Natural hazards · Los Osos

Los Osos, CA natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Los Osos comes from inland flooding, and overall the risk is moderate for a U.S. community. Flood insurance has paid 10 claims here since 1992. 3 federal disasters brought FEMA money into town.

FEMA National Risk Index, December 2025 · OpenFEMA claims, aid & declarations

Expected damage

How exposed is Los Osos?

Moderate

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Los Osos to be higher than in 55% of U.S. communities, mostly from inland flooding and earthquakes.

Inland flooding55%Earthquakes40%Everything else5%

By hazard

What Los Osos faces

Each hazard’s share of the damage FEMA expects here, and how that compares with the rest of the country.

Inland flooding

55% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 53% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 2 years in the area

Earthquakes

40% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 85% of U.S. places

Lower here

Coastal floodingTornadoesHailWinter weatherHeat wavesWildfireLandslidesStrong windLightningDroughtTsunamis

Not a risk here

HurricanesIce stormsCold wavesAvalanchesVolcanic activity

Flood risk changes street by street. Check a specific address on FEMA’s flood map, and ask about flood insurance before you buy.

Flood insurance claims

Does Los Osos flood?

Every paid claim on a federal flood insurance policy in Los Osos, from FEMA’s records.

10paid claims since 1992

$66Kpaid to owners

0homes flooded more than once

19922026

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

No community discount. Los Osos isn’t in FEMA’s Community Rating System, which cuts flood insurance up to 45% in towns that do extra flood-proofing.

Insurance rates: San Luis Obispo County.

Disasters that hit Los Osos

3 federal disasters brought FEMA money here

Disasters the President declared that paid out in Los Osos itself: aid to households, or repair grants to Los Osos.

Brought FEMA money into Los OsosDeclared for San Luis Obispo County only

2023

Severe Winter Storms, Straight-Line Winds, Flooding, Landslides, and Mudslides

9 households applied for aid $10K aid approved

2022

Severe Winter Storms, Flooding, Landslides, and Mudslides

99 households applied for aid $387K aid approved

2003

Earthquake

60 households applied for aid $65K aid approved

San Luis Obispo County has had 24 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often floods and severe storms.

About these numbers

How to read this page

An average, not a forecastFEMA’s National Risk Index estimates the damage 18 kinds of natural hazards cause in a typical year, from decades of records and models. A quiet decade can follow a bad year.

Compared by rate“Higher than N%” compares yearly damage as a share of what’s here, so a big city isn’t rated riskier just for having more buildings. Los Osos covers 3 census tracts, combined by population.

Money that reached townFlood claims are matched to Los Osos’s own flood-insurance community (here, the census tracts inside it); household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to Los Osos. FEMA’s model follows property values, so a place that recently lost many homes can rate lower than it feels.

FEMA’s expected losses across Los Osos total about $3.8M a year, counting buildings, people and crops.

Sources: FEMA National Risk Index (December 2025); OpenFEMA: NFIP redacted claims, multiple-loss properties, community status book and residential penetration rates, housing assistance (owners and renters), public assistance funded projects, hazard mitigation properties and disaster declarations. Census tracts: U.S. Census Bureau.