Arroyo Grande vs Atascadero

A side-by-side comparison of Arroyo Grande and Atascadero: population, income, housing, and more.

Arroyo Grande and Atascadero are places in California. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Atascadero has the higher population (29,735 vs 18,412 in Arroyo Grande). Arroyo Grande has the higher median household income ($103,258 vs $88,830 in Atascadero). Arroyo Grande has the higher median home value ($758,100 vs $673,400 in Atascadero).

Population, income & housing

	Arroyo Grande	Atascadero
Population	18,412	29,735
Median age	45.2 yrs	40.5 yrs
Median household income	$103,258	$88,830
Median home value	$758,100	$673,400
Median gross rent	$1,890	$1,855
Housing units	8,198	12,090
Homeownership rate	62.3%	62.5%
Bachelor's degree or higher	44.5%	30.2%
Unemployment rate	2.3%	4.1%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Arroyo Grande	Atascadero
Population	18,033 → 18,412 (+2.1%)	30,130 → 29,735 (-1.3%)
Median household income	$80,833 → $103,258 (+27.7%)	$79,658 → $88,830 (+11.5%)
Median home value	$591,800 → $758,100 (+28.1%)	$493,200 → $673,400 (+36.5%)
Median gross rent	$1,459 → $1,890 (+29.5%)	$1,415 → $1,855 (+31.1%)

Arroyo Grande

Population

18,03318,412

Median household income

$80,833$103,258

Median home value

$591,800$758,100

Median gross rent

$1,459$1,890

Atascadero

Population

30,13029,735

Median household income

$79,658$88,830

Median home value

$493,200$673,400

Median gross rent

$1,415$1,855

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Arroyo Grande	Atascadero
Under 5	4.8%	4.3%
5 to 17	14.9%	16.7%
18 to 24	7.8%	9.5%
25 to 34	10.7%	12.1%
35 to 44	11.6%	13.6%
45 to 54	11.3%	12.2%
55 to 64	13.2%	14.4%
65 to 74	13.6%	11.0%
75 and over	12.0%	6.2%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Arroyo Grande	Atascadero
White (non-Hispanic)	72.8%	66.9%
Black or African American	0.4%	0.6%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.2%	0.2%
Asian	3.7%	2.1%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.3%	0.5%
Two or more races	5.8%	6.4%
Hispanic or Latino	16.7%	23.1%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Arroyo Grande	Atascadero
No high school diploma	5.2%	7.2%
High school graduate	15.5%	21.0%
Some college or associate's	34.8%	41.6%
Bachelor's degree	28.5%	20.3%
Graduate or professional degree	16.0%	9.9%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Arroyo Grande	Atascadero
Drove alone	70.7%	76.2%
Carpooled	11.6%	7.2%
Public transit	0.0%	0.9%
Walked	2.1%	2.8%
Bicycle	2.9%	0.2%
Worked from home	11.5%	12.4%
Other means	1.2%	0.3%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Arroyo Grande	Atascadero
1-unit, detached	63.7%	70.0%
1-unit, attached	10.2%	4.9%
2 to 4 units	4.3%	7.5%
5 to 19 units	8.0%	7.9%
20 or more units	7.1%	5.0%
Mobile home & other	6.6%	4.6%

Poverty & households

	Arroyo Grande	Atascadero
Poverty rate	4.6%	9.9%
Average household size	2.36	2.54
Mean commute (minutes)	23	22
Median year structure built	1979	1982