Is San Luis Obispo growing?

How much San Luis Obispo, CA has grown or shrunk since 2015, how that compares with the county, the state and the United States, and how the community's age is changing.

U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates.

This story was assembled using AI and public data sources.

San Luis Obispo looks different than it did in 2015.

Population change since 2015: +3.7% — 46,337 residents in 2015 → 48,039 in 2023

San Luis Obispo population, 2015 to 2023

• 2015: 46337
• 2023: 48039

Growth since 2015

• San Luis Obispo: 3.7
• San Luis Obispo County: 1.8
• CA: 2.1
• U.S.: 5

Median age: 26.2 — U.S. median: 38.7

What it means

San Luis Obispo is growing more slowly than the country — +3.7% here versus +5.0% nationally since 2015.

Residents here are younger than the country overall — the median resident is about 12.5 years younger than the U.S. median.

These are estimates, not a head count. ACS 5-year figures average responses collected over five years, so they show direction and scale rather than a single day's population.