A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | CH | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9
San Luis Obispo County | |
|---|---|
| County of San Luis Obispo | |
      Images, from top down, left to right: Cerro San Luis (Mountain) in San Luis Obispo, a vineyard in Paso Robles, Pismo Beach, Mission San Miguel Arcángel, Neptune Pool at Hearst Castle, Morro Rock | |
 Flag  Seal  Logo | |
| Motto: "Not For Ourselves Alone" | |
 Interactive map of San Luis Obispo County | |
 Location in the state of California | |
| Country | United States |
| State | California |
| Region | California Central Coast |
| Incorporated | February 18, 1850[1] |
| Named for | Saint Louis, Bishop of Toulouse |
| County seat | San Luis Obispo |
| Largest city (Population) | San Luis Obispo |
| Largest city (Area) | Atascadero |
| Government | |
| • Type | Council–Administration |
| • Body | San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors [2][3][4][5][6] |
| • Chair[7] | John Peschong (R) |
| • Vice Chair[7] | Debbie Arnold (R) |
| • Supervisors[7] | |
| • County Administrator[8] | Wade Horton |
| Area | |
| • Total | 3,616 sq mi (9,370 km2) |
| • Land | 3,299 sq mi (8,540 km2) |
| • Water | 317 sq mi (820 km2) |
| Highest elevation | 5,109 ft (1,557 m) |
| Population (2020) | |
| • Total | 282,424 |
| • Density | 86/sq mi (33/km2) |
| Time zone | UTC-8 (Pacific Time Zone) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC-7 (Pacific Daylight Time) |
| Area code | 805 |
| Congressional district | 24th |
| Website | https://www.slocounty.ca.gov/ |
San Luis Obispo County (/sæn ˌluːɪs oʊˈbɪspoʊ/ ⓘ), officially the County of San Luis Obispo, is a county on the Central Coast of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 282,424.[10] The county seat is San Luis Obispo.[11]
Junípero Serra founded the Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa in 1772, and San Luis Obispo grew around it. The small size of the county's communities, scattered along the beaches, coastal hills, and mountains of the Santa Lucia range, provides a wide variety of coastal and inland hill ecologies to support fishing, agriculture, and tourist activities.
California Polytechnic State University has almost 20,000 students. Tourism, especially for the wineries, is popular. Grapes and other agriculture products are an important part of the economy. San Luis Obispo County is the third largest producer of wine in California, surpassed only by Sonoma and Napa counties. Strawberries are the largest agricultural crop in the county.[12]
The town of San Simeon is located at the foot of the ridge where newspaper publisher William Randolph Hearst built Hearst Castle. Other coastal towns (listed from north to south) include Cambria, Cayucos, Morro Bay, and Los Osos -Baywood Park. These cities and villages are located northwest of the city of San Luis Obispo. To the south are Avila Beach and the Five Cities region. The Five Cities originally were: Arroyo Grande, Grover Beach (then known as Grover City), Oceano, Fair Oaks and Halcyon. Today, the Five Cities region consists of Pismo Beach, Grover Beach, Arroyo Grande, Oceano, and Halcyon (basically the area from Pismo Beach to Oceano). Just south of the Five Cities, San Luis Obispo County borders northern Santa Barbara County. Inland, the cities of Paso Robles, Templeton, and Atascadero lie along the Salinas River, near the Paso Robles wine region. San Luis Obispo lies south of Atascadero and north of the Five Cities region.
History
The prehistory of San Luis Obispo County is strongly influenced by the Chumash people. There has been significant settlement here at least as early as the Millingstone Horizon thousands of years ago. Important settlements existed in coastal areas such as Morro Bay and Los Osos.[13][14]
Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa was founded on September 1, 1772, in the area that is now the city of San Luis Obispo. The namesake of the mission, city and county is Saint Louis of Toulouse, the young bishop of Toulouse (Obispo and Tolosa in Spanish) in 1297.
San Luis Obispo County was one of the original counties of California, created in 1850 at the time of statehood.
The Salinas River Valley, a region that figures strongly in several John Steinbeck novels, stretches north from San Luis Obispo County.
Geography
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 3,616 square miles (9,370 km2), of which 3,299 square miles (8,540 km2) is land and 317 square miles (820 km2) (comprising 8.8%) is water.[15]
Climate
San Luis Obispo County has three main climate types. BSk climate can mainly be found in the eastern portions of the county, along with certain smaller areas in the north. Csa climate can mainly be found in the central portions of the counties, in communities such as Paso Robles. The rest of the county is made up of the Csb climate type. The Csb warm-summer mediterranean type climate together with the county's varied landscapes reminds visitors of European locales.[16]
Adjacent counties
National protected areas
- Carrizo Plain National Monument (part)
- Guadalupe-Nipomo Dunes National Wildlife Refuge (part)
- Los Padres National Forest (part)
Marine Protected Areas
- Piedras Blancas State Marine Reserve and Marine Conservation Area
- Cambria State Marine Conservation Area
- White Rock (Cambria) State Marine Conservation Area
- Morro Bay State Marine Recreational Management Area and Morro Bay State Marine Reserve
- Point Buchon State Marine Reserve and Marine Conservation Area
Demographics
| Census | Pop. | Note | %± |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1850 | 336 | — | |
| 1860 | 1,782 | 430.4% | |
| 1870 | 4,772 | 167.8% | |
| 1880 | 9,142 | 91.6% | |
| 1890 | 16,072 | 75.8% | |
| 1900 | 16,637 | 3.5% | |
| 1910 | 19,383 | 16.5% | |
| 1920 | 21,893 | 12.9% | |
| 1930 | 29,613 | 35.3% | |
| 1940 | 33,246 | 12.3% | |
| 1950 | 51,417 | 54.7% | |
| 1960 | 81,044 | 57.6% | |
| 1970 | 105,690 | 30.4% | |
| 1980 | 155,435 | 47.1% | |
| 1990 | 217,162 | 39.7% | |
| 2000 | 246,681 | 13.6% | |
| 2010 | 269,637 | 9.3% | |
| 2020 | 282,424 | 4.7% | |
| 2023 (est.) | 281,639 | [17] | −0.3% |
| U.S. Decennial Census[18] 1790–1960[19] 1900–1990[20] 1990–2000[21] 2010[22] 2020[23] | |||
2020 census
| Race / Ethnicity | Pop 2010[22] | Pop 2020[23] | % 2010 | % 2020 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| White alone (NH) | 191,696 | 183,468 | 71.09% | 64.96% |
| Black or African American alone (NH) | 5,128 | 4,330 | 1.90% | 1.53% |
| Native American or Alaska Native alone (NH) | 1,367 | 1,136 | 0.51% | 0.40% |
| Asian alone (NH) | 8,106 | 10,001 | 3.01% | 3.54% |
| Pacific Islander alone (NH) | 346 | 340 | 0.13% | 0.12% |
| Some Other Race alone (NH) | 784 | 1,614 | 0.29% | 0.57% |
| Mixed Race/Multi-Racial (NH) | 6,237 | 13,614 | 2.31% | 4.82% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 55,973 | 67,921 | 20.76% | 24.05% |
| Total | 269,637 | 282,424 | 100.00% | 100.00% |
Note: the US Census treats Hispanic/Latino as an ethnic category. This table excludes Latinos from the racial categories and assigns them to a separate category. Hispanics/Latinos can be of any race.
2011
| Population, race, and income | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total population[24] | 267,871 | ||||
| White[24] | 224,800 | 83.9% | |||
| Black or African American[24] | 5,882 | 2.2% | |||
| American Indian or Alaska Native[24] | 2,625 | 1.0% | |||
| Asian[24] | 8,693 | 3.2% | |||
| Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander[24] | 280 | 0.1% | |||
| Some other race[24] | 16,666 | 6.2% | |||
| Two or more races[24] | 8,925 | 3.3% | |||
| Hispanic or Latino (of any race)[25] | 54,537 | 20.4% | |||
| Per capita income[26] | $30,204 | ||||
| Median household income[27] | $58,630 | ||||
| Median family income[28] | $74,841 | ||||
Places by population, race, and income
| Places by population and race | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Place | Type[29] | Population[24] | White[24] | Other[24] [note 1] |
Asian[24] | Black or African American[24] |
Native American[24] [note 2] |
Hispanic or Latino (of any race)[25] |
| Arroyo Grande | City | 17,132 | 85.8% | 6.7% | 5.0% | 1.6% | 0.8% | 12.7% |
| Atascadero | City | 28,194 | 88.5% | 5.7% | 1.7% | 1.7% | 2.4% | 13.7% |
| Avila Beach | CDP | 1,086 | 91.4% | 8.6% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 2.2% |
| Blacklake | CDP | 1,014 | 97.1% | 0.0% | 1.5% | 0.0% | 1.4% | 0.8% |
| Callender | CDP | 1,531 | 96.3% | 2.2% | 1.6% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 42.5% |
| Cambria | CDP | 6,229 | 91.7% | 4.3% | 2.7% | 0.0% | 1.3% | 17.1% |
| Cayucos | CDP | 2,822 | 97.5% | 1.8% | 0.5% | 0.0% | 0.2% | 6.0% |
| Creston | CDP | 94 | 79.8% | 20.2% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% |
| Edna | CDP | 80 | 100.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% |
| El Paso de Robles (Paso Robles) | City | 29,270 | 76.6% | 15.1% | 2.0% | 4.5% | 1.8% | 35.1% |
| Garden Farms | CDP | 335 | 100.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% |
| Grover Beach | City | 13,175 | 81.6% | 9.9% | 6.0% | 1.4% | 1.0% | 21.0% |
| Lake Nacimiento | CDP | 2,397 | 96.0% | 4.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 12.3% |
| Los Berros | CDP | 920 | 86.2% | 13.8% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 19.8% |
| Los Osos | CDP | 14,950 | 85.3% | 7.5% | 6.3% | 0.4% | 0.5% | 12.4% |
| Los Ranchos | CDP | 1,578 | 91.4% | 3.1% | 1.5% | 0.8% | 3.2% | 2.1% |
| Morro Bay | City | 10,263 | 96.0% | 1.7% | 1.8% | 0.1% | 0.4% | 17.8% |
| Nipomo | CDP | 16,622 | 84.1% | 12.7% | 1.3% | 1.3% | 0.6% | 35.0% |
| Oak Shores | CDP | 187 | 100.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 5.3% |
| Oceano | CDP | 7,456 | 77.3% | 19.4% | 1.5% | 0.0% | 1.8% | 47.6% |