San Luis Obispo

Formed February 18, 1850 (15^th county)

San Luis Obispo County (282,443), San Luis Obispo (47,107)

The Art Deco style building was built in 1940 from the design of A. R. Walker and P. A. Eisen.  There was an 1873 version of the county courthouse in San Luis Obispo, the only county seat.  As an original county, San Luis Obispo became a county on February 18, 1850.  It is the 15^th county.  The facility is on Monterey Street between Santa Rosa and Osso streets.  United States Highway 101 is five blocks north of the site.  The courthouse was renovated in 1996 and a Courts annex was added.  San Luis Obispo gets its name from the nearby Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa.  The mission was named for Saint Luis, Bishop of Toulouse. 

San Luis Obispo County government consists of a sheriff, assessor, controller, and treasurer (executive).  It has 5 Supervisors (legislative.)  Eleven Superior Court Judges, clerk, and counsel serve San Luis Obispo County (judicial.)  The county is situated in the southwest on the Pacific Ocean.  Its western border is the Pacific Ocean.  The county center is 12.5 miles Northeast of San Luis Obispo nearer Santa Margarita.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Monterey, Kings, Kern, and Santa Barbara counties and the Pacific Ocean.  The overall county shape is a lazy L but the Pacific Ocean coastline and numerous steps along the eastern border are not straight.  San Luis Obispo city is west and slightly south of the county’s center.  San Luis Obispo is the county seat and the largest city.  It is 16.7% of the county population.  The county and county seat are pronounced SAN LUE-ISS OE-BIS-POE.  

The area of the county is 3304 square miles.  It is 18 out of 58 in the state.  It ranks 23 out of 58 in population in the state.  It has a density of 85.5 persons per square mile making it 34 out of 58 in the state.  San Luis Obispo County has 56.1% of its population in its incorporated areas.  United States Highway 101 crosses north to south from Monterey County to Santa Barbara County.  This county is in the San Luis Obispo-Paso Robles Metropolitan Statistical Area.

San Luis Obispo