San Luis Obispo County, CA

Home values #

Typical home $897,661 (Sep 2026), +2.0% over one year, +22.6% over five

• 99th pct · 28th of 3,063 US counties · median $230,451
• 84th pct · 10th of 58 California counties · median $494,569
• counties in the San Luis Obispo-Paso Robles metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 1 counties in the San Luis Obispo-Paso Robles metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.

Zillow Home Value Index (ZHVI), typical value of homes in the 35th to 65th percentile, smoothed and seasonally adjusted; a model estimate of value, not a sale price. Data through Zillow Research.

Rents #

Typical rent $2,802/mo (Sep 2026), +2.9% over one year; price-to-rent 26.7

• 96th pct · 48th of 1,358 US counties · median $1,506
• 65th pct · 17th of 48 California counties · median $2,448
• counties in the San Luis Obispo-Paso Robles metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 1 counties in the San Luis Obispo-Paso Robles metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.

Zillow Observed Rent Index (ZORI), smoothed, all homes and multifamily; price-to-rent = typical home / (typical rent × 12).

What the typical home costs to carry #

Principal and interest of $4,972 a month on $897,661 at 7.40%, against an average weekly wage worth $5,421 a month: 91.7% of one job’s pay.

• payment = P·r / (1 − (1+r)^−n), P = $897,661 × 80% = $718,129, r = 7.40%/12 (Freddie Mac PMMS via FRED, 2026-10-15), n = 360 → $4,972/mo principal and interest
• wage share = payment / (avg weekly wage $1,251 × 52 / 12 = $5,421) = 92% of one average job's pay (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all covered jobs)
• years of wages = $897,661 / ($1,251 × 52) = 13.8
• price-to-rent = $897,661 / ($2,802 × 12) = 26.7

The wage is one covered job’s average, not a household’s income, so this is the share of a single paycheque and not a mortgage underwriting ratio.

Estimate. Principal and interest on the typical home with 20% down over 30 years at this week's Freddie Mac average rate; compared with the average weekly wage of all jobs covered by unemployment insurance in the area (BLS QCEW), which is pay per job, not household income.

Jobs & wages #

122,183 jobs at 12,350 employers (2026 Q1); +0.9% jobs and +4.1% average weekly wage over the year

• 91st pct · 259th of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
• 61st pct · 23rd of 58 California counties · median 74,865
• counties in the San Luis Obispo-Paso Robles metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 1 counties in the San Luis Obispo-Paso Robles metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.

BLS Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages, all ownerships, total covered employment in the quarter's third month; over-the-year changes as published. Suppressed cells stay blank.

Drought #

No drought class at this point (USDM covers the United States only)

Sites found: 5, searched within 0 km of this place’s internal point. That is a disc around a point, not the area itself: sites outside the boundary are included, and sites inside it further than 0 km away are not.

US Drought Monitor current week; the highest class of any polygon containing the point.

Reservoirs #

3 USGS reservoir gauges, no capacity figures to weight

Sites found: 3, searched within 150 km of this place’s internal point. That is a disc around a point, not the area itself: sites outside the boundary are included, and sites inside it further than 150 km away are not.

Σ(capacity × percent full) / Σ capacity over TWDB reservoirs within 150 km. Texas only; elsewhere USGS reservoir elevation/storage is listed without a capacity to normalise by.

Stream gauges #

46 gauges · 0 flooding · 1 with quality panels averaging 100 % · 3 stale

Sites found: 46, searched within 75 km of this place’s internal point. That is a disc around a point, not the area itself: sites outside the boundary are included, and sites inside it further than 75 km away are not.

USGS latest readings screened against EPA freshwater criteria (DO ≥ 5 mg/L, pH 6.5–9, conductance, turbidity, temperature); NWS flood categories where a NWPS gauge is co-located.

Groundwater #

29 wells in 0 named aquifers:

Sites found: 29, searched within 75 km of this place’s internal point. That is a disc around a point, not the area itself: sites outside the boundary are included, and sites inside it further than 75 km away are not.

USGS latest daily water levels. A single latest reading says where the table is, not which way it is moving; select a well for its 365-day trace.

Water stress #

low (0.00)

Σ wᵢ·termᵢ / Σ wᵢ = 0.35×0.00 + 0.2×0.00 / 0.55

Banks & federal dollars #

$8.7 bn in deposits at 54 offices of 14 banks (SOD June 2026); HHI 1,365, moderately concentrated. $2.1 bn federal obligations in FY2026 (direct payments $1.9 bn, grants $124.3 m), $17,194 per covered job

Deposit concentration is 1,365 across 14 banks, which the 1995 Department of Justice bank merger screen calls moderately concentrated.

HHI = Σ (share %)² over 14 banks with deposits in the county = 21.8² + 17.0² + 14.5² + … (11 more) = 1,365

FDIC Summary of Deposits: deposits at every insured office as of June 30, annual; HHI is the sum of squared county deposit shares (DOJ 1995 bank merger screen: 1000 / 1800). USAspending: obligations by place of performance for the latest complete federal fiscal year (Oct 1 to Sep 30), what agencies committed, not what they paid out; recipients are legal entities. Per-job divides obligations by BLS QCEW covered employment.

Federal obligations #

USAspending place-of-performance obligations for FY2026, by awarding agency.

That is $17,194 per covered job, against 122,183 jobs in the 2026 Q1 QCEW quarter.

per job = FY2026 obligations $2.1 bn / 122,183 covered jobs (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all ownerships) = $17,194

USAspending obligations are recorded where the work is performed, so a prime award performed here is counted here even when the recipient is headquartered elsewhere. Recipients are legal entities, never people.

National context, not this county #

These are United States, single-gauge, single-state and port series. None of them is keyed to this county.

The indicator registry has no county-keyed series and no geographic selection: every entry is national, a named gauge, a single state or a port. They are here as the backdrop the county's own numbers move against, and they are never this county's readings.

What changed #

San Luis Obispo County, CA: 17 findings, 7 at a watch level and 10 noted

1. watchSan Luis Obispo County, CA's years of wages of 13.8 ranks 24th of 3,063 US counties, a watch level here: years of wages in the top tenth of US counties (position among the counties that published both a ZHVI value and a QCEW average weekly wage; not an official level). The previous published period is not in this table, so this is a standing level rather than a change.

   Period 2026-09.
   Show the arithmetic

   • test: yearsOfWages percentile = 99.24885695623774 >= 90
   • typical home value / (average weekly wage × 52); one average covered job, not a household

   position among the counties that published both a ZHVI value and a QCEW average weekly wage; not an official level

2. watchSan Luis Obispo County, CA's price-to-rent ratio of 26.7 ranks 55th of 1,358 US counties, a watch level here: price-to-rent in the top tenth of US counties (position among the counties that published both ZHVI and ZORI this month; not an official level). The previous published period is not in this table, so this is a standing level rather than a change.

   Period 2026-09.
   Show the arithmetic

   • test: priceToRent percentile = 96.02063375092115 >= 90
   • typical home value / (typical rent × 12); Zillow ZHVI over ZORI, same month

   position among the counties that published both ZHVI and ZORI this month; not an official level

3. watchSan Luis Obispo County, CA's years of wages is 13.8, a watch level here: typical home value worth 10 or more years of one average covered wage (typical home value / (average weekly wage × 52), one average covered job rather than a household; convention chosen for this dashboard, not an official level). The previous published period is not in this table, so this is a standing level rather than a change.

   Period 2026-09.
   Show the arithmetic

   • test: yearsOfWages = 13.799128602610992 >= 10
   • typical home value / (average weekly wage × 52); one average covered job, not a household

   typical home value / (average weekly wage × 52), one average covered job rather than a household; convention chosen for this dashboard, not an official level

4. watchSan Luis Obispo County, CA's price-to-rent ratio is 26.7, a watch level here: typical home value worth 25 or more years of typical rent (typical home value / (typical rent × 12), Zillow ZHVI over ZORI, same month; convention chosen for this dashboard, not an official level). The previous published period is not in this table, so this is a standing level rather than a change.

   Period 2026-09.
   Show the arithmetic

   • test: priceToRent = 26.695444154033368 >= 25
   • typical home value / (typical rent × 12); Zillow ZHVI over ZORI, same month

   typical home value / (typical rent × 12), Zillow ZHVI over ZORI, same month; convention chosen for this dashboard, not an official level

5. watchSan Luis Obispo County, CA's typical home value of +2.0% scores 39 on the 0-to-100 scale across US counties but 77 across California counties, a gap of 38 points.

   Period 2026-09.
   Show the arithmetic

   • 38 = |39 across US counties - 77 across California counties|

   position among the entities that published this metric this period; not an official level

Read all 12 findings in the full brief

Every finding is produced by a fixed rule table and a fixed sentence for each rule. Nothing here is generated prose.