Is Redondo Beach a good place to live? The short answer
For many people, yes, if the budget works. Four numbers frame the decision:
- $1,473,478: Zillow's typical home value in September 2026, a record for the series and 80.2% above ten years earlier.
- $3,483: Zillow's typical monthly rent, up 22.9% in five years.
- $150,245: the Census median household income (ACS 2020-2024), against $90,112 for Los Angeles County.
- 1,533: property crimes reported in 2025 (California DOJ), up 11.9% from 2019, while violent crime was close to its 2019 level.
The rest of this page weighs what those numbers buy you: the waterfront, transit, parks and quieter inland streets, against the cost, older housing and the traffic that comes with a regional destination.
Pros of living in Redondo Beach
Pro: a harbor, a pier and a saltwater lagoon
Redondo Beach has more than a beach. King Harbor holds marinas, restaurants and hotels, the pier is the city's landmark, and Seaside Lagoon at 200 Portofino Way is a fenced saltwater lagoon fed from beyond the breakwater, open daily from Memorial Day to Labor Day. The city has invested in a joint harbor patrol and lifeguard facility and pier streetscape and parking upgrades, and has begun a King Harbor Amenities Plan.
Pro: the cheapest of the four beach cities
Zillow's typical home value of $1,473,478 compares with $1,719,205 in El Segundo, $2,272,277 in Hermosa Beach and $3,353,430 in Manhattan Beach (September 2026). If you want a South Bay beach city address, Redondo Beach is the lowest-priced entry.
Pro: home values have held up
Zillow's typical value rose 2.4% in the year to September 2026, 16.1% over five years and 80.2% over ten, and the September figure was a new high. Redfin's median sale price for the three months to September was $1,541,766, essentially unchanged on a year earlier.
Pro: a rail line to LAX
The Redondo Beach (Marine) station is the southern end of the Metro K Line, which connects toward LAX, Inglewood and the C and E Lines. In January 2026 the Metro board approved a K Line extension to the Torrance Transit Center along Hawthorne Boulevard, which Metro expects to carry about 4.9 million trips a year. The base Metro fare is $1.75.
Pro: parks with more than lawns
Hopkins Wilderness Park at 1102 Camino Real has campsites you can reserve overnight. Alta Vista Park has a racquet center for tennis, pickleball and racquetball. Aviation Park on Manhattan Beach Boulevard has two gyms, a dance room and a lighted track, and Dominguez Park has a dog park and Little League fields.
Pro: short trips without a car
The city says 70% of trips in the South Bay are three miles or less. In 2025 the city council adopted a Local Travel Network of low-speed streets with sharrows and signs for bikes, e-bikes and golf carts, connecting destinations across the city. Beach Cities Transit buses link North Redondo, the pier and neighboring cities.
Pro: a lower sales tax than most neighbors
The sales tax rate is 10.25% from October 1, 2026 (CDTFA), the same as Hermosa Beach and half a point below Torrance, Manhattan Beach and El Segundo at 10.75%. On a $50,000 car, that is $250 less than buying in those cities.
Pro: a settled place with low turnover
In the Census estimates, 88.6% of residents lived in the same home a year earlier, and more than half of homes are owner-occupied (53.4%). Neighbors tend to stay, which shows in the long tenure of owners: the median owner with a mortgage pays $3,995 a month in housing costs, far less than a new buyer would.
Pro: attached homes as a way in
About 13.4% of the city's housing units are single-family attached homes, mostly townhouses, and Redfin counted 70 townhouse sales across the two ZIPs over the three months to September 2026. In 90278, the townhouse median of $1,438,502 was about $126,000 below the detached-house median, and condos sold for under $1 million in both ZIPs.
Cons of living in Redondo Beach
Con: buying takes a very high income
With 20% down on the typical $1,473,478 home and Freddie Mac's 7.24% rate (week of October 29, 2026), principal, interest and property tax come to about $9,415 a month. Lenders' 28% guideline turns that into an income of roughly $404,000, more than two and a half times the city's median household income.
Con: rents keep climbing
Zillow's typical rent of $3,483 is up 2.7% in a year and 22.9% in five. Renting at that level and keeping rent to 30% of gross pay needs about $139,000 a year. The Census median gross rent of $2,691 is lower partly because it includes long-standing leases.
Con: old housing stock
The Census median year built in Redondo Beach is 1973, and only 0.6% of homes were built in 2020 or later. Expect older wiring, plumbing, roofs and windows, and budget for inspections, upgrades and higher insurance premiums on older homes.
Con: property crime is above its 2019 level
Property crimes reported by the Redondo Beach Police Department rose from 1,370 in 2019 to a peak of 1,722 in 2024, driven by larceny-theft, then fell to 1,533 in 2025. That is still 11.9% above 2019, while Los Angeles County fell 1.2% over the same years. Violent crime was 161 in 2025, close to 160 in 2019. See our Redondo Beach crime data page for the full table.
Con: most commuting is still by car
The Census mean commute is 27.0 minutes, and only 0.6% of workers use public transit; 29.3% work from home. The K Line station is in North Redondo, so most of South Redondo is a drive or bus ride from rail, and Pacific Coast Highway and the boulevards to the I-405 are busy at rush hour.
Con: crowds and parking near the coast
The pier, King Harbor, Riviera Village and the South Bay Galleria draw visitors from across the region. On summer weekends, homes near them deal with traffic, parking pressure and noise, and visitors are part of why per-resident crime rates look higher in beach cities.
Con: an extra transfer tax when you sell
Redondo Beach charges its own documentary transfer tax of $2.20 per $1,000 on top of the county's $1.10, which few Los Angeles County cities do. On a $1.5 million sale, the city share alone is about $3,300; see our California transfer tax guide.
What living in Redondo Beach is like
Climate in Redondo Beach
Redondo Beach has a mild coastal climate, with cool, often cloudy mornings in late spring and early summer and warm, dry late summers. Air conditioning needs vary by home and distance from the water. Ask the seller for a year of utility bills to see how a specific home performs.
Getting around Redondo Beach
Pacific Coast Highway runs the length of the city, and Artesia, Manhattan Beach, Aviation and Hawthorne Boulevards carry traffic toward the I-405. Beach Cities Transit, run by the city, takes TAP cards and offers resident pass subsidies through the City Hall transit office at 415 Diamond Street. The city's micromobility map shows bike lanes, routes and bike parking.
Things to do in Redondo Beach
On the water, the options include the pier, the harbor's marinas, Seaside Lagoon in summer and the beach south toward Riviera Village. Inland, the city runs classes at its parks and community centers, a cultural arts program and a public library with a main branch near City Hall and a North Branch at 2000 Artesia Boulevard.
Salary needed to live in Redondo Beach
MIT's living wage model for Los Angeles County (February 2026) sets these minimum pre-tax incomes: $60,161 for one adult with no children, $104,483 for one adult with a child, $79,296 for a couple with one earner, and $140,735 for a family of four with two earners. Those budgets assume county-average housing costs; MIT allows $22,471 a year for a single adult's housing, about $1,873 a month, well below a typical Redondo Beach rent.
A more realistic budget starts from the local rent or mortgage. Renting at $3,483 points to about $139,000 a year. Buying a condo near the $985,000 Redfin median in 90277 points to roughly $270,000 before HOA dues, and buying the typical home to about $404,000. Our Redondo Beach cost of living page breaks down every line.
Who's moving to and from Redondo Beach
Most moves into Redondo Beach are local. In the Census estimates, 8.1% of residents had moved in the past year from elsewhere in Los Angeles County, 1.4% from another California county, 1.2% from another state and 0.7% from abroad. The city's population was 69,291 in the 2020-2024 estimates.
Residents skew toward established households: the median age is 41.1, 15.8% of residents are 65 or older, and 27.5% of households include someone 65 or older. Working from home is common, at 29.3% of workers. With so few homes built recently, new arrivals mostly buy or rent existing homes as current owners sell, which keeps inventory tight: Redfin counted 136 homes for sale in the city at the end of the three months to September 2026, about 2.3 months of supply.
Retiring in Redondo Beach
Redondo Beach runs three senior centers, at Anderson Park, Perry Park and Veterans Park, with classes, entertainment and events, and its Transit Division runs the WAVE Dial-A-Ride service alongside Beach Cities Transit. On Metro, riders 62 and older never pay more than $2.50 a day or $5 over seven days. If you are selling a home elsewhere in California, Prop 19 may let you carry your Prop 13 base value to a Redondo Beach purchase; see our Prop 19 guide. Many North Redondo townhouses have stairs, so check layouts before you buy, and compare our best places to retire in California.
Where to live in Redondo Beach
The city divides into South Redondo (ZIP 90277), with the pier, King Harbor, the Esplanade and Riviera Village, and North Redondo (ZIP 90278), with Artesia Boulevard, the city's larger parks and the Metro station. Zillow's typical value was $1,641,898 in 90277 and $1,378,065 in 90278. Our Redondo Beach neighborhoods guide profiles 14 areas, and the ZIP code guide compares the two ZIPs. For schools, see our Redondo Beach schools page and confirm assignment with the district.
Should you move to Redondo Beach? A checklist
- Price the full monthly cost: mortgage or rent, property tax at about 1.13%, insurance, HOA dues and utilities.
- Decide between South Redondo and North Redondo by visiting both at rush hour and on a summer weekend.
- Confirm the city on the parcel record: some 90277 addresses are in Torrance.
- Order a full inspection; most homes are decades old.
- For condos and townhouses, read the reserve study, CC&Rs and balcony inspection reports.
- Check flood and tsunami maps for anything near the harbor.
- Look up crime around the address on the police department's data hub.
- Test the commute you will actually make, by car and by the K Line.
- Talk to our featured local agents about recent sales on the streets you like.