Work & commute · Los Osos

Work & commute in Los Osos, CA

Most working residents leave Los Osos for work: only 11% work in town. The top destinations are San Luis Obispo (24%), Morro Bay (9%) and Atascadero (3%). Half commute less than 12 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2023 Census ACS commute times

Work in town

11%

625 of 5,584 working residents

Typical commute

12 mi

Half commute less than this, straight-line

Average commute time

19 min

One way, from the Census survey

Work from home

15%

of workers, from the Census survey

Coming and going

Who leaves, who stays, who comes in

On a workday 4,959 Los Osos residents head out of town to work, 625 work right here, and 1,334 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in Los Osos.

4,959live here, work elsewhere

625live and work here

1,334work here, live elsewhere

Leave for workStayCome in

The map

Where Los Osos goes to work

San Luis Obispo9.2 mi away

24%1,353

Los Osos (in town)right here

11%625

Morro Bay4.9 mi away

9%495

Atascadero14.5 mi away

3%179

Santa Maria33.6 mi away

3%173

Los Angeles163.5 mi away

3%166

El Paso de Robles (Paso Robles)24.3 mi away

2%104

Arroyo Grande18.5 mi away

1%81

Pismo Beach13.6 mi away

1%73

Templeton18.2 mi away

1%64

Everywhere elseother towns and states

41%2,271

Lines run between town centers; a thicker line means more commuters. The top 10 towns each way.

How far

How far Los Osos commutes

Straight-line distance from home to work, for every working resident. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.

31%

36%

27%

31%Under 10 mi

36%10–24 mi

6%25–50 mi

27%Over 50 mi

Job hub or commuter town?

Los Osos is a commuter town

0.35jobs per working resident

A commuter town

0.35 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute out.

The jobs

What the jobs in Los Osos are

1,959 jobs are based in Los Osos. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Los Osos’s own residents hold wherever they work.

Jobs based in Los Osos

1,959 jobs

Goods (factories, building, farms)28%

Trade, transport & utilities14%

Services (health, schools, offices…)58%

$1,250 a month or less16%

$1,251–$3,333 a month32%

Over $3,333 a month52%

Jobs Los Osos residents hold

5,584 working residents

Goods (factories, building, farms)14%

Trade, transport & utilities15%

Services (health, schools, offices…)70%

$1,250 a month or less14%

$1,251–$3,333 a month25%

Over $3,333 a month61%

+24%

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.

About these numbers

How to read this page

Every worker, home to workThe Census links each worker’s home block to their main job’s block, for jobs covered by unemployment insurance. That’s most jobs, but not the self-employed.

Where the employer saysA job counts where the employer reports it. Some big employers report one address for many sites, which can make a few commutes look longer than they are.

Two surveysFlows, distances and jobs: LEHD 2023. Commute time and working from home: the Census American Community Survey.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2023, primary jobs; American Community Survey 5-year estimates.