2026 Compare Cities Cost of Living:
Long Beach, CA vs Petaluma, CA

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Highlights
Is it cheaper to live in Petaluma or is it cheaper to live in Long Beach?
- Petaluma is 6.1% less expensive than Long Beach.

Which city has more affordable housing, Petaluma or Long Beach?
- Petaluma housing costs are 10.9% more expensive than Long Beach housing costs.

Is Health Care more affordable in Long Beach or is Health Care more affordable in Petaluma.
- Health related expenses are 27.2% more in Petaluma.
 Long Beach, CAPetaluma, CAUnited States
 Overall  Unlock151.8100
 Food & Groceries101.9  Unlock100
 Health  Unlock110.3100
 Housing254.0  Unlock100
 Median Home Cost  Unlock$839,600$338,100
 Utilities97  Unlock100
 Transportation  Unlock113.1100
 Miscellaneous133.4  Unlock100
100 = National Average (Below 100 means cheaper than the US average. Above 100 means more expensive.)
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Reviews for Long Beach    45 Reviews

Local born and bred. This place is going down the drain. Crime is up, housing is up, yuppies finding nothing wrong with it since they want to validate spending 3k on a 2  More

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Angelique · 
Over 6 years ago

I love Long Beach. I especially shoreline village and the aquarium of the pacific. The only big problem here (for me) is crime. Otherwise, nice  More

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Over 8 years ago

The cost of living is extremely high and there are way too many apartments or multi unit homes which have no parking. But with everyone living on top of each other it  More

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Reviews for Petaluma    16 Reviews

I agree with the low star reviews. Been here for 25 years, raised a family and seen everything turn to the left and worse. Weather is glorious, love the old Victorians  More

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We’ve lived here for 3 years and we love it. It has taken some time to grow on us. We moved from SF where we had lived over 15 years, we were not used to one year leases  More

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I’ve lived here a couple of years (after living in others parts of the Bay Area for 15+ years) and I love it! Great neighborhoods, friendly folks, good schools with  More

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