The numbers show that more and more people are choosing Long Beach to open their first business or to relocate an existing operation. In fact, during the past two years, the city has experienced a net gain of nearly 400 new businesses operating in the city. That number did not come from city hall business license statistics. Rather, it is data provided through the United States Postal Service (USPS) that was tabulated and analyzed by the Business Journal.

 

According to the USPS, on April 1, 2014, it delivered mail to 10,764 businesses located in a dozen Long Beach zip codes, including firms operating in office buildings, shopping centers, industrial parks, strip centers, storefronts, along business corridors, etc. The total does not include home-based businesses or mail delivered to PO boxes. Nearly two years later, on March 20, 2016, USPS reported mail delivery to 11,158 businesses – a net increase of 394. Nearly one-quarter of the gains – as shown in the chart below – were in Downtown Long Beach, primarily in the 90802 zip code.

 

The Business Journal calculated the data (each mail delivery address) by zip code (refer to map below for location of each zip code):