San Luis Obispo County, California


San Luis Obispo County, officially the County of San Luis Obispo, is a county in Southern California. As of the 2010 census, the population was 269,637. The county seat is San Luis Obispo.
Junipero Serra founded the Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa in 1772 and downtown San Luis Obispo grew around the Mission. 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.
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 include Cambria, Cayucos, Morro Bay, and Los Osos -Baywood Park. These cities and villages are located northwest of San Luis Obispo city, and Avila Beach and the Five Cities Region to the south which were originally: Arroyo Grande, Grover Beach, 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, 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.
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 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 Steinbeck novels, stretches north from San Luis Obispo County. The remote California Valley near Soda Lake is the region most untouched by modernity. Travels through this area and the hills east of Highway 101 during wildflower season often include wine tasting at numerous wineries.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of, of which is land and is water.

Adjacent counties

National protected areas

2011

Places by population, race, and income

2010

The 2010 United States Census reported that San Luis Obispo County had a population of 269,637. The racial makeup of San Luis Obispo County was 222,756 White, 5,550 African American, 2,536 Native American, 8,507 Asian, 389 Pacific Islander, 19,786 from other races, and 10,113 from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 55,973 persons ; 17.7% of San Luis Obispo County is Mexican, 0.3% Puerto Rican, and 0.2% Salvadoran.

2000

As of the census of 2000, there were 246,681 residents, 92,739 households, and 58,611 families in the county. The population density was 75 people per square mile. There were 102,275 housing units at an average density of 31 per square mile. The racial makeup of the county was 84.6% White, 2.0% Black or African American, 1.0% Native American, 2.7% Asian, 0.1% Pacific Islander, 6.2% from other races, and 3.4% from two or more races. 16.3% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. 13.9% were of German, 11.4% English, 9.7% Irish, 6.1% American and 5.7% Italian ancestry according to Census 2000. 85.7% spoke English and 10.7% Spanish as their first language.
There were 92,739 households, out of which 28.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 50.40% were married couples living together, 9.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 36.8% were non-families. 26.0% of all households were made up of individuals, and 10.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.49 and the average family size was 3.01.
In the county, the population was spread out, with 21.7% under the age of 18, 13.6% from 18 to 24, 27.0% from 25 to 44, 23.3% from 45 to 64, and 14.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females there were 105.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 105.2 males.
The median income for a household in the county was $42,428, and the median income for a family was $52,447. Males had a median income of $40,726 versus $27,450 for females. The per capita income for the county was $21,864. About 6.8% of families and 12.8% of the population were below the poverty line, including 11.4% of those under age 18 and 5.9% of those age 65 or over.

Economy

The mainstays of the economy are California Polytechnic State University with its almost 20,000 students, tourism, and agriculture.
San Luis Obispo County's economy is primarily a service economy. Service jobs account for 38% of the County's jobs, government jobs accounts for 20.7%, and manufacturing jobs represent 6% of the County's jobs.
San Luis Obispo County is the third largest producer of wine in California, surpassed only by Sonoma and Napa Counties. Wine grapes are the second largest agricultural crop in the county, and the wine production they support creates a direct economic impact and a growing wine country vacation industry.
The county led the state in hemp cultivation in 2018 as hundreds of acres of the crop were grown in research partnerships. In 2019, Nine agricultural research permits were still active. Sixteen commercial permit were issued before a temporary ban on new applications that runs through June 2020 was passed by the Board of Supervisors.

Politics

Voter registration

Cities by population and voter registration

Overview

San Luis Obispo County leaned toward the Republican Party in presidential and congressional elections during the most of 20th century; it has, however, become more Democratic during the 2000s and 2010s. In 2008, Barack Obama won the county with 51.2 percent of the vote. Prior to 2008, the last Democrat to win a majority in the county was Lyndon Johnson in 1964, although Bill Clinton won a plurality in 1992. In 2012, Obama again won the county, this time with a slim plurality of the vote.
YearGOPDEMOthers
201640.94% 56,16448.91% 67,10710.15% 13,931
201247.61% 59,96748.63% 61,2583.76% 4,741
200845.85% 61,05551.20% 68,1762.95% 3,924
200452.69% 67,99545.52% 58,7421.79% 2,313
200052.22% 56,85940.89% 44,5266.89% 7,501
199646.50% 46,73340.19% 40,39513.30% 13,372
199234.78% 36,38438.36% 40,13626.86% 28,099
198855.85% 46,61342.73% 35,6671.42% 1,187
198463.72% 49,03535.02% 26,9461.26% 969
198055.56% 38,63129.50% 20,50814.94% 10,388
197651.17% 27,78545.91% 24,9262.92% 1,587
197255.98% 28,56640.72% 20,7793.31% 1,688
196851.27% 19,42041.78% 15,8286.95% 2,633
196440.08% 14,90659.84% 22,2520.08% 28
196054.04% 17,86245.30% 14,9750.66% 218
195658.47% 16,22341.11% 11,4070.43% 118
195265.37% 17,71633.85% 9,1740.79% 213
194853.49% 10,32542.14% 8,1354.38% 844
194448.90% 7,79350.63% 8,0680.47% 75
194045.25% 7,20453.39% 8,4991.36% 217
193637.28% 4,81261.13% 7,8891.59% 205
193228.59% 3,44965.77% 7,9335.64% 680
192860.82% 5,42537.40% 3,3361.78% 159
192449.01% 3,8049.42% 73141.57% 3,226
192061.31% 4,12323.88% 1,60614.81% 996
191640.20% 2,85449.85% 3,5399.95% 706
19120.23% 1340.48% 2,24859.28% 3,292
190850.76% 2,00834.91% 1,38114.33% 567
190454.95% 2,01531.82% 1,16713.23% 485
190045.81% 1,56450.18% 1,7134.01% 137
189643.74% 1,67153.82% 2,0562.43% 93
189238.10% 1,43331.88% 1,19930.02% 1,129

The county backed Democrat Jerry Brown during his 2014 re-election campaign after having supported his Republican opponent, Meg Whitman, in 2010. Prior to this, the last Democrat to carry the county in a gubernatorial election was Gray Davis in 1998.
With respect to the United States House of Representatives, San Luis Obispo County is in. From 2003 until 2013, the county was split between the Bakersfield-based 22nd district, which was represented by Republican Kevin McCarthy and included Paso Robles and most of the more conservative inland areas of the county, and Lois Capps' 23rd district, a strip which included most of the county's more liberal coastal areas as well as coastal areas of Santa Barbara and Ventura Counties.
With respect to the California State Senate, the county is in. With respect to the California State Assembly, the county is in.
In April 2008, the California Secretary of State reported that there were 147,326 registered voters in San Luis Obispo County. Of those voters, 61,226 were registered Republicans, 52,586 were registered Democratic, 8,030 are registered with other political parties, and 25,484 declined to state a political preference. The cities of Grover Beach, Morro Bay, and San Luis Obispo had pluralities or majorities of registered Democratic voters, whereas the rest of the county's towns, cities, and the unincorporated areas have a plurality or majority of registered Republican voters.

Crime

The following table includes the number of incidents reported and the rate per 1,000 persons for each type of offense.

Cities by population and crime rates

Transportation

Major highways

San Luis Obispo County is served by Amtrak trains and Greyhound Lines buses.
The San Luis Obispo Regional Transit Authority provides countywide service along US 101 as well as service to Morro Bay, Los Osos, Cambria and San Simeon.
The cities of San Luis Obispo, Atascadero and Paso Robles operate their own local bus services;
all of these connect with SLORTA routes.
Intercity service is provided by Amtrak trains, Greyhound and Orange Belt Stages buses.

Airports

In the future, SR 46 may be considered for a possible westward expansion of Interstate 40 via SR 58 from Barstow to Bakersfield, from Bakersfield to I-5 via Westside Parkway, and then following SR 46 to Paso Robles. SR 46 is slowly being upgraded to Interstate standards, minus overpasses between Interstate 5 and US Route 101.

Communities

Cities

Population ranking

The population ranking of the following table is based on the 2010 census of San Luis Obispo County.
† county seat
RankCity/Town/etc.Municipal typePopulation
1† San Luis ObispoCity45,119
2Paso Robles 'City29,793
3AtascaderoCity28,310
4Arroyo GrandeCity17,252
5NipomoCDP16,714
6Los OsosCDP14,276
7Grover BeachCity13,156
8Morro BayCity10,234
9TempletonCDP7,674
10Pismo BeachCity7,655
11OceanoCDP7,286
12CambriaCDP6,032
13CayucosCDP2,592
14Lake NacimientoCDP2,411
15San MiguelCDP2,336
16Avila BeachCDP1,627
17Los RanchosCDP1,477
18ShandonCDP1,295
19CallenderCDP1,262
20Santa MargaritaCDP1,259
21BlacklakeCDP930
22Los BerrosCDP641
23WoodlandsCDP576
24San SimeonCDP462
25Garden FarmsCDP386
26Oak ShoresCDP337
27Whitley GardensCDP285
28EdnaCDP193
29Creston'''CDP94

Footnotes