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
Then and now
1897 to 1995The 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.


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
Myron Angel Houselisted 1982
Robert Jack Houselisted 1992
Monday Club of San Luis Obispolisted 2016
Pacific Coast Railway Company Grain Warehouselisted 1988
Pereira Octagon Barnlisted 2014
Powerhouse, Thelisted 1993
San Luis Obispo Carnegie Librarylisted 1995
Tribune-Republic Buildinglisted 1993
William Shipsey Houselisted 2010- Corral de Piedralisted 1978
Population over time
2 figuresSan 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.
| Year | People | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 45,119 | |
| 2020 | 47,063 | +1,944 (+4%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
13 surveys from 31 printed sheetsMatched 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.
- 1897 USGS San Luis Obispo quadrangle1:62500, 4 printings
- 1900 USGS San Luis quadrangle1:125000, 4 printings
- 1942 USGS San Luis Obispo quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
- 1947 USGS San Luis Obispo quadrangle1:250000
- 1948 USGS San Luis Obispo quadrangle1:250000
- 1952 USGS San Luis Obispo quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
- 1956 USGS San Luis Obispo quadrangle1:250000, 5 printings
- 1957 USGS San Luis Obispo quadrangle1:250000
- 1958 USGS San Luis Obispo quadrangle1:250000
- 1965 USGS San Luis Obispo quadrangle1:24000, 5 printings
- 1976 USGS San Luis Obispo quadrangle1:24000
- 1981 USGS San Luis Obispo quadrangle1:100000, 3 printings
- 1995 USGS San Luis Obispo quadrangle1:24000
Fires near this place
322 since 1992Regional 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/undetermined | 138 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 131 |
| Debris and open burning | 11 |
| Smoking | 10 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 9 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 7 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 7 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 3 |
| Railroad operations and maintenance | 2 |
| Natural | 2 |
| Firearms and explosives use | 2 |
The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.
| Date | Cause | Size | Reported by | Name on the report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 September 1994 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | San Luis Obispo Unit | SLU 3082 |
| 8 September 2003 | Equipment and vehicle use | 2.0 acres | San Luis Obispo Unit | STENNER |
| 8 September 1994 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | San Luis Obispo Unit | SLU 3071 |
| 7 September 2019 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | San Luis Obispo Unit | JOHNSON |
| 7 September 2001 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | San Luis Obispo Unit | CASLU04171 |
| 6 September 2019 | Misuse of fire by a minor | under an acre | San Luis Obispo Unit | not named |
| 5 September 2014 | Smoking | under an acre | San Luis Obispo Unit | OCONNOR WAY /W FOOTHILL B |
| 5 September 2011 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | San Luis Obispo Unit | CUESTA |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
10 of 42 shownRegional 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 | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Barnaberg Mine | Magnesite | Producer | ||
| Barneberg Mine | Manganese, Iron, Gold, Silver, Mercury | Producer | ||
| Lee Quarry | Stone | Producer | ||
| Porfumo Canyon Iron Occurrences | Iron | Occurrence | ||
| Prefumo Canyon Prospects | Iron, Manganese | Prospect | 1942 | |
| San Jose Valley Mine | Mercury | Producer | ||
| San Luis Brick Works, Inc. | Clay | Producer | ||
| Staneuche Mine | Manganese, Silica | Past Producer | 1917, 1918 | |
| Yoakum Tract | Gold, Silver, Copper | Occurrence | ||
| Yoakum Tract | Copper, Silver, Gold | Prospect |
Storms near this place
8 since 1998Regional 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.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January 1999 | Flood | San Luis Obispo | - | Urban flooding, along Los Osos road, was reported in the city of San Luis Obispo. |
| May 1998 | Tornado (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 2001 | Flood | San Luis Obispo | - | no account filed |
| February 1998 | Flood | San Luis Obispo | - | no account filed |
| February 1998 | Flood | San Luis Obispo | - | no account filed |
| March 1998 | Flood | San Luis Obispo | - | no account filed |
| February 1998 | Flood | San Luis Obispo | - | no account filed |
| February 1998 | Flood | San Luis Obispo | - | no account filed |
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 | Place | Distance | Sheets |
|---|---|---|---|
| Goldtree | 3.0 miles | 31 | |
| Chorro | 3.2 miles | 31 | |
| Serrano | 3.6 miles | 31 | |
| Thyle | 4.3 miles | 31 | |
| Steele (historical) | 5.2 miles | 34 | |
| Edna | 6.0 miles | 34 | |
| Maxwellton (historical) | 6.1 miles | 34 | |
| Asphalt Mines (historical) | 6.7 miles | 34 |
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 Obispo | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q49012 | The 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.












