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San Luis Obispo, California

31 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1897 and the latest in 1995. It stands in the San Luis Obispo census division. It lies in ZIP code area 93401. It stands on Old Garden Creek. The Survey maps it on the San Luis Obispo quadrangle. 47,063 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 233 feet above sea level.

Research this city

San Luis Obispo within San Luis Obispo County

Then and now

1897 to 1995

The same ground, surveyed 98 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of San Luis Obispo, surveyed 1995
Topographic sheet of San Luis Obispo, surveyed 1897

Compare 1897 against another survey:

On record in San Luis Obispo

Buildings and businesses the archive holds for this place. Each opens its own page, with the source record it came from.

On the National Register 10 records

Population over time

2 figures

San Luis Obispo grew from 45,119 to 47,063 between 2010 and 2020. These are the recorded population figures Wikidata holds for this place, reached through the Geographic Names Information System number this page is keyed on rather than by name, so they belong to this place and not to another of the same name. Most are census counts, but not all are: an early figure may be a founding or settlement estimate, and an estimate published within five years of a census is left out. The change column is computed, and is left blank where more than 20 years separate a figure from the one before it, because a gap that long is not a change between two counts.

YearPeople Change
201045,119
202047,063+1,944 (+4%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

13 surveys from 31 printed sheets

Matched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.

Fires near this place

322 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 322 fires within 5 miles of San Luis Obispo between 1992 and 2020, burning about 11,243 acres in total. 2 started naturally. 9 were recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause Fires
Missing data/not specified/undetermined138
Equipment and vehicle use131
Debris and open burning11
Smoking10
Arson/incendiarism9
Misuse of fire by a minor7
Power generation/transmission/distribution7
Recreation and ceremony3
Railroad operations and maintenance2
Natural2
Firearms and explosives use2

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
9 September 1994Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreSan Luis Obispo UnitSLU 3082
8 September 2003Equipment and vehicle use2.0 acresSan Luis Obispo UnitSTENNER
8 September 1994Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreSan Luis Obispo UnitSLU 3071
7 September 2019Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreSan Luis Obispo UnitJOHNSON
7 September 2001Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreSan Luis Obispo UnitCASLU04171
6 September 2019Misuse of fire by a minorunder an acreSan Luis Obispo Unitnot named
5 September 2014Smokingunder an acreSan Luis Obispo UnitOCONNOR WAY /W FOOTHILL B
5 September 2011Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreSan Luis Obispo UnitCUESTA

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in San Luis Obispo County

Mines and quarries near this place

10 of 42 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 42 workings within 5 miles of San Luis Obispo: 17 past producers, 11 producers, 6 occurrences, 6 prospects. 11 still produce. What was taken out: Chromium, Manganese, Stone, Crushed/Broken, Sand and Gravel, Construction. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Where SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Barnaberg MineMagnesiteProducer
Barneberg MineManganese, Iron, Gold, Silver, MercuryProducer
Lee QuarryStoneProducer
Porfumo Canyon Iron OccurrencesIronOccurrence
Prefumo Canyon ProspectsIron, ManganeseProspect1942
San Jose Valley MineMercuryProducer
San Luis Brick Works, Inc.ClayProducer
Staneuche MineManganese, SilicaPast Producer1917, 1918
Yoakum TractGold, Silver, CopperOccurrence
Yoakum TractCopper, Silver, GoldProspect

Every working recorded in San Luis Obispo County

Storms near this place

8 since 1998

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names San Luis Obispo in 8 storm reports between 1998 and 2001: 7 flood, 1 tornado. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
January 1999FloodSan Luis Obispo-Urban flooding, along Los Osos road, was reported in the city of San Luis Obispo.
May 1998Tornado (F0)San Luis Obispo-A small tornado developed over the city of San Luis Obispo. The tornado knocked out power to several hundred homes. Also, four homes were damaged, including a home struck by a fallen cypress tree.
March 2001FloodSan Luis Obispo-no account filed
February 1998FloodSan Luis Obispo-no account filed
February 1998FloodSan Luis Obispo-no account filed
March 1998FloodSan Luis Obispo-no account filed
February 1998FloodSan Luis Obispo-no account filed
February 1998FloodSan Luis Obispo-no account filed

Every storm recorded in San Luis Obispo County

Nearest settlements

The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.

Map PlaceDistance Sheets
Goldtree3.0 miles31
Chorro3.2 miles31
Serrano3.6 miles31
Thyle4.3 miles31
Steele (historical)5.2 miles34
Edna6.0 miles34
Maxwellton (historical)6.1 miles34
Asphalt Mines (historical)6.7 miles34

Elsewhere

Matched on this settlement's Geographic Names Information System number rather than its name, so it cannot be a different place of the same name in another state.

Wikipedia article on San Luis ObispoAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q49012The structured record the population and elevation above come from. Public domain (CC0).

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 1652788. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.

Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.