Nipomo vs San Luis Obispo

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

Nipomo 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 17,266 in Nipomo). Nipomo has the higher median household income ($102,382 vs $66,711 in San Luis Obispo). San Luis Obispo has the higher median home value ($896,500 vs $674,100 in Nipomo).

Population, income & housing

	Nipomo	San Luis Obispo
Population	17,266	48,039
Median age	39.3 yrs	26.2 yrs
Median household income	$102,382	$66,711
Median home value	$674,100	$896,500
Median gross rent	$1,956	$1,906
Housing units	6,027	21,783
Homeownership rate	69.4%	39.0%
Bachelor's degree or higher	25.4%	54.4%
Unemployment rate	2.7%	6.7%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Nipomo	San Luis Obispo
Population	17,601 → 17,266 (-1.9%)	47,302 → 48,039 (+1.6%)
Median household income	$82,543 → $102,382 (+24.0%)	$56,071 → $66,711 (+19.0%)
Median home value	$537,700 → $674,100 (+25.4%)	$643,200 → $896,500 (+39.4%)
Median gross rent	$1,488 → $1,956 (+31.5%)	$1,575 → $1,906 (+21.0%)

Nipomo

Population

17,60117,266

Median household income

$82,543$102,382

Median home value

$537,700$674,100

Median gross rent

$1,488$1,956

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)

	Nipomo	San Luis Obispo
Under 5	6.2%	2.9%
5 to 17	17.8%	7.8%
18 to 24	8.8%	37.0%
25 to 34	10.8%	13.8%
35 to 44	14.6%	8.8%
45 to 54	12.2%	6.9%
55 to 64	11.3%	9.1%
65 to 74	11.4%	7.8%
75 and over	7.0%	5.8%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Nipomo	San Luis Obispo
White (non-Hispanic)	39.4%	70.5%
Black or African American	1.2%	1.2%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.3%	0.2%
Asian	3.7%	5.1%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.4%	0.2%
Some other race	0.3%	0.5%
Two or more races	2.8%	5.2%
Hispanic or Latino	52.0%	17.3%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Nipomo	San Luis Obispo
No high school diploma	16.5%	4.0%
High school graduate	21.8%	12.7%
Some college or associate's	36.4%	28.9%
Bachelor's degree	16.6%	31.2%
Graduate or professional degree	8.8%	23.2%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Nipomo	San Luis Obispo
Drove alone	79.3%	64.0%
Carpooled	9.6%	6.7%
Public transit	1.0%	1.4%
Walked	2.1%	6.9%
Bicycle	0.1%	4.5%
Worked from home	6.7%	15.9%
Other means	1.2%	0.5%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Nipomo	San Luis Obispo
1-unit, detached	71.3%	45.2%
1-unit, attached	4.7%	8.3%
2 to 4 units	7.0%	15.8%
5 to 19 units	2.5%	13.5%
20 or more units	1.4%	11.8%
Mobile home & other	13.1%	5.3%

Poverty & households

	Nipomo	San Luis Obispo
Poverty rate	5.8%	30.0%
Average household size	3.03	2.34
Mean commute (minutes)	28	16
Median year structure built	1988	1976