Yields across 293 ZIP codes in Los Angeles (Los Angeles County) range from 6.7% in Long Beach (90802) down to under 1% in Beverly Hills and the West Hollywood hills. That spread of roughly six percentage points is wider than the city-level gap between short-term rental and long-term rental gross yields, which means the ZIP code you pick shapes cash flow more than the rental strategy you run. Los Angeles is structurally a premium, appreciation-driven market; the ranking below shows which pockets still deliver income, and why.
Long Beach and Antelope Valley ZIPs Lead on Yield at 6.7%
The top-yielding ZIPs in Los Angeles County sit well outside the prestige westside and Hollywood Hills. They cluster in Long Beach, the Antelope Valley, and pockets of South LA where entry prices run well below the county median of $932,962 for a 3-bed house.
Gross yields = annual income / sale price. Based on 3-bed house medians. The dashboard shows every property type and bedroom count.
Why the Top Suburbs Lead: Cheap Entry, Sticky Rent
Long Beach (90802) leads the ranking because Long Beach's downtown core trades at roughly $502,888 while commanding $2,802 per month. The port, the Metro Blue Line connection to downtown LA, and California State University Long Beach create a deep tenant pool that does not follow single-family-home price dynamics. Rents in Long Beach are set by what commuters and students can pay, not by what hillside buyers will bid for a view, so the rent-to-price ratio holds up even as the wider county compresses.
Lancaster (93536) tells a different story. Lancaster sits in the Antelope Valley, 70 miles north of downtown LA over the Sierra Pelona mountains. Entry at $527,500 is possible because the commute is brutal and desert weather is punishing, but aerospace employment (Edwards Air Force Base, Northrop Grumman, Lockheed) and Metrolink connections anchor a stable workforce paying $2,942. This is a long-term rental suburb, not a short-term rental suburb; tourists do not drive to Lancaster.
Glendale (91203) is the outlier in the top tier, a closer-in Glendale ZIP where the yield premium comes from a denser mix of older apartment-style housing near the 134 and downtown Glendale's jobs corridor. Florence/Firestone (90001) and Lancaster (93534) round out the ranking with classic high-yield characteristics: modest house prices, solid rental demand from working families, and no pretence of prestige. On the short-term rental side, Long Beach has genuine tourism demand (Queen Mary, Aquarium of the Pacific, Shoreline Village), but the citywide prohibition on short-term rentals of investment properties means the 4.6% figure is largely theoretical for investors, Long Beach itself is a separate jurisdiction, but the Los Angeles city ZIPs in this ranking are not. Lancaster's short-term ceiling is in any case capped by limited leisure demand.
The Yield-Price Trade-Off Is Brutal in Los Angeles
An investor entering at $502,888 in Long Beach (90802) versus $932,962 at the county median faces a fundamentally different capital-risk profile. The top-yielding ZIP demands roughly half the capital of the median, and less than a tenth of what the most expensive ZIP at $6,850,000 requires. Cheaper suburbs yield more because rent does not fall as fast as price; a household will pay $2,800 a month for shelter in Long Beach even when the house costs half what it would in Santa Monica.
Premium suburbs compress yields because buyers are paying for amenity, school catchments, and expected capital growth, not for rental income. Los Angeles is the archetype of this dynamic. The county's median gross yield of 3.7% sits below the state median of 4.0% and well under the US national median of 5.3%. Investors accept this because LA's long-run price appreciation has historically compensated for thin cash yields, but that is a bet on growth, not a cash-flow investment.
Premium Suburbs: High Rent, Thin Yields, Growth Thesis
For context, here is how some of Los Angeles's most in-demand ZIP codes compare. These are established areas where investors typically accept lower yields in exchange for capital growth, liquidity, and tenant quality.
High-demand suburbs for context. Same methodology as the yield ranking above.
These ZIPs yield less on long-term rental because the sale price captures decades of expected appreciation, proximity to beaches, hills, and studios, and a premium for tenant quality. The short-term rental yield does not rescue most of them: Los Angeles prohibits short-term rentals of investment properties citywide. Only primary residences qualify, with owner-occupants capped at 120 unhosted days per year unless they secure an Extended Home-Sharing permit at $1,066. For any investor buying a non-owner-occupied property within the city limits, the short-term yield figures are theoretical, not legally achievable.
What the Table Doesn't Show: Growth, Vacancy, and Regulation
A high yield can signal depressed prices rather than strong rents. Parts of South LA and the Antelope Valley trade cheaply because they carry crime perceptions, longer commutes, or weaker school ratings, and those factors can suppress capital growth for the full hold period. The Westside's thin yields look bad on paper but have historically delivered superior total returns (income plus appreciation) over 10-year holds. Yield is a snapshot of cash flow; it does not tell you what the property will be worth in 2036.
Vacancy risk also varies. High-yield ZIPs can have thinner rental pools in a downturn, and median rents can lag in fast-moving Long Beach or Glendale submarkets. Regulation is the bigger wildcard: Los Angeles prohibits short-term rentals of investment properties, limits owner-occupants to 120 unhosted days per year without the Extended Home-Sharing permit ($1,066), and layers a 14% Transient Occupancy Tax on top. The consequence is that any short-term rental strategy inside Los Angeles city limits is effectively off the table for investment properties, which pushes serious short-term operators into Long Beach (separate jurisdiction), unincorporated county areas, or further afield.
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LA Yields Trail California and the US National Median
Los Angeles County's median gross yield of 3.7% sits below California's state median of 4.0% and meaningfully below the US national median of 5.3%. Even the top-yielding ZIP at 6.7% only just exceeds the national average, while the county median falls short. The implication is clear: investors buying in LA are making an appreciation play, not a cash-flow play. For comparison, peer articles covering higher-yield US markets show ZIPs routinely yielding 8 to 10%, but those markets lack LA's structural demand drivers and long-run price growth.
These are county medians. Individual ZIP codes diverge significantly, and within each ZIP the numbers change further by property type and bedroom count. Explore rental data in the dashboard for full suburb-level breakdowns, or review the market score methodology and data sources underlying these figures. Data reflects market conditions as of April 2026.
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This information is for educational purposes only and should not be considered financial or legal advice. Regulations and market conditions change frequently. Verify current rules with local authorities before making investment decisions.