Photo: Michael "Mike" L. Baird from Morro Bay, USA. · CC BY 2.0Los Osos has 0.4 jobs for every working resident, so most commute out
Household incomes here are higher than in 83% of U.S. towns. Los Osos has 1,959 jobs, and 5,584 of its residents work somewhere. The two grades for Los Osos are B− for jobs and income and A for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Los Osos at work: what stands out
Commutes from Los Osos are quick
The average trip to work takes 19 minutes, against 29 across California. That’s about 77 hours a year less on the road than the typical California worker. Time on the road ↓
Los Osos and San Luis Obispo trade workers both ways
San Luis Obispo is the top workplace for Los Osos residents (24%) and also where the most people who work in Los Osos come from (10% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey.
The figures behind Los Osos’ Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Los Osos is better than 54% of U.S. towns, #468 of 847 in California. Household income holds Los Osos’ grade up ($108,932, U.S. $80,734); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 30% of U.S. towns). It also does well on the poverty rate.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Los Osos could be anywhere from C+ to B+.
Time on the road from Los Osos: about 19 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Los Osos workers work from home, vs 17% across California. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 5,521 commuters (the 15% who work from home are left out). Across California: 79% drive alone, 3% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
24% of working residents work in San Luis Obispo
Where Los Osos clocks in
24% of workers
9% of workersLines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
How a workday changes Los Osos
On a workday 4,959 residents head out to work, 625 work right here, and 1,334 people come in from elsewhere.
About 11,000 people are in Los Osos on a workday afternoon, 26% fewer than live here.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
A place that makes things: 28% of Los Osos’ jobs are in goods
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Los Osos, 2013 → 2023: 1,576 → 1,959. Big swings can come from how a large employer reports its locations, not only from real openings or closings.
Primary jobs covered by unemployment insurance (not the self-employed). Pay is monthly earnings. LEHD 2023.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Los Osos’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How far it is to work from Los Osos
About 27% show a job over 50 miles away. Some of that is real, and some is employers that report every worker at a head office, so a few long commutes are on paper only.
Straight-line distance from each worker’s home block to their main job’s block. LEHD 2023.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Walkable streets, thin transit: Los Osos
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Los Osos is more walkable than 92% of U.S. towns, #198 of 847 in California. Both inputs place Los Osos near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 6,517 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 65% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 29% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 2.0 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 69% of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 2.7% of Los Osos households have no vehicle (California 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Los Osos’ commuters take a bus or train.
Ranked on jobs and income, Los Osos is 1,305th among 2,227 U.S. towns of 10,000 to 19,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Beverly Hills MI | 10,449 | $177K | 1.7% | 1.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | New Albany OH | 11,803 | $238K | 1.4% | 0.9% | 11% | A+ |
| 3 | Plain Township OH | 13,257 | $219K | 2.1% | 0.8% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 12 | Piedmont CA | 10,642 | $250K | 4.3% | 1.5% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 71 | Sierra Madre CA | 10,620 | $144K | 4.6% | 2.6% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 117 | Alamo CA | 14,488 | $250K | 2.1% | 3.6% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,303 | Harborcreek Township PA | 16,603 | $87K | 8.5% | 5.4% | 12% | B− |
| 1,304 | Bastrop TX | 13,383 | $82K | 7.2% | 7.2% | 15% | B− |
| 1,305 | Los Osos CA | 14,166 | $109K | 8.1% | 5.1% | 11% | B− |
| 1,306 | Doctor Phillips FL | 12,984 | $104K | 12.0% | 10.3% | 4% | B− |
| 1,307 | Villas FL | 13,644 | $58K | 10.0% | 3.5% | 8% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 2,227 | Douglas AZ | 16,038 | $42K | 27.8% | 12.3% | 29% | D− |
Census ACS 2020–24 (income, poverty, unemployment), Census LEHD (work in town), TownRatings Jobs & income grades. Each town links to its Work & commute page.
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Los Osos, the top three, the last and three more from California.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Two sources, two years. Trips, distances and jobs based here: Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs, where the employer reports them. Income, poverty, unemployment, commute time and how people travel: Census ACS 2020–24 averages.
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Los Osos: questions
What is the median household income in Los Osos?
$108,932 (±$8,931) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $99,122 across California and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Los Osos?
8.1%, against 12.0% across California and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Los Osos?
19 minutes each way on average, against 29 across California and 26 nationally. 15% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Los Osos work?
11% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are San Luis Obispo (24%, 9 mi), Morro Bay (9%, 5 mi), Atascadero (3%, 14 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Los Osos walkable?
Los Osos is more walkable than 92% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 11.3 out of 20, and 7% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Los Osos without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 3% of households have no car. 29% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Los Osos, from the people who make the trip.
More of Los Osos
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2023, primary jobs. Commute time, working from home and working out of state: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates. Distances are straight lines between home and work; real drives run longer. Walkability index, job access and transit service: U.S. EPA Smart Location Database. The two grades are our own summaries of these figures, not official ratings.