Long Beach Apartments for College Students: CSULB Housing Guide

Long Beach is one of Southern California's most underrated cities — a coastal urban center with its own identity, a serious arts and food scene and a genuinely mixed set of neighborhoods. Searching for long beach apartments for college students rewards local knowledge, because the city's apartment stock changes character street by street and the price follows it. Start with what is actually available on the off-campus housing page for Long Beach, then use the neighborhood notes below to work out which part of the city you are really shopping in.

Begin your search at Off-Campus Universe, where you can browse current listings near Long Beach and filter by the part of the city that suits your commute and your budget.

Current listings give a concrete sense of the range: 1074 Redondo Avenue at $1,060/month, Condo in down town Long Beach at $1,900/month for a condo in the downtown area, 9106 Dalberg Ave at $2,145/month, and Downtown Condominium at $2,950/month for a two-bedroom, two-bath condo, which works out at $1,475 per bedroom for a pair. Apartment and condo stock in Long Beach spans a wide band, and where a unit sits in that band usually says more about the neighborhood and the building's age than about its size.

The Long Beach Neighborhoods Students Actually Rent In

The blocks immediately north and east of the CSULB campus, along Bellflower Boulevard and East 7th Street, are the most student-dense part of the city. The apartment stock here is mid-century and mostly low-rise, a lot of it is student-occupied, and the appeal is simple: you can walk, bike or take a short bus ride to class. Los Altos sits just east of this, with more of a suburban feel and a large shopping center, and Park Estates immediately south of campus is quieter and more expensive.

Belmont Heights, Belmont Shore and Naples run south-west from campus toward the water. Second Street through Belmont Shore is the city's best-known walkable strip of restaurants and shops, the beach is at the end of the block, and the rents reflect both. The bike ride to campus is flat and manageable, which is why this is the trade many students make. Bluff Park and Bluff Heights, on the bluffs between downtown and Belmont Shore, offer older character buildings, a strong neighborhood identity and a short hop to the beach.

Zaferia and the Eastside, along the Anaheim Street and Pacific Coast Highway corridors, are the middle ground: more varied stock, more small landlords, generally cheaper. Downtown and the East Village Arts District are apartment country — the densest buildings in the city, the Metro A Line to Los Angeles, and a nightlife scene — but they are at the opposite end of the city from campus. Further north, Bixby Knolls and California Heights sit along the Atlantic Avenue corridor in north-central Long Beach, several miles from the campus rather than beside it; the bungalow stock is lovely and the prices are kinder, but you are buying a commute. Signal Hill, a separate city surrounded by Long Beach, and Lakewood to the north-east are the same bargain in different shapes.

Long Beach Apartments for College Students: What the Listings Cost

Rather than quote an average, look at what long beach apartments for college students are actually listed at. 1074 Redondo Avenue at $1,060/month sits near the bottom of what the current set shows for an apartment. Condo in down town Long Beach at $1,900/month and Downtown Condominium at $2,950/month show what condo stock in and around downtown asks, and the second of those splits to $1,475 per bedroom across its two bedrooms. 9106 Dalberg Ave at $2,145/month is recorded in the listing data as a studio at that price, which is worth confirming with the landlord before you tour it.

What drives the spread is mostly three things: how close the unit is to the water, how recently the building was renovated, and whether parking comes with it. A renovated unit a block from Second Street and an unrenovated one of the same size in Zaferia are not competing for the same tenant. Condo stock is its own category again — individually owned, often better finished than a comparable apartment, and sometimes carrying association rules about parking, guests or subletting that a straightforward rental would not.

Treat the per-bedroom figure as the real comparison. A two-bedroom at a higher headline rent can undercut a studio once two people split it, and whether that is a good trade depends entirely on whether you want to live with someone. Work out your share first, then compare neighborhoods.

Getting Around, and What to Check Before You Sign

Long Beach Transit runs the local bus network and reaches most of the neighborhoods above; the Metro A Line connects downtown Long Beach to Los Angeles but does not serve the campus side of the city, so do not plan a class commute around it. Bike routes are the quiet advantage here. The terrain near campus and along the coast is flat, the beachfront path is one of the better cycling routes in Southern California, and students within a couple of miles frequently find a bike faster than the bus. If you drive, confirm what parking the unit includes before you fall in love with the apartment.

On the lease itself, three things repay close reading. First, automatic renewal and the notice period — some leases roll into another full term unless you give written notice well before the end, so put that date in your calendar on move-in day. Second, the deposit: California caps what a landlord may hold and sets a deadline for returning it, but those rules have been amended recently, so get the amount and the timeline written into the lease and check the current state rule rather than trusting a figure from a friend. Third, liability: most shared leases make every tenant responsible for the entire rent, not just their share.

Long Beach also has its own tenant-protection ordinances layered on top of state law, and which ones apply depends on the building. Ask the landlord directly which protections cover the unit rather than assuming, and document the apartment thoroughly on the day you move in — photographs emailed to the landlord on day one are what settle a deposit dispute a year later.

• Decide first whether you are buying proximity to campus or proximity to the water — in Long Beach they are different directions and different prices.

• Compare every unit on a per-bedroom basis, including condos, before you compare neighborhoods.

• Confirm parking in writing: in Belmont Shore and downtown it is often a separate monthly charge.

• Ask which tenant-protection rules apply to your specific building, and put the deposit amount and return deadline in the lease.

Ready to find your place? Browse all listings at Off-Campus Universe.

This article is provided by an independent housing resource and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by California State University, Long Beach.