Cayucos, California.
Typical home $1,321,933 (+0.8% in a year). San Luis Obispo-Paso Robles, CA metro.
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$3,574 (+106%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Up $10,755 +1%
- $1,311,178$1,321,933 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Up $174,261 +15%
- $1,147,672$1,321,933 since Sep 2021
Monthly payment to buy the typical home
Home value × that month's 30-year mortgage rate, 20% down, principal and interest. This is the line households feel: prices and rates compound each other.
- Cayucos$6,938
- California$3,997
- United States$1,922
At the last five years' pace, a typical home here doubles in price every 25 years.
Typical home values in Cayucos, CA rose 0.8% over the past year — slower than the nation's +1.2%.
Living in Cayucos, San Luis Obispo County, California
Cayucos, in San Luis Obispo County, had 2,505 people in the 2020 census. Half its households earn more than $87,235 a year and half less, against $97,446 across San Luis Obispo County; 9% of its people live below the poverty line. Unemployment in San Luis Obispo County was 4.7% in August 2026, and the county had 0.3% fewer jobs in 2025 than the year before. The most residents work in schools and health care, then construction.
Written by AI Claude Sonnet 5.5 wrote this on 23 October 2026 from the figures here, a list of nearby places and what it knows. It can be wrong or out of date.
What it’s like
The place. Cayucos is a small coastal community in San Luis Obispo County, and its residents are older than in most American towns. Household incomes run below the county's, while typical home values are high, and a large share of adults hold a four-year degree. Winters are mild and summers are cool by the water, with little or no snow and modest rainfall through the year.
Work. Residents work mostly in schools, hospitals and social care, in the building trades, in restaurants, hotels and entertainment, and in banks, insurance and property. Across San Luis Obispo County, the largest workplaces include California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo, the Lucia Mar Unified school district and the psychiatric hospital DSH-Atascadero. Unemployment in the county is a little lower than a year ago, though the number of jobs has slipped slightly.
Things to do. Cayucos State Beach is in or beside town, as are Estero Bluffs State Park, a protected stretch of coast, and Whale Rock Reservoir. A short drive away are Morro Strand State Beach and Morro Bay State Park. Hearst Castle is a longer drive away for a day trip.
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- 1,293households
- 45%of adults have a degree
- 9%below the poverty line
What residents work in
Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. San Luis Obispo County had 121,634 jobs in 2025, 0.3% fewer than the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Weather through the year
Coldest in December, with highs near 65° and lows near 46°; warmest in October, with highs near 72° and lows near 54°. About 17 inches of rain a year, and little or no snow.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Morro Bay Fire Dept weather station, 6 miles away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in San Luis Obispo County
- California Polytechnic State University-San Luis ObispoUniversity or college2,969
- Pearce ServicesElectric contracting2,648
- DSH-AtascaderoHospitals, psychiatric1,828
- California Men's Colony - San Luis ObispoCorrectional institutions1,199
- Lucia Mar UnifiedSchool district1,076FTE
- San Luis Coastal UnifiedSchool district855FTE
- Paso Robles Joint UnifiedSchool district716FTE
- City of San Luis ObispoExecutive offices, federal, state, and local657
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 249 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 29,630 people in all across the county; Cayucos has one of its own. Colleges come from IPEDS (NCES, 2023–24) and school districts from the Common Core of Data (NCES, 2023–24); FTE marks full-time equivalent staff. Not listed: many offices and banks, which need not report to OSHA; military bases, whose staff OPM withholds; and, in about half the states, city and county governments.
Natural hazards
- Inland floodingRelatively high
- WildfireRelatively moderate
- Coastal floodingRelatively moderate
- TsunamisRelatively moderate
- EarthquakesRelatively moderate
FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms in Cayucos’ census tracts, against the rest of the country; all of them together, relatively moderate. It is meant for planning, not a substitute for a local risk assessment or a flood map: FEMA’s index.
From the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2020 census and its American Community Survey (2020–2024 five-year estimates), and the Bureau of Labor Statistics. A survey, so each figure has a margin of error, and figures it is not sure of are left out. More on San Luis Obispo County and the San Luis Obispo-Paso Robles, CA metro.
Cayucos home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Cayucos$1,321,933
- California$761,538
- United States$366,157
Sellers are cutting prices on about 1 in 6 Cayucos listings — the market is roughly in balance.
When this market ran hot
Each cell is that month's year-on-year home-value growth. Read left to right, top row is the latest year — the 2021–22 band is the boom.
Market heat, inside the city limits
Share of listings with a price cut
The early-warning dial: sellers cut when buyers stop reaching. Rising cuts cool a market months before prices notice.
- Cayucos17.20%
- United States26.90%
Homes for sale
Active for-sale inventory. More supply hands power to buyers.
- Cayucos33
New listings per month
Sellers arriving at the market.
- Cayucos9
Zip codes with a Cayucos address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Cayucos — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.