San Luis Obispo

History

The earliest human inhabitants of the local area were the Chumash people. One of the earliest villages lies south of San Luis Obispo and reflects the landscape of the early Holocene when estuaries came farther inland. The Chumash people used marine resources of the inlets and bays along the Central Coast and inhabited a network of villages, including sites at Los Osos and Morro Creek. The tribal site on present-day San Luis Obispo was named . During the Spanish Empire expansion throughout the world, specifically in 1769, the Franciscan Junípero Serra received orders from Spain to bring the Catholic faith to the natives of Alta California; the idea was to unify the empire under the same religion and language. Mission San Diego de Alcalá was the first Spanish mission founded in Alta California that same year. On September 7, 1769, an expedition led by Gaspar de Portolá entered the San Luis Obispo area from coastal areas around today's Pismo Beach. One of the expedition's three diarists, padre Juan Crespí, recorded the name given to this area by the soldiers as Cañada de Los Osos ("cañada" translates as "valley" or "canyon," and Osos translates to "bears"). The party traveled north along San Luis Obispo Creek, turned west through Los Osos Valley, and reached Morro Bay on September 9. In 1770, Portola established the Presidio of Monterey and Junípero Serra founded the second mission, Mission San Carlos Borromeo de Carmelo in Monterey. The mission was moved to Carmel-by-the-Sea in the following year. In 1772, as the people of Presidio of Monterey and Mission San Carlos Borromeo de Carmelo faced starvation owing to a lack of supplies, Commander Pedro Fages, a member of the Portolá expedition, led a hunting expedition to la Cañada de los Osos ("Bears Canyon") to bring…

Geography

San Luis Obispo is located on U.S. Route 101, about north of Santa Maria. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which, is land and (1.09%) is water. San Luis Obispo is a seismically active area; there are a number of nearby faults including the San Andreas Fault. The Nine Sisters are a string of hills that partially run through San Luis Obispo. They are geologically noteworthy for being volcanic plugs. Six of the nine peaks are open to the public for recreation. San Luis Obispo experiences a warm Mediterranean climate (Köppen climate classification Csb). On average it has 50 days with measurable rain per year, mostly during winter months. Summers are generally warm and sunny, often with morning fog from the Pacific coast. Winters are generally not very cold, though below freezing lows occur 2.6 nights per year on average. Nights remain cool year round due to cold-current ocean air in summer and being in a valley subject to inversion, although seldom cold. The warmest night recorded was on September 22, 1939, and the coldest day at on December 11, 1932. Precipitation averages about per year, almost all of which falls between November and April.

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• American Crow

  Corvus brachyrhynchos C.L.Brehm, 1822 · Aves
  26,947
• Turkey Vulture

  Cathartes aura (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  26,323
• House Finch

  Haemorhous mexicanus (P.L.Statius Müller, 1776) · Aves
  24,727
• Anna's Hummingbird

  Calypte anna (R.Lesson, 1829) · Aves
  24,345
• White-crowned Sparrow

  Zonotrichia leucophrys (J.R.Forster, 1772) · Aves
  23,258
• Black Phoebe

  Sayornis nigricans (Swainson, 1827) · Aves
  21,189
• Western Gull

  Larus occidentalis Audubon, 1839 · Aves
  20,682
• California/Woodhouse's Scrub-Jay

  Aphelocoma californica (Vigors, 1839) · Aves
  19,734

Largest nearby schools

• San Luis Obispo High
  High · San Luis Obispo · 1,644 students · 21.1:1 ratio
• Laguna Middle
  Middle · San Luis Obispo · 789 students · 20.2:1 ratio
• Los Osos Middle
  Middle · Los Osos · 539 students · 20:1 ratio
• Pacheco Elementary
  Elementary · San Luis Obispo · 482 students · 23:1 ratio
• C L Smith Elementary
  Elementary · San Luis Obispo · 465 students · 21.1:1 ratio
• Judkins Middle
  Middle · Pismo Beach · 458 students · 19.1:1 ratio
• Los Ranchos Elementary
  Elementary · San Luis Obispo · 450 students · 23.7:1 ratio
• Hawthorne Elementary
  Elementary · San Luis Obispo · 430 students · 25.3:1 ratio

Most recent

• M 2.57 — 2026-10-13
  28 km SSE of Lopez Point, CA
• M 2.54 — 2026-09-21
  12 km W of Lake Nacimiento, CA
• M 2.75 — 2026-08-23
  4 km NW of Parkfield, CA
• M 2.54 — 2026-08-17
  12 km SSW of Lompoc, CA
• M 2.66 — 2026-08-17
  12 km S of Lompoc, CA
• M 2.53 — 2026-08-16
  7 km SW of Atascadero, CA