Los Osos, California

Area Profile

14,166 residents. Public schools, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Los Osos, in San Luis Obispo County.

Area Score unavailable

Missing required signal: growth. AreaProfile withholds a score rather than inferring the missing dimensions.

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
Opportunity2395th of 3,904 cities measured51
Housing affordability3667th of 4,223 cities measured54
ClimateTop 8% of 4,223 cities measured89
Physical resilience3169th of 4,182 cities measured31
Access3357th of 4,226 cities measured79
Economic stability2299th of 4,226 cities measured58
The quick read

Unemployment is 4.3% and median household income $108,932, putting employment conditions in the middle range of published city profiles.

Buying strains local incomes far more than renting does — the median home is 7.4 times median household income, against a historic benchmark near three — while rent takes 23% of it.

Physical-risk exposure is above the national median, driven mainly by inland flooding, earthquake and drought.

At a glance

Population
14,166
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$108,932
Top 14% nationally
Density
1,110/sq mi
12.8 sq mi of land
Median age
48.6
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
San Luis Obispo County
California
Metro area
San Luis Obispo-Paso Robles, CA
Nearest major airport
SMX
35 mi · Santa Maria Pub/Capt G Allan Hancock Fld
Median home value
$805,800
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 4.3% is lower than 51% of the 3,904 measured US cities.

Employment fell 3.2% over the past year, to 126,696 employed residents.

54% of adults hold a four-year degree, higher than 91% of measured US cities.

Household income is higher than at least 86% of measured US cities.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Median household income ±$8,931$108,932Top 14%of 29,5732024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$5,186$56,892Top 12%of 31,4202024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate8.1%Bottom 38%of 31,9002024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute20.9 minBottom 21%of 31,5432024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher53.7%Top 9%of 31,9192024 ACS 5-Year
Employment126,696Top 36%of 3,904June 2026
Employment change (3 years)-1.5%Bottom 25%of 3,903June 2026
Employment change (year over year)-3.2%Bottom 5%of 3,904June 2026
Labor force132,442Top 36%of 3,904June 2026
Labor force participation59.8%Bottom 47%of 31,9332024 ACS 5-Year
Mean annual wage$70,150Top 45%of 3,6582025 OEWS
Median annual wage$50,770Bottom 46%of 3,6582025 OEWS
Unemployment change (year over year)-0.2%Bottom 35%of 3,904June 2026
Unemployment rate4.3%Bottom 49%of 3,904June 2026
Median household income, successive ACS releases
2021202220232024109k83k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $108,932 in the 2024 ACS 5-Year. Consecutive releases share four years of sample, so AreaProfile shows them as a record of successive estimates and does not compute a year-over-year change from them.
Largest occupations — San Luis Obispo-Paso Robles, CA
OccupationPeople employedMedian annual wage
Home Health and Personal Care Aides4,160$34,320
Retail Salespersons3,390$37,780
Fast Food and Counter Workers3,310$42,350
Farmworkers and Laborers, Crop, Nursery, and Greenhouse3,100$36,570
Cashiers3,010$36,550
Office Clerks, General2,860$46,110

Occupational employment and wages are published for metropolitan areas rather than for individual cities or ZIP areas, so these describe the wider labor market this location sits in. 2025 OEWS, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes city-level labor data only for places of 25,000 or more. This is the figure for San Luis Obispo County, CA, which contains this city.

There are 21.1 students for every full-time teacher, more than in most measured places.

Public schools
3
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
21.1
across all schools here
Math proficiency
Reading proficiency
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Los Osos MiddleSan Luis Coastal Unified49419.0
Baywood ElementarySan Luis Coastal Unified34222.8
Monarch Grove ElementarySan Luis Coastal Unified32423.1

47.6% of students here are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. That describes the circumstances families arrive with rather than how the schools perform, which is why AreaProfile shows it and does not score it.

Public schools only, from the NCES Common Core of Data. Schools are placed by ZIP code, so this is which schools are in this place rather than which one a particular address is zoned for — district boundaries do not follow municipal ones, and enrollment zones change. Fully virtual schools are excluded: they enroll students from across the state while reporting one administrative address, and counting them here would describe a school population this place does not have. The assessment covers grades 3 through 8, so a high school shows no proficiency figure — a dash in those columns means the test was not given at that school, not that it performed badly. Proficiency is measured against California’s own standard, so it compares cleanly within the state and only broadly against other states; AreaProfile therefore ranks it within state. The directory is current, while the proficiency figures are from the last school year with national coverage before the pandemic interrupted testing.

Housing & affordability

How it’s calculated →

Median rent of $2,047 takes 23% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 7.4 times median household income here, well above the historic benchmark, at a level conventionally described as seriously unaffordable.

Rent as a share of income
22.5%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
7.4×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$2,047
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$805,800
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Home price to income7.40Top 5%of 28,4732024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate72.9%Bottom 44%of 31,8432024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±4256,367Top 9%of 32,3302024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$198$2,047Top 8%of 23,4322024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$31,362$805,800Top 4%of 29,3422024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income22.5%Top 27%of 23,2012024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate5.9%Bottom 33%of 32,0012024 ACS 5-Year

Both affordability measures come from the same ACS release as the income they are compared with, so the comparison is like for like. They describe housing cost against local earnings and are not a cost-of-living index — transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes are not included, and a place can look affordable here and still be expensive to live in for reasons this does not capture.

Growth & development

How it’s calculated →

No building-permit activity is published for this location by the Census Building Permits Survey.

Weather & climate

9 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 78°F and January a low of 41°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 17.9 inches.

Air quality measures a median index of 49, in the Good band, and about 10 days a year pass 100, the threshold at which the air is unhealthy for sensitive groups.

30°50°70°90°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station SAN LUIS OBISPO AP, 11.4 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND3.9"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
90th percentile air quality index80.02024 calendar year
Annual precipitation17.9"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low41°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high78°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months91991-2020 Normals
Days above AQI 100102024 calendar year
Median air quality index49.02024 calendar year
Seasonal temperature swing15°F1991-2020 Normals
Air quality
Median air quality index
49
Good on a typical day
Worst tenth of days
80
90th percentile index
Days above 100
10
unhealthy for sensitive groups

A comfortable median and a bad tail are different problems. Wildfire smoke and summer ozone show up in the worst tenth of days, not in the middle of the year.

Climate figures are thirty-year normals, not current conditions. They describe what a typical year looks like rather than what the weather is doing today. Air quality is measured rather than modelled, by EPA monitors, and published by county only where a monitor sits — roughly half the counties AreaProfile publishes have one, and the rest show nothing rather than an estimate. Air masses are regional, so a county reading describes the air over a place reasonably well, but it is still the county reading.

Physical risk

31 / 100
Physical resilience

The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are inland flooding, earthquake and drought.

DroughtHigh
LandslideModerate
WildfireElevated
EarthquakeHigh
Inland floodingHigh
Heat waveModerate
TsunamiModerate

Low or minimal exposure: coastal flooding, lightning, hail, tornado, avalanche, strong wind, winter weather.

Hazard ratings are AreaProfile calculations derived from the FEMA National Risk Index v1.20.0 (December 2025). FEMA publishes at county level. City values are the population-weighted mean of the counties the city overlaps, using AreaProfile place-to-county land-area weights. FEMA does not endorse this presentation. Higher physical resilience means lower exposure.

These are deaths, not offences. AreaProfile does not publish reported crime, and this is not a substitute for it — it says nothing about burglary, theft or assault.

San Luis Obispo County records 2.8 homicide deaths per 100,000 residents a year, near the middle of counties measured. The CDC does not publish this below county level.

Firearm deaths of all intents run at 5.3 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 24.1 per 100,000 residents in San Luis Obispo County.

Homicide
2.8
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Firearm deaths, all intents
5.3
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Drug overdose
24.1
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Suicide
11.0
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths

Firearm deaths count every intent together, and nationally the majority are suicides rather than homicides. The two columns overlap and should not be added.

Age-adjusted rates from provisional death certificate records, published by the CDC for San Luis Obispo County as a whole — these rates are not published below county level. A county can hold both a dense city centre and a suburb whose experience of it is nothing alike, so this describes the county around Los Osos rather than Los Osos itself. That is why AreaProfile shows these figures and does not put them in the Area Score. Where fewer than ten deaths were recorded the count is suppressed at source, and a rate built on single figures moves sharply between releases. What this measure has that reported crime does not: a death certificate is filed whether or not the local police agency submitted a return that year, so the figures stay comparable between places and over time.

What this profile does not cover

Three things people look for are missing from every AreaProfile page, and each is missing for a reason rather than by oversight. The Area Score is calculated without them and the weighting is documented on the methodology page.

Reported crime
Offences reported to police are published by department rather than by town, and only where a department reported every month of the year. No municipal department reports for this place — many smaller communities are policed by the county — so there is no figure to show. A partial year is never scaled up to look complete, and arrest counts or news volume are never substituted for it.
Taxes and full cost of living
No public source publishes either with national coverage and a method open enough to check. Housing affordability above is computed from published rent, price and income, and excludes transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes — commuting cost in particular tends to offset suburban housing savings. Nothing here is individualised tax advice.
Anything about a specific address
Every figure describes an area, not a street or a house. School attendance zones, insurance pricing and the character of a neighbourhood all vary within the places measured here.

Access

2 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest 35 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Santa Maria Pub/Capt G Allan Hancock FldSMX35 mi8,004 ft
Meadows FldBFL100 mi10,849 ft
Fresno Yosemite IntlFAT119 mi9,539 ft

Airport identity, position and runway data come from the FAA. “Major airport” is an AreaProfile classification — a public-use civil airport with a paved runway of at least 8,000 feet — not an FAA hub designation. Distances are straight-line, not driving distance.

Customize your score

What matters to you?

Choose what you weight most heavily. Nothing is saved to an account — your preferences stay in this browser, and the Area Score never changes.

Area Score
Your Score

Select one or more priorities to see how this location scores against them.

Other cities in San Luis Obispo-Paso Robles, CA

Same metropolitan area, measured the same way
CityCountyPopulationArea ScoreCompare
San Luis ObispoSan Luis Obispo County48,49152vs Los Osos
El Paso de Robles (Paso Robles)San Luis Obispo County31,44650vs Los Osos
AtascaderoSan Luis Obispo County29,71251vs Los Osos
Arroyo GrandeSan Luis Obispo County18,37251vs Los Osos
NipomoSan Luis Obispo County17,516vs Los Osos
Grover BeachSan Luis Obispo County12,60449vs Los Osos
Morro BaySan Luis Obispo County10,69249vs Los Osos

Every city here is measured on the same scale from the same source releases, so the comparison is like for like. A higher Area Score reflects AreaProfile’s standardized weighting rather than a judgment about which is the better place to live.

Data & methodology

Used forSourceSource periodUpdated
AccessFederal Aviation Administration
Airports (NASR) — Aeronautical Data Delivery Service
NASR current cycle28-day NASR cycle
Physical riskFederal Emergency Management Agency
National Risk Index
National Risk Index December 2025 (v1.20.0)Periodic dataset versions (v1.20.0 current)
ClimateNOAA National Centers for Environmental Information
U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020 (Monthly)
1991-2020 NormalsEvery ten years (next release follows the 2001–2030 period)
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Local Area Unemployment Statistics
June 2026Monthly
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics
2025 OEWSAnnual (spring release)
Demographics, Housing, Income, JobsU.S. Census Bureau
American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (Table-Based Summary File)
2024 ACS 5-YearAnnual (5-year estimates released each December)
safetyU.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics
Provisional county-level mortality by intent
April, 2025 to March, 2026Quarterly, with a rolling twelve-month window alongside complete calendar years
schoolsU.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics
Common Core of Data and EDFacts assessments
2024-25 school yearDirectory annually; assessment results as EDFacts releases them
ClimateU.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Air Quality System
Daily Air Quality Index by county
2024 calendar yearAnnually, once a calendar year is complete

Profile recalculated August 30, 2026. Recalculation is not the same as new source data — each figure above shows the period its source actually covers. Read the full methodology or browse every source.

ZIP codes in Los Osos

1 published ZIP profiles
ZIPPopulationMedian household incomeArea Score
9340214,197$109,090