San Luis Obispo is a medium-sized city located in the state of California. With a population of 48,341 people and 15 associated neighborhoods, San Luis Obispo is the 197th largest community in California.

Housing costs in San Luis Obispo are among some of the highest in the nation, although real estate prices here don't compare to real estate prices in the most expensive communities in California.

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.

One interesting thing about the economy is that relatively large numbers of people worked from their home: 14.02% of the workforce. While this number may seem small overall, as a fraction of the total workforce this is high compared to the rest of the county. 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.

Compared to the rest of the country, citizens of San Luis Obispo spend much less time in their cars: on average, their commute to work is only 16.36 minutes. This also means that noise and pollution levels in the city are less than they would otherwise be.

Do you like to read, write and learn? If you move to San Luis Obispo, you'll likely find that many of your neighbors like to as well. San Luis Obispo is one of the more educated communities in America, with a full 52.77% of its adults having a college degree or even advanced degree, compared to a national average across all communities of 21.84%.

The per capita income in San Luis Obispo in 2022 was $41,749, which is middle income relative to California, and upper middle income relative to the rest of the US. This equates to an annual income of $166,996 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 31.47% 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 17.93% of the city’s residents. Important ancestries of people in San Luis Obispo include German, English, Irish, Italian, and European.

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