Space Beach Real Estate

Moving to Long Beach for Work in Aerospace? Here's What You Need to Know Before You Buy.

Long Beach is experiencing the biggest aerospace hiring surge in a generation. If you're one of the thousands of professionals relocating to Southern California for a role at Anduril, Voyager Technologies, True Anomaly, Rocket Lab, or one of the other companies clustered around Long Beach Airport — this is the guide I wish someone had handed me when I first started working this market.

They're calling it Space Beach. It's not a marketing term dreamed up by a tourism board - it's the name the aerospace community itself has given to the stretch of industrial and office space near Long Beach Airport where some of the most consequential defense and space companies in the country are building, hiring, and growing at a pace that's reshaping the local housing market in real time.

As a real estate advisor who specializes in helping relocating professionals find the right home in this market, I've spent the last year studying every angle of this wave — the companies, the neighborhoods, the commute patterns, the price points, and the financial considerations that come with moving to California from states like Colorado, Virginia, or Ohio. This page is everything I've learned, built specifically for people in your position.

What's Happening in Space Beach Right Now

The concentration of aerospace and defense companies around Long Beach Airport has been building for years, but 2025 and 2026 have accelerated the timeline dramatically. Three major expansion announcements alone are bringing thousands of new jobs to the area — most of them filled by professionals relocating from out of state.

Anduril Industries — The Anchor

Anduril announced in January 2026 that it's investing $1 billion to build a 1.18-million-square-foot campus at Douglas Park, right next to Long Beach Airport. The campus will span six buildings — roughly 750,000 square feet of office space and 435,000 square feet of industrial R&D — and is expected to employ approximately 5,500 people when it reaches full capacity in mid-2027. The campus sits on land that once housed Boeing's C-17 production line, and it will become Anduril's largest facility in Southern California. The company, currently valued at over $30 billion, builds autonomous defense systems including drones, missiles, and autonomous fighter jets. Their headquarters remains in Costa Mesa, about 30 minutes south, but the Long Beach campus is where much of the engineering, prototyping, and development work will happen. Many of these roles will be filled by professionals relocating from Anduril's offices in Denver, the DC-Virginia corridor, Ohio, and other locations around the country.

Voyager Technologies — Moving In Now

Voyager Technologies, a Denver-headquartered defense and space company, announced its Long Beach expansion in March 2026. They're opening a 140,000-square-foot facility at 4350 E. Conant Street, right in the heart of the Space Beach corridor. This isn't a future plan — occupancy is immediate, with full operations expected by the end of 2026. The facility will employ 150 to 200 people in roles spanning AI-enabled software, advanced electronics, space infrastructure, and defense systems. Voyager has been actively collaborating with Anduril and True Anomaly, which signals that the Space Beach ecosystem is starting to function as an integrated cluster — not just a collection of individual companies.

True Anomaly — Space Defense from Colorado

True Anomaly, headquartered in Centennial, Colorado, opened a 90,000-square-foot factory in Long Beach in early 2025 — their first facility in California. The company builds spacecraft, mission software, and defense payloads for the U.S. Space Force, and they chose Long Beach specifically to be closer to Space Systems Command in El Segundo and to tap into the region's deep aerospace talent pool. They've grown from around 150 employees to a target of over 450, with continued hiring in Long Beach, Denver, Colorado Springs, and Washington, D.C.

The Broader Ecosystem

Anduril, Voyager, and True Anomaly are the latest arrivals, but they're joining an established and growing group. Rocket Lab, headquartered in Long Beach with over 2,600 employees globally, is preparing for the debut of its Neutron medium-lift launch vehicle. Vast, also based in Long Beach, is building the first commercial space station and has grown to a 950-person workforce. Relativity Space occupies over a million square feet at Douglas Park, building 3D-printed reusable rockets under new CEO Eric Schmidt. JetZero is designing a radically new commercial aircraft shape. And there are others — ABL Space Systems, SpinLaunch, Rebel Space Technologies — all part of a cluster that now employs roughly 6,000 aerospace workers in the city, with $750 million in government contracts flowing through Long Beach facilities.

The Neighborhoods: Where Aerospace Professionals Are Actually Buying

Every person I work with who's relocating to Space Beach asks the same question first: where should I live? The answer depends on your budget, whether you have kids, and how much you care about commute time versus coastal lifestyle. Here's a breakdown of the neighborhoods that make the most sense for someone commuting to the Douglas Park area near Long Beach Airport — which is where the Anduril, Voyager, and Relativity campuses sit, and where most Space Beach companies are concentrated.

What to Know About Moving to California from Colorado, Virginia, or Ohio

If you're coming from Denver, Colorado Springs, the DC-Virginia corridor, or Ohio — which covers most of the relocation corridors feeding Space Beach — there are a few financial realities worth understanding before you start shopping for homes.

State income tax. Colorado has a flat 4.4% state income tax. Virginia ranges from 2% to 5.75%. Ohio ranges from 0% to 3.5%. California's top marginal rate is 13.3%, and for professionals earning in the $150K–$300K range, you'll feel it. This doesn't mean California is a bad deal — but it does mean your housing budget math needs to account for lower take-home pay than you're used to.

Property tax. Here's where it tilts back in your favor. California's property taxes are capped by Proposition 13 at roughly 1% of the purchase price, and they can only increase by a maximum of 2% per year. In Colorado, effective property tax rates in metro Denver run 0.5% to 0.6% — but assessed values reset to market frequently. In Virginia and Ohio, effective rates are often 0.8% to 1.2% with regular reassessments. In California, you lock in your assessed value at purchase, which becomes increasingly favorable the longer you own the home.

Housing cost comparison. The median home price in Long Beach is currently around $825K. In metro Denver, median prices sit in the $575K–$625K range. In Northern Virginia, you'll find a wide range, but $700K–$900K is common for families in the defense industry corridor. The gap is real, but it's not as dramatic as people assume — especially when you factor in California's lower property taxes, the long-term Prop 13 advantage, and the fact that aerospace salaries in SoCal typically adjust upward to account for cost of living.

Understanding the Long Beach Housing Market in 2026

Long Beach home prices rose roughly 6.4% year over year as of February 2026, and the market is showing strong seller's-market conditions — particularly in the zip codes closest to the Space Beach campuses. Homes in the 90807 zip code (which includes Bixby Knolls and areas near Douglas Park) are sitting at a median around $1.3M for single-family homes, with the fastest-moving properties going under contract in under a week.

Inventory remains tight. Long Beach ended 2025 with about a 3.2-month supply of homes — well below the 5-to-6-month range that would indicate a balanced market. That means competition is real, particularly in the $800K to $1.2M range where most aerospace relocators are shopping. About 37% of homes in Long Beach sold above asking price in late 2025, which tells you that multiple-offer situations are common and buyers need to come prepared.

Here's what this means if you're relocating: the window to buy smart is before the Anduril campus reaches full occupancy in mid-2027. Right now, the market is pricing in the current wave of hiring at Voyager and True Anomaly. When 5,500 Anduril employees start arriving in earnest, demand in these neighborhoods will increase further. If you're planning to move in the next 12 to 18 months, acting earlier puts you ahead of that demand curve.

Your Relocation Package: What to Negotiate and What to Know

Most mid-to-senior-level aerospace professionals receive some form of relocation assistance. The specifics vary by company, but here's what you should be thinking about — and where a lot of relocators leave money on the table:

• Temporary housing: Most packages cover 30–90 days of temporary housing. Use this time wisely — don't rush into buying before you've seen the neighborhoods in person. But don't wait too long either. In a tight market, hesitation costs you options.
• Home sale assistance: Some companies offer guaranteed buyout programs or loss-on-sale protection for your current home. If your company offers this, understand the terms before you list. The timing of your Colorado or Virginia sale affects your California buying power.
• Closing cost reimbursement: This varies widely. Some companies cover full closing costs on both ends; others cap it. Know your number before you shop.
• Cost of living adjustment: For moves from lower-cost markets (Denver, Ohio) to SoCal, some companies adjust salary or provide a lump-sum differential. Ask directly — this is often negotiable and not offered unless you raise it.

The biggest financial opportunity most relocators miss: if you're selling a home in Colorado, Virginia, or Ohio and buying in California, you have two transactions. Structuring those correctly — timing, tax implications, mortgage strategy — can meaningfully impact your net outcome. This is exactly the kind of situation where having an advisor who understands the lending side (that's my background, from a $1B mortgage team) and who works with a financial planner makes a real difference.

Why the Space Beach Wave Is Different

Long Beach has been through aerospace booms before. Douglas Aircraft built planes here in the 1940s. McDonnell Douglas ran operations here for decades. Boeing produced the C-17 at the same Douglas Park site where Anduril is now building. When those companies scaled down, the city lost thousands of jobs and decades of institutional knowledge.

What's happening now is structurally different. These aren't branch offices or satellite plants — they're primary production, R&D, and engineering centers for companies at the leading edge of national defense and space technology. The U.S. government is pouring unprecedented investment into autonomous defense systems, commercial space stations, and next-generation launch vehicles. The companies clustered in Space Beach are the ones building those systems, and they're choosing Long Beach deliberately for its aerospace heritage, workforce pipeline, airport proximity, and access to port infrastructure.

For the housing market, this means demand isn't speculative — it's driven by real companies, real contracts, and real employees who need places to live. And the timeline isn't a single event. Voyager is moving in now. True Anomaly is already operational. Anduril's campus opens mid-2027. This is a sustained wave, not a spike.

Frequently Asked Questions

How far is the Anduril campus from the beach?

The Anduril campus at Douglas Park is about 4 miles from the nearest beach access in Long Beach and about 6 miles from Seal Beach. By car, you're looking at 10–15 minutes depending on time of day. If you live in Seal Beach or Belmont Shore, you can be at the beach on foot and at the office in under 20 minutes.

Is it better to rent first or buy right away?

It depends on your timeline and certainty. If your company offers temporary housing for 60–90 days, use that time to tour neighborhoods in person before committing. If you have a family and need to be settled before a school year starts, buying quickly may make more sense — but you'll want an agent who can walk you through options virtually before you arrive. I do FaceTime and Zoom neighborhood tours for out-of-state buyers regularly.

What should I expect to pay for a home near Space Beach?

For a single-family home within a 15-minute commute of the Douglas Park area, you're looking at roughly $800K to $1.5M depending on the neighborhood, size, and condition. Lakewood and parts of Long Beach offer the most affordable options in the $800K–$1M range. Seal Beach, South Huntington Beach, and Belmont Shore push into the $1.2M–$1.8M range. Condos and townhomes in the area start in the $500K–$700K range.

Are there good schools near Space Beach?

Yes. Los Alamitos Unified School District is consistently rated among the top districts in Orange County and is within a 10–15 minute commute of the campuses. Huntington Beach Union High School District and the elementary districts feeding into it are also strong. Within Long Beach Unified, neighborhoods like Bixby Knolls and the areas near El Dorado Park have well-regarded schools. School quality varies significantly by neighborhood in this part of SoCal, so it's worth discussing your priorities early in the search.

I'm selling a home in Colorado — can you help with that too?

I work with a vetted partner agent in the Denver metro area specifically for Space Beach relocations. When you sell your Colorado home through that referral, everything stays coordinated — timing, financing, closing dates — so you're not juggling two disconnected transactions. It's one of the most common situations I handle right now, and getting the sequence right matters more than most people realize.