warehousing, rail yards, and shipping centers. Long-term average levels of toxic air pollutants (and the corresponding carcinogenic risk they create) can be two to three times higher in and around Long Beach, and in downwind areas to the east, than in other parts of the Los Angeles metropolitan area, such as the Westside, San Fernando Valley, or…

Race & ethnicity

Largest nearby schools

• Polytechnic High
  High · Long Beach · 3,952 students · 23.7:1 ratio
• Paramount High
  High · Paramount · 3,737 students · 20.5:1 ratio
• Wilson High
  High · Long Beach · 3,515 students · 23.8:1 ratio
• Millikan High
  High · Long Beach · 3,311 students · 24:1 ratio
• Lakewood High
  High · Lakewood · 2,761 students · 22.3:1 ratio
• San Pedro Senior High
  High · San Pedro · 2,582 students · 21.9:1 ratio
• Mayfair High
  High · Lakewood · 2,578 students · 22.6:1 ratio
• Phineas Banning Senior High
  High · Wilmington · 2,486 students · 19.9:1 ratio

Most recent

• M 2.56 — 2026-09-13
  27 km SSE of Malibu, CA
• M 2.65 — 2026-09-12
  4 km E of Lennox, CA
• M 3.31 — 2026-09-12
  26 km ESE of Avalon, CA
• M 2.95 — 2026-09-12
  26 km ESE of Avalon, CA
• M 2.54 — 2026-09-12
  26 km ESE of Avalon, CA
• M 2.62 — 2026-09-12
  5 km WNW of Willowbrook, CA