Arroyo Grande vs San Luis Obispo

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

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

San Luis Obispo has the higher population (48,039 vs 18,412 in Arroyo Grande). Arroyo Grande has the higher median household income ($103,258 vs $66,711 in San Luis Obispo). San Luis Obispo has the higher median home value ($896,500 vs $758,100 in Arroyo Grande).

Population, income & housing

	Arroyo Grande	San Luis Obispo
Population	18,412	48,039
Median age	45.2 yrs	26.2 yrs
Median household income	$103,258	$66,711
Median home value	$758,100	$896,500
Median gross rent	$1,890	$1,906
Housing units	8,198	21,783
Homeownership rate	62.3%	39.0%
Bachelor's degree or higher	44.5%	54.4%
Unemployment rate	2.3%	6.7%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Arroyo Grande	San Luis Obispo
Population	18,033 → 18,412 (+2.1%)	47,302 → 48,039 (+1.6%)
Median household income	$80,833 → $103,258 (+27.7%)	$56,071 → $66,711 (+19.0%)
Median home value	$591,800 → $758,100 (+28.1%)	$643,200 → $896,500 (+39.4%)
Median gross rent	$1,459 → $1,890 (+29.5%)	$1,575 → $1,906 (+21.0%)

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

San Luis Obispo

Population

47,30248,039

Median household income

$56,071$66,711

Median home value

$643,200$896,500

Median gross rent

$1,575$1,906

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Arroyo Grande	San Luis Obispo
Under 5	4.8%	2.9%
5 to 17	14.9%	7.8%
18 to 24	7.8%	37.0%
25 to 34	10.7%	13.8%
35 to 44	11.6%	8.8%
45 to 54	11.3%	6.9%
55 to 64	13.2%	9.1%
65 to 74	13.6%	7.8%
75 and over	12.0%	5.8%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Arroyo Grande	San Luis Obispo
White (non-Hispanic)	72.8%	70.5%
Black or African American	0.4%	1.2%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.2%	0.2%
Asian	3.7%	5.1%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.2%
Some other race	0.3%	0.5%
Two or more races	5.8%	5.2%
Hispanic or Latino	16.7%	17.3%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Arroyo Grande	San Luis Obispo
No high school diploma	5.2%	4.0%
High school graduate	15.5%	12.7%
Some college or associate's	34.8%	28.9%
Bachelor's degree	28.5%	31.2%
Graduate or professional degree	16.0%	23.2%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Arroyo Grande	San Luis Obispo
Drove alone	70.7%	64.0%
Carpooled	11.6%	6.7%
Public transit	0.0%	1.4%
Walked	2.1%	6.9%
Bicycle	2.9%	4.5%
Worked from home	11.5%	15.9%
Other means	1.2%	0.5%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Arroyo Grande	San Luis Obispo
1-unit, detached	63.7%	45.2%
1-unit, attached	10.2%	8.3%
2 to 4 units	4.3%	15.8%
5 to 19 units	8.0%	13.5%
20 or more units	7.1%	11.8%
Mobile home & other	6.6%	5.3%

Poverty & households

	Arroyo Grande	San Luis Obispo
Poverty rate	4.6%	30.0%
Average household size	2.36	2.34
Mean commute (minutes)	23	16
Median year structure built	1979	1976