San Luis Obispo is a medium-sized city located in the state of California. With a population of 49,729 people and 15 associated neighborhoods, San Luis Obispo is the 197th largest community in California.

San Luis Obispo home prices are not only among the most expensive in California, but San Luis Obispo real estate also consistently ranks among the most expensive in America.

Also of interest is that San Luis Obispo has more people living here who work in computers and math than 95% of the places in the US.

A relatively large number of people in San Luis Obispo telecommute to their jobs. Overall, about 17.13% of the workforce works from home. While this may seem like a small number, as a fraction of the total workforce it ranks among the highest in the country. These workers are often telecommuters who work in knowledge-based, white-collar professions. For example, Silicon Valley has large numbers of people who telecommute. Other at-home workers may be self-employed people who operate small businesses out of their homes.

In addition, San Luis Obispo is a major college town that has a very high percentage of its residents over 18 years old who are college students. Naturally, collegiate life has a major influence on local San Luis Obispo culture, lifestyle and entertainment options. San Luis Obispo really pulses to the beat of the academic calendar. In San Luis Obispo every fall, returning students reinvigorate the community, who you will notice are all over town, buying groceries, out with friends, and getting acquainted or re-acquainted with each other and San Luis Obispo. One of the beneficial effects that colleges provide is that they tend to be lasting institutions that deliver direct economic benefits to the local economy in the form of such things as jobs for faculty and staff, and spending by students. San Luis Obispo benefits directly from this.

San Luis Obispo, while not large, also appears to be attractive to some younger, educated professionals, who help shape the character of the city.

One of the benefits of San Luis Obispo is that there is very little traffic. The average commute to work is 16.90 minutes, which is substantially less than the national average. Not only does this mean that the drive to work is less aggravating, but noise and pollution levels are lower as a result.

If knowledge is power, San Luis Obispo is a pretty powerful place. 54.36% of the adults in San Luis Obispo have earned a 4-year college degree, masters degree, MD, law degree, or even PhD. Compare that to the national average of 21.84% for all cities and towns.

The per capita income in San Luis Obispo in 2022 was $48,106, which is upper middle income relative to California, and wealthy relative to the rest of the US. This equates to an annual income of $192,424 for a family of four. However, San Luis Obispo contains both very wealthy and poor people as well. San Luis Obispo also has one of the higher rates of people living in poverty in the nation, with 30.36% of its population below the federal poverty line.

San Luis Obispo is a very ethnically-diverse city. The people who call San Luis Obispo home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of San Luis Obispo residents report their race to be White, followed by Asian. San Luis Obispo also has a sizeable Hispanic population (people of Hispanic origin can be of any race). People of Hispanic or Latino origin account for 18.41% of the city’s residents. Important ancestries of people in San Luis Obispo include English, German, Irish, Italian, and European.

The most common language spoken in San Luis Obispo is English. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and Chinese.