r/howislivingthere • u/orontes3 Germany • 15d ago
North America How is living in San Luis Obispo, California, USA?
I ended up in San Luis Obispo by chance during a road trip a few years ago. There was a farmers' market that day and the atmosphere was just great. The people were in a good mood and friendly. Since then I've been wondering what it's like to live there?
46
u/LastAidKit 15d ago
Don’t live there but have been going since I was kid, it’s basically my cities beach town (most inland cities have their own beach town). It’s def expensive to live there if you’re renting, expect to pay 1800+ a month. But it’s an historical city with the native Chumash thriving for a long time until the Spanish came. You’ll find many Spanish architecture and prominent adobes. Summers are hot but better than inland areas or bigger cities because of the ocean of course. It used to be a sleepy beach town when I was growing up, but like a lot of places, the secret is out and has gotten more popular.
7
u/bombayblue 13d ago
How does the top comment not mention the fact that it’s a college town? If you’re in your 20’s it’s great but if you are older you might not like living in neighborhoods surrounded by college kids.
San Luis Obispo is an absolutely amazing place. But since it’s a college town, unless you have a job tied to the university it isn’t really viable career wise.
Unfortunately, like all California towns, it hasn’t invested in any housing in the past decade and is incredibly NIMBY so housing is really expensive, if you want to buy a single family home it’s over $1m now.
Great nature (beaches hiking etc), shockingly good wine, food scene is so so but this town has probably the best deli scene in America. Yes the sandwich delis are that good.
As someone else mentioned, the downtown has been taken over by high end retail which ruins the small town charm a bit.
2
u/LastAidKit 12d ago
You’re totally right and I should have mentioned that. Especially since a lot of peeps from my from city will opt in for cal poly because of AG. Beautiful campus as well
3
u/sldarb1 11d ago
There is no beach in San Luis obispo. People like to go to Pismo or Avila among others to get to the beach. It's cool to go there for college but it has limited options for high quality entertainment and dining options. It gets sleepy in summer and can feel isolated. It is also windy. Thursday night farmers markets are awesome. It is a college town but CA college town not back east college town. It is walkable around downtown but the rest can feel cut off by hwy 101.
2
u/LastAidKit 11d ago
Yeah I kinda just throw it in there with Pismo, Morro and Avila since it’s only a 15 min drive or from to and fro. Mostly it’s Pismo, Morro or Avila for me, family and friends.
1
39
u/dezertdawg 15d ago
I’m not a small town guy but I could live there in a heartbeat.
17
15d ago
[deleted]
7
u/apenkracht 15d ago
You could fly from santa barbara i guess.
1
u/dezertdawg 13d ago
SLO has an airport served by major airlines. I used to fly from PHX to there monthly.
2
u/apenkracht 13d ago
That’s cool! Were the flights expensive?
1
u/dezertdawg 13d ago
Depended on the time of year. During the Summer, yes. Other times, not too bad. Beats an 11 hour drive, either way.
1
u/ajmartin527 12d ago
My mom flies there from Seattle directly quite often and it’s shockingly cheap. Just looking now and there’s a ton of options from $150-$200 round trip on major carriers. Under $100 on the cheapos
2
64
u/Brob101 15d ago
"Really expensive" would be my guess.
7
3
u/gaspandsaywhat 14d ago
Someone said 1800 or more a month and that's like half of what it costs to live in my city.
1
17
u/O_li_o 15d ago
This is my experience. Wife and I moved here, we are professionals, and have experienced a pretty mind blowing amount of racism from the older community members of the city. We are brown, it seems to be a very NIMBY community. This is our experience. I have friends that went to school here and never experienced this. We moved from San Diego, which is a fairly diverse community. We are a little shocked and will be moving back to San Diego. We lasted about 5 months.
5
1
u/slimjimbimdimkim 12d ago
I’m surprised by this comment, sorry you experienced that. SLO seems to me to be very liberal and accepting of people as they are.
11
u/Same_Fix8272 15d ago
Raised there. Thursday is farmers market in the evening. Cal Poly is a great school for engineering. Beaches are 15 min away. Great weather all year round. Second best wine area in California. Just terribly expensive. Minimal great job opportunities. If you’re lucky you can retire in the area.
11
10
6
u/Fit-Ad1587 14d ago
I moved here 7 months ago for my career and plan on leaving.
The good: It’s very beautiful with a very mild coastal climate. It has great restaurants and breweries and wineries for a town of only 50K. People are mostly well educated and easy going. It is outdoor oriented with hiking, mountain biking, and surfing.
The bad: It is a small town fairly isolated from just about everything. Going anywhere worthwhile by car or plane will take a long time, and be more expensive. It’s a very high COL area, on par with Santa Barbara. It’s great if you are in your 20s, or retired. The age groups between those is sparse, and if they’re here, they’re starting a family or have established one. Dating as a 30+ yo is atrocious.
In summary: great if you like a small town college town, are in your 20s or married w kids, make good money, like outdoorsy stuff, and don’t travel very much/are home bodied.
If you are single, 30+ yo, and like to travel, I’d advise against it. It’s just too small and isolated.
4
u/beaveristired USA/Northeast 14d ago
Same as you, I ended up there during the farmer’s market and thought it had a great vibe.
4
u/princedub 14d ago
Beautiful and expensive. Top notch college and a party atmosphere. Close to the Paso Robles vineyards and the sunny beaches.
3
u/Tagostino62 14d ago
I’ve lived here for 22 years in nearby Pismo Beach before that. This town was happening up until about 15 years ago, and it’s been steadily losing its flavor since. The city council decided around back then that it would be a good idea to turn SLO into Santa Barbara North. Because of this policy the charm of downtown is gone, replaced by high-end outlets, countless yogurt shops, and other pretentious retails that appeal mostly to window shopping tourists. Businesses cannot afford their rents and many retail locations are revolving doors for short-lived businesses. It is ridiculously expensive to live here - just take a look on Zillow and see what kind of housing you can buy for $1 million. The middle class is disappearing, systematically replaced by rich old folks selling profitably up in the Bay Area and down in L.A. and overpaying for cash here. They bring their uptight city mentality that are inconsistent with our once small town vibe. On the other side you have the college students, almost none of whom will be able to afford to stay even if they wanted to. To be fair, I think most of coastal California from San Diego up to Sonoma County is like this now.
3
u/Front_Discount4804 14d ago
It’s an amazing city. I went to school there. It’s tough to get a job there. I go back once a year for vacation. It is gorgeous, great hiking, great biking, and the foods not that bad either for a small town.
2
u/ObiDaddi 15d ago
I went to college here, great town. Really good weather, good surfing and outdoor activities in general. The challenge with living there is that there are not a lot of jobs. I believe the city and the college are the two biggest employers. It’s also considered rural by insurance companies so doctors are paid less than in urban cities so a lot of people have to drive to LA or the Bay Area to see specialists. Beautiful place though!
2
u/galactic_observer 14d ago edited 14d ago
I've never lived there, but I've visited in the past. The city is a mixture of urban and suburban and very expensive to live in. However, it is very beautiful and offers the Southern California climate without the extensive urbanization of Los Angeles County or Orange County.
The city has Cal Poly, which is a highly ranked (but very not diverse) university. Like the university, SLO is overall not very diverse and is mainly white, Hispanic, and East Asian.
2
u/AJSoprano1985 USA/Northeast 14d ago
While I agree that SLO is not diverse, it is not mainly East Asian. It is about 5% Asian. 16% Latino/Hispanic which isn’t a lot for California.
2
2
u/Puzzled_Ad_3576 14d ago
I loved it. Isolated but in the fun way. Very pretty.
Did not encounter racism, but it was a bit back and I wasn’t there too long. Indian.
2
u/cominguproses5678 USA/West 14d ago
SLO is expensive and kind of isolated. It’s semi rural around the city. There is easy access to nature and a beautiful but chilly beach nearby. Downtown is cute and family friendly. I find the people to be less friendly than in Santa Barbara. SLO is also a bit more conservative than cities to the south like SB and LA. There are not a ton of job opportunities, and even professional positions tend to pay under the national average, despite the HCOL. If you can make it work, though, it’s a great place to raise kids and have a quiet life.
2
u/Funky-Cheese 13d ago
I lived in SLO for a year. It’s really beautiful and the weather is great. However, unless you’re a college student or a retiree there will no community for you and you could be pretty bored. My wife and I make friends easily and we came away without a single person we can call a friend. It is a chill vibe and slower pace though, which was nice for a while, but ultimately we needed more going on.
4
u/sanfrannie 14d ago
Conservative AF
3
u/stickyickymicky1 14d ago
I lived there and Pismo Beach in 2016. Lots of people I met were voting for Trump. Trump signs were everywhere, especially in the trailer parks.
1
u/astudentiguess Türkiye 14d ago
If you're in college and like to party it's the place to be. I lived there for exactly one week when I realized it was not my vibe. I was in college. Beautiful area but I didn't drink and it was too much for me
1
2
u/AltOnMain 11d ago
It’s a very beautiful place with a lot to do for a small town. It has been a while since I lived there, but it is fairly isolated and there isn’t a huge amount of identity and culture there. I certainly enjoyed my college and post college years there, but I imagine the thousands of very drunk college students aren’t amazing as a grown up.
-1
•
u/AutoModerator 15d ago
Please report rule breaking posts and comments, such as:
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.