Oceano, California.
Typical home $678,943 (+3.2% in a year), asking rent $2,400 . San Luis Obispo-Paso Robles, CA metro.
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$1,867 (+110%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Up $21,179 +3%
- $657,764$678,943 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Up $130,713 +24%
- $548,231$678,943 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.
- Oceano$3,564
- California$3,997
- United States$1,922
At the last five years' pace, a typical home here doubles in price every 16 years.
Typical home values in Oceano, CA rose 3.2% over the past year — faster than the nation's +1.2%.
Living in Oceano, San Luis Obispo County, California
Oceano, in San Luis Obispo County, had 7,183 people in the 2020 census. Half its households earn more than $71,598 a year and half less, against $97,446 across San Luis Obispo County; 17% of its people live below the poverty line. 61% of its homes are lived in by their owners and 39% are rented. 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 shops.
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 It can be wrong or out of date.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. Oceano is a small coastal community in San Luis Obispo County where the population skews older than the typical American town. Most homes are lived in by their owners, though incomes run well below the county's, and more people live below the poverty line than most would expect in this part of California. Winters are mild and summers stay cool, with little or no snow and modest rainfall through the year.
Work. Residents work mostly in schools, hospitals and social care, in shops, in restaurants, hotels and entertainment, and in the building trades. Fewer adults hold a four-year degree than across much of the county, and some people work from home. Across San Luis Obispo County, some of the largest workplaces are California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo, Lucia Mar Unified and DSH-Atascadero.
Things to do. Pismo State Beach lies in or beside town, so the shore is close at hand. A short drive away are the Guadalupe–Nipomo Dunes, a protected area, and Lopez Lake, a good spot for time on the water. For something indoors, Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa is a museum a longer drive away.
Report a mistake
- 3,019households
- 21%of adults have a degree
- 17%below the poverty line
- 21 mintypical commute
- 16%work from home
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 January, with highs near 65° and lows near 44°; warmest in October, with highs near 72° and lows near 53°. About 18 inches of rain a year, and little or no snow.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Pismo Beach 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; Oceano 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
- EarthquakesRelatively moderate
- Inland floodingrelatively high in parts of OceanoRelatively moderate
- TsunamisRelatively moderate
FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms in Oceano’s census tracts, against the rest of the country; all of them together, relatively low. 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.
Oceano home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Oceano$678,943
- California$761,538
- United States$366,157
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
Homes for sale
Active for-sale inventory. More supply hands power to buyers.
- Oceano15
New listings per month
Sellers arriving at the market.
- Oceano4
Zip codes with a Oceano address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Oceano — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.