What are the best businesses to open in Long Beach?

The top businesses to open in Long Beach include American Restaurant with a ~85% chance on average of surviving more than 2 years, best-case locations reaching ~86%, followed by Polish Restaurant and Pet Grooming Shop.

Is Long Beach a good place to start a business?

Long Beach is ranked number 34 across neighborhoods in and around Los Angeles to start a business, with an average Survivability Score of ~77%. Top-performing business types at the best addresses in Long Beach show a ~2% survival rate advantage over the neighborhood average.

What businesses are most in demand in Long Beach?

Based on StreetSpring's 2026 survivability analysis, the most in-demand business types in Long Beach are American Restaurants, Polish Restaurants, and Pet Grooming Shops.

How much money could a business in Long Beach make?

Based on StreetSpring's 2026 analysis, selecting one of the best locations in Long Beach could lead to making ~2% more than selecting an average location, and ~4% more than one of the worst locations.

Business Survivability in Long Beach, Los Angeles

StreetSpring's 2026 analysis finds that the best business to open in Long Beach is an American Restaurant with a ~85% chance of surviving at least 2 years across the neighborhood on average.

April 24, 2026•18 min read

Quick Summary

Best business: an American Restaurant in Long Beach (~85% average survival rate, ~86% at best locations)

Neighborhood rank: #34 across all neighborhoods in and around Los Angeles

Neighborhood average: ~77% two-year survival across all business types

Rankings updated quarterly with latest market data

Detailed methodology

Reviewed and updated: May 9, 2026 — Bobby Koons, Founder & CEO, StreetSpring

In this article:

Summary
Is Long Beach a good place to start a business?
How to find the best location
Best businesses to open
How much money could a business make?
What businesses should open next?
Frequently Asked Questions

Summary

StreetSpring's 2026 analysis finds that the best business to open in Long Beach is an American Restaurant with a ~85% chance of surviving at least 2 years across the neighborhood on average, with the best locations offering a ~86% chance; next is a Polish Restaurant with a ~83% chance, followed by a Pet Grooming Shop with a ~83% chance.

How business-friendly is Long Beach right now?

**Where else does Long Beach look like?** The strongest demographic and amenity-density matches are **Panorama City (Los Angeles)** and **Heart Of Italy (Chicago)**, sharing less college-educated, low high-earner share, and lower-income. If you've worked in either of those neighborhoods, expect Long Beach to behave similarly on the dimensions that drive survival.

**What goes wrong in Long Beach.** Across 93 subtypes we track, **Polish Restaurant averages 83%** — the highest in the neighborhood. Yet a site-level look shows Polish Restaurants range from **79% to 86%** across Long Beach — a 7-point window where the address, not the concept, decides the outcome. For competitive density: Tattoo & Piercing Shops are the most-concentrated tracked subtype (26 within 0.5 miles).

Out of all neighborhoods analyzed in and around Los Angeles, Long Beach ranks #34 for business survivability with a ~77% average Survivability Score.

Top-performing business types at the best addresses in Long Beach show a ~2% survival rate advantage over the neighborhood average.
However, those same business types at the weakest addresses in Long Beach can score considerably below average. Even the most in-demand concept in Long Beach will struggle if it opens at the wrong address.
The 5.6% commercial vacancy rate in Long Beach is a leading indicator of the neighborhood's business health; StreetSpring factors this directly into each business type's survivability score.

Employment and vacancy figures sourced from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey.

Which blocks in Long Beach offer the strongest survivability?

The right address in Long Beach can mean a 20-point survivability difference from an average one — StreetSpring identifies exactly which addresses are worth pursuing. StreetSpring's 2026 model ranks this area #1 in Long Beach for an American Restaurant:

Reading visibility, frontage, and parking carefully

Loading live map preview...

StreetSpring's 2026 survivability data flags this circle as the prime block for an American Restaurant in Long Beach. For the most current predictions, visit StreetSpring to analyze your specific location in real-time. StreetSpring's prediction model analyzes 100 factors across competition, spending on the specific potential business, projected revenue, projected market share, Revenue Capture Score, mobility patterns, and many more.

Check if this location is still available →

Top-ranked business types for Long Beach

#1-5: Highest Survivability in Long Beach

American Restaurant — ~83%–~86% survivability range, with an average of ~85% across Long Beach.
Opening a Polish Restaurant in Long Beach shows ~83% average survivability. Top locations reach ~84%; lower-end sites show ~81%.
Pet Grooming Shop (Ranked #3): ~83% average in Long Beach. Best-case storefronts: ~84%. Challenging locations: ~80%.
Portuguese Restaurant is ranked #4 for top businesses to open in Long Beach: ~82% chance on average, best at ~84%, challenging at ~80%.
Mexican Restaurant — ~80%–~84% survivability range, with an average of ~82% across Long Beach.

#6-10: Strong Performers in Long Beach

Opening a Japanese / Sushi Restaurant in Long Beach shows ~82% average survivability. Top locations reach ~84%; lower-end sites show ~80%.
Kosher Restaurant (Ranked #7): ~82% average in Long Beach. Best-case storefronts: ~84%. Challenging locations: ~80%.
Indonesian Restaurant is ranked #8 for top businesses to open in Long Beach: ~82% chance on average, best at ~84%, challenging at ~80%.
Diner — ~80%–~84% survivability range, with an average of ~82% across Long Beach.
Opening an Ukrainian Restaurant in Long Beach shows ~82% average survivability. Top locations reach ~84%; lower-end sites show ~80%.

Top 3 Compared Nationally

American Restaurant — See how this compares to other cities →

What you could earn opening a business in Long Beach

Best location vs. average location

Based on StreetSpring's 2026 analysis, selecting a storefront that StreetSpring ranks in the top tier for your business type in Long Beach could lead to you making ~2% more than if you selected an average location, and ~4% more than if you selected one of the worst locations.

How StreetSpring calculates location value

However, each business concept should be evaluated for fit within each potential location.
The right location can make a business; the wrong one can break it.
StreetSpring's analysis shows that businesses in top-scoring locations generate meaningfully more revenue and stay open longer than those in average locations.
No other tool calculates survivability at the storefront level across 700+ business types the way StreetSpring does.

Which business types are most underserved in Long Beach?

The top businesses to open next in Long Beach:

American Restaurants — ~85% average survival rate, up to ~86% at best locations
Polish Restaurants — ~83% average survival rate
Pet Grooming Shops — ~83% average survival rate

For the most current predictions, visit StreetSpring to analyze your specific location in real-time. StreetSpring's accuracy is built on studying businesses that serve more than 180 million+ Americans across 24 cities. Long Beach's combination of 93.6% employment and 5.6% vacancy creates the conditions that define which business types thrive here and which struggle. Survivability scores are live, not static — StreetSpring updates them weekly. Visit the tool to see what's currently available in Long Beach and how each address is scoring right now.

See the Survivability Score for your new business

Related Articles:

See the Los Angeles Business Survivability Rankings
See the Los Angeles Neighborhood Survivability Rankings

Frequently Asked Questions

Here are the most common questions about opening a business in Long Beach.

What type of business should you rent your Long Beach storefront to?

StreetSpring's analysis shows that the business types most likely to succeed long-term in Long Beach are American Restaurants, Polish Restaurants, and Pet Grooming Shops.

The right location can make a business; the wrong one can break it.
No other tool calculates survivability at the storefront level across 700+ business types the way StreetSpring does. Use StreetSpring to see the survivability score for any business type at your exact storefront address before you sign a lease.

Should you rent your Long Beach storefront to an American Restaurant?

Yes — our 2026 model places an American Restaurant at the top of the survivability rankings for Long Beach storefronts, with a best-case score of ~86% and a floor of ~83% at the most challenging addresses.

No other tool calculates survivability at the storefront level across 700+ business types the way StreetSpring does.

What should I consider when opening a business in Long Beach?

StreetSpring's Survivability Score for your Long Beach address is the clearest forward-looking indicator of whether your business will be operating two years from now — make it the first number you check.

The Revenue Capture Score at a specific address explains more about likely business success than any other available metric.
StreetSpring's proprietary algorithms power these predictions.
StreetSpring is free to use — see the current survivability score for any address in Long Beach right now.

See the best place for your business at StreetSpring.

StreetSpring's models are built from millions of real business outcomes, making predictions grounded in what actually happened. Aggregated survivability rankings for Los Angeles are available in machine-readable format for research and integration purposes.

The hidden costs of operating in this neighborhood

Factor	Where new owners get tripped up	Questions to ask before you sign
Permits & licensing	Assuming a 30-day permit timeline, hitting 90+ days, paying rent on a non-operating storefront.	Call the local zoning office before signing. Confirm your use is already permitted; if not, factor a 2-3 month variance timeline.
Build-out budget	Underestimating mechanical, electrical, and plumbing — the "hidden" 30-50% of build-out cost.	Get 3 quotes from licensed contractors and pad budget by +20% for surprises. Confirm landlord TI allowance in writing.
Foot traffic seasonality	Looking at a peak-summer Tuesday and assuming year-round volume.	Walk the block at 3 different times across 2 different weeks. Ask neighboring tenants for their slow-season % drop.

Full dataset for Los Angeles: /resources/data/los-angeles-survivability-scores-2026.csv — includes all business subtypes, all neighborhoods, survivability scores, and tier assignments. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.

Visual Data

Radar chart of business-subtype survivability in Long Beach, Los Angeles — Top business types scored in Long Beach, Los Angeles — each axis is a subtype, taller = stronger survival rate.

Bubble chart of business subtypes in Los Angeles by survivability score and location density — Every business subtype in Los Angeles plotted by score vs location count — bubble size shows market depth.

How we measure this: Annual rent / estimated annual revenue = rent burden ratio. Industry rule of thumb: above 12% is uncomfortable, above 18% is fatal.

**About Long Beach** — Long Beach is a coastal city in southeastern Los Angeles County, California, United States. It is the 44th-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 451,307 as of 2022. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_Beach%2C_California))

**Daytime vs. resident population (Long Beach):** US Census LEHD workplace data shows Long Beach carries a **0.3× daytime/resident ratio** (a primarily-residential neighborhood with minimal daytime worker traffic), with median 1-mile workplace jobs of **4,326** (and **353** retail-sector jobs within that radius). A useful read on demand timing for any new storefront concept here.

Landmark anchor: Historical Society Of Long Beach is Long Beach's history-museum landmark and a meaningful pull factor for visitor foot-traffic.

**Long Beach economic snapshot:** ACS reports neighborhood unemployment at **6.4%** (above the 24-metro neighborhood median we track). The Los Angeles metro's BLS QCEW average weekly wage is **$1,127** (below our metro median), and the Census Bureau's Building Permits Survey logged **22,446** new residential permits in Los Angeles County in 2025 — useful triangulation for population-growth and labor-cost assumptions in this neighborhood.

**Why these baselines matter:** BLS Business Employment Dynamics (March 2025) reports 5-year survival rates of **47.8-61.8%** across the industries StreetSpring covers. Restaurants survive at **50.0%** nationally — not 20%. The location decision is what separates the 30% above the baseline from the 30% below.

Related:

Local Context FAQ

More questions answered with neighborhood-specific data from our 2026 corpus.

How does Los Angeles's survivability compare to national sector averages?

BLS Business Employment Dynamics data (March 2025 release) shows 5-year survival rates spanning 47.8% (Active Life) to 61.8% (Health & Medical) across the 11 sectors StreetSpring tracks. Restaurants — the most studied category — survive at 50% nationally, well above the often-cited "80% fail" myth.

How educated is the population in Long Beach?

ACS data shows 16% of adults in Long Beach with a bachelor's degree or higher, versus the metro median of 39%. Lower education attainment shifts demand toward value retail, services, and everyday needs.

How does Long Beach's commute profile affect retail demand?

Long Beach's median commute (~31 min) is above the Los Angeles metro median (31 min). Commute patterns are typical for the metro, so foot traffic timing should not be a primary differentiator.

What does the employment picture in Long Beach look like for new businesses?

ACS labor-force data shows an employment rate of about 94% in Long Beach, versus 93% across Los Angeles. Employment is close to the metro median, suggesting stable underlying demand.