Moving to
Nipomo.

All Nipomo data Compare Nipomo

17,516people live here $110,022median household income▲ 36% above US $2,106median rent per month▲ 49% above US $723,700median home value▲ 118% above US

Nipomo is an unincorporated community in San Luis Obispo County, CA. It has no city government: the county runs it, and the Census counts it as its own place.

What it's like to live in Nipomo

Nipomo is an unincorporated community in California with household incomes running above the national average. Those factors carry real weight for anyone weighing where to move next.

The tradeoffs are worth naming plainly. Nipomo deals with rent well above the national average, home prices well above the national average, air quality that falls short of national benchmarks, and larger class sizes than the national average.

The good

Higher-than-average incomes

The not so good

Rent well above the national average
High home prices
Air quality concerns
High student-teacher ratio
Smaller place — fewer dining and entertainment options
Car-dependent — few commuters use transit

How Nipomo compares

Median household income

Nipomo$110,022

California avg$99,122

US$80,734

Median rent (per month)

Nipomo$2,106

California avg$2,036

US$1,413

Median home value

Nipomo$723,700

California avg$734,700

US$332,700

What it takes to move to Nipomo

Based on Nipomo's median rent, home value and household income

To rent

$4,212

up front: first month plus a typical one-month deposit

Income to keep rent under 30%: $84,240 a year
47% of Nipomo renters spend 30% or more of their income on rent

To buy

$144,740

a 20% down payment on the median home

With 10% down: $72,370
Homes cost 6.6× the typical local household income (US: 4.1×)

Moving costs, closing costs and taxes not included.

The details

Cost of living▲ 49% above US

$2,106/mo median rent

Rent is expensive here, at $2,106 a month median and well above the national average. This is the kind of city where housing costs deserve serious budgeting before committing to a move. Home prices are steep, with a median around $723,700. Renting first to get a feel for the city before buying is often the more practical route.

Median home value $723,700 · 47% of renters cost-burdened

Job market

4.4% county unemployment

Unemployment in San Luis Obispo County is 4.4%, close to the national average of 4.3%. That's the county-wide rate; BLS doesn't measure a place this size on its own.

San Luis Obispo County (county-wide)

Safety

300 violent crimes per 100k, whole jurisdiction

Nipomo doesn't have its own police department, so there's no crime rate for it alone. The figures shown are for the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff's Office jurisdiction as a whole, which runs close to the national average for violent crime and covers many communities. Individual neighborhoods can differ a lot from that overall rate.

Property crime 428/100k · Policed by San Luis Obispo County Sheriff's Office (county-wide rate) · 2025 data

Getting aroundNear US average

28 min average commute

Commutes run about average, at 28 minutes. Fine day to day, but it adds up over a year, and where someone lives relative to where they work starts to matter. 9 in 10 workers drive to work; 6% work from home.

How workers get to work

Drive alone

83%

Carpool

8.3%

Work from home

5.5%

Public transit

1.4%

Walk

1.1%

Other

1.1%

Climate

Summers are comfortable, with highs around 76°F, and winters are chilly but manageable, with lows around 41°F. It's a dry climate with limited rainfall.

Average month

High °FLow °FPrecip (in)

30-year averages, 1991–2020

Education & workforce▼ 31% below US

25% bachelor's degree or higher

College degree attainment runs below average at 25%. That tends to reflect a more trade and working-class economy, which can be great or limiting depending on the industry.

Schools

5 public schools inside the boundary

There are 5 public schools inside the boundary. The student-to-teacher ratio is 19:1, slightly above the national average of 16:1.

Parks & recreation

The nearest national park or historic site is Channel Islands National Park (80 miles away).

Bottom line

Nipomo's strongest point is household incomes running above the national average; the main tradeoffs are rent well above the national average and home prices well above the national average. A year of median rent ($2,106/mo) equals 23% of the median household income here, about the same as the 21% typical nationwide. It may be a harder fit for renters on a tight budget and anyone who doesn't drive.

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