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Long Beach is a city divided by its own geography, slowly recovering from the trauma of the COVID-19 pandemic only to find itself ensnared in a web of older, more persistent public health crises.
That is the central conclusion of the city of Long Beach’s 2025 Community Health Assessment, a sweeping 142-page report released by the Department of Health and Human Services. Drawing on community surveys and interviews, census data, county health surveys and research from the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research between 2019 and 2023, the document paints a stark portrait of a city where a resident’s life expectancy, economic security, and physical well-being are still heavily dictated by race and ZIP code.
The assessment does offer glimpses of progress. Most residents now have health insurance, unemployment remains lower than county and state averages, and the city has successfully expanded medical care access in historically underserved neighborhoods. Furthermore, childhood vaccination rates remain exceptionally high, with nearly 96% of local kindergarteners fully immunized.
But underneath these victories lies a grimmer reality: The conditions that create deep-seated health inequities — ranging from an unforgiving cost of living to severe environmental pollution — have systematically worsened over the last few years.
Drug overdoses now eclipse every other cause of early death
For a time, the coronavirus was the singular, dominant force driving down average lifespans in the region. But as the public health emergency has passed, in Long Beach, the acute threat of the virus has been replaced by a quiet, multifront onslaught of chronic conditions and behavioral health crises.
When evaluating what cuts local lives short, drug overdoses now account for more years of life lost than any other cause, eclipsing heart disease, alcohol-related mortality, traffic injuries and suicide. It’s a trend that began before the pandemic and resumed as it went away.
The city is also dealing with a post-pandemic spike in deaths tied to chronic illnesses. Heart disease remains the leading cause of death overall, while mortality rates for congestive heart failure, kidney disease, colorectal cancer and diabetes have shown the largest recent increases.
Life expectancy still depends on who you are
The average Long Beach resident can expect to live about 78.5 years, close to national figures. But that average drops as much as 17 years depending on where you live and your skin color.
Asian women in Long Beach have the highest life expectancy at approximately 86 years. Meanwhile, Black males face an average lifespan of just over 69 years. Researchers tie this to structural differences in housing consistency, educational quality and access to preventative medicine.
Keeping a home comes at the expense of people’s health
Nearly half (46%) of Long Beach renters and 30% of homeowners are classified as “housing-cost burdened,” meaning they spend more than 30% of their income just to keep a roof over their heads. With wages remaining largely stagnant against climbing rents, residents surveyed for the report described facing impossible choices each month: whether to pay rent, buy groceries or fill essential prescriptions. In several instances, participants admitted delaying necessary surgeries just to avoid falling into homelessness.
Even for the 91% of residents who possess health insurance, care is frequently out of reach. Respondents cited long waiting periods for appointments, high deductibles and a severe shortage of behavioral health professionals. Roughly one in four adults reported needing immediate support for mental health or substance use, yet many remain deterred by systemic wait times and the lingering social stigma surrounding mental illness.
The city still struggles with some of the worst STI rates in California
Among California’s 61 local health jurisdictions, Long Beach recorded the state’s highest rate of chlamydia and the second-highest rate of gonorrhea in 2023. Syphilis rates also remained well above county and statewide averages.
Public health officials report that chlamydia cases have rebounded sharply since the early days of the pandemic, when routine testing dipped. These infections have targeted communities unequally: Black residents experience the highest rates of chlamydia, gonorrhea and early syphilis. Men account for the vast majority of gonorrhea and syphilis cases, while women bear a higher proportion of chlamydia cases.
Health officials also identified congenital syphilis — transmission of the infection from a pregnant person to their baby — as a continuing concern despite the disease being largely preventable through prenatal screening and treatment.
And income has failed to keep up
Income is another issue.
The median household income in Long Beach sits at $83,969, with Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islanders having the highest household income ($128,569), more than double that of Black residents in Long Beach ($57,183).
The range of wealth throughout the city varies intensely by the neighborhood or zip code.
In the predominantly white ZIP code of 90815, the median income exceeds $155,000. A few miles away in the 90813 ZIP code, which is 64.1% Latino, the median income plummets to roughly $66,000, with a quarter of residents living below the federal poverty line with an unemployment rate hovering at 9% — the second highest in Long Beach.
Some neighborhoods in North and West Long Beach experience levels of poverty four to five times higher than those in East Long Beach, a burden felt disproportionately by Black, Latino and disabled residents, as well as veterans, who face an unemployment rate double the city average.
Citywide, 15% of Long Beach residents live below the federal poverty line, including nearly one in five children. This is compared to 13.6% of Los Angeles County and 12% across the state.
A lot of these health disparities are years in the making and racially motivated
It’s not by mistake or chance that certain parts of Long Beach have higher rates of asthma, diabetes and cardiovascular disease while also recording lower household incomes, fewer parks and a shorter life expectancy.
Historically redlined ZIP codes — such as 90802, 90804, and 90813, where the city segregated people of color — continue to have the lowest homeownership rates in Long Beach. Decades of concentrated industrial zoning have left these exact neighborhoods bordering major ports, highways and logistics warehouses.
As a result, people living or working in these areas breathe some of the worst air in the U.S., according to the American Lung Association. The resulting diesel fumes contribute to disproportionately high rates of childhood asthma, hospitalizations and respiratory deaths in communities of color.
These same neighborhoods also have more extreme heat days, far less tree shading, fewer parks, bike lanes and transit stops.
The report concludes that these historical injustices will form the baseline for Long Beach’s upcoming Community Health Improvement Plan, a strategy designed to establish measurable goals to try to close the gaps in a deeply divided city.
City Meetings
Most city meetings are canceled this week. Summer is in full swing.
Check here for the upcoming schedule. And look for new options on the posted agendas to give public comments on Zoom instead of having to show up in person.
ICYMI — California and national news
- This new convenience store wants to be Long Beach’s hangout for instant ramen lovers (Long Beach Post)
- California bans ‘sell by’ food labels to reduce food waste and confusion (Associated Press)
- California’s crackdown on state park no-shows starts (LAist)
- Long Beach will soon start planning budget cuts; here’s how you can weigh in (Long Beach Post)