San Luis Obispo County, California

San Luis Obispo County is a located along the  in the  of the  of, between  and the. As of 2000 its population was 246,681. The is, with about 46,000 residents.

The county's distance from the large metro areas of San Francisco and Los Angeles has helped it to retain its rural character and reminders of old California abound. Father founded the  in  and the Mission is today an active part of downtown San Luis Obispo. The small size of the county's communities, scattered along the beaches, coastal hills, and mountains of the Santa Lucia range, provides a wide variety of coastal and inland hill ecologies to support many kinds of fishing, agriculture and tourist activities.

The mainstays of the economy are with its 18,000 students, tourism, agriculture, and other government services, including the California Men's Colony, a penal institution. San Luis Obispo County is the third largest producer of wine in California, surpassed only by Sonoma and Napa Counties. Wine grapes are by far the largest agricultural crop in the county, and the wine production they support creates a direct economic impact and a growing wine country vacation industry.

Other towns include. Just north of Cambria is, at the foot of the Enchanted Hill where publisher  built. Just south of Cambria lies, the smallest town in California with a population of 18. Other coastal towns include and  to the north of San Luis Obispo city, and  and the  Five Cities to the south:, ,  ,  and Shell Beach. , just south of the Five Cities, borders northern Santa Barbara County. Inland, the cities of, , and lie along the Salinas River, near the Paso Robles wine region.

History
was founded on, in the area that is now the city of.

San Luis Obispo County was one of the original counties of California, created in at the time of statehood.

Geography
According to the, the county has a total area of 9,364 (3,616 ). 8,558 km² (3,304 sq mi) of it is land and 806 km² (311 sq mi) of it (8.61%) is water.

Cities and towns




Adjacent Counties

 * - south
 * - east
 * - northeast
 * - north

Major Highways

 * [[Image:US 101 (CA).svg|23px]]
 * [[Image:California 1.svg|20px]]
 * [[Image:California 41.svg|20px]]
 * [[Image:California 46.svg|20px]]
 * [[Image:California 58.svg|20px]]
 * [[Image:California 166.svg|20px]]

Public Transportation
San Luis Obispo County is served by trains and  buses. The provides countywide service along US 101 as well as service to Morro Bay, Los Osos, Cambria and San Simeon.

The cities of San Luis Obispo, Atascadero and Paso Robles operate their own local bus services; all of these connect with SLORTA routes.

Intercity service is provided by trains,  and  buses.

Airports

 * is located just south of the City of San Luis Obispo. Commercial flights are available.

Demographics
As of the of 2000, there were 246,681 residents, 92,739 households, and 58,611 families in the county. The was 29/km² (75/sq mi). There were 102,275 housing units at an average density of 12/km² (31/sq mi). The racial makeup of the county was 84.60%, 2.03% or , 0.95% , 2.66% , 0.12% , 6.21% from , and 3.44% from two or more races. 16.29% of the population were or  of any race. 85.7% spoke and 10.7%  as their first language.

There were 92,739 households out of which 28.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 50.40% were living together, 9.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 36.8% were non-families. 26.0% of all households were made up of individuals and 10.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.49 and the average family size was 3.01.

In the county the population was spread out with 21.7% under the age of 18, 13.60% from 18 to 24, 27.0% from 25 to 44, 23.3% from 45 to 64, and 14.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females there were 105.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 105.2 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $42,428, and the median income for a family was $52,447. Males had a median income of $40,726 versus $27,450 for females. The for the county was $21,864. About 6.8% of families and 12.8% of the population were below the, including 11.4% of those under age 18 and 5.9% of those age 65 or over.

Politics
San Luis Obispo is a Republican-leaning county in and  elections. The last Democrat to win a majority in the county was in.

Coastal San Luis Obispo is part of, which is held by Democrat , while the inland is part of the , which is held by Republican. In the, San Luis Obispo is part of the 33rd Assembly district, which is held by Republican , and the 15th Senate district, which is held by Republican.