Arroyo Grande, CA

Arroyo Grande Creek and its tributaries run through a coastal ecosystem of live-oak woodland, central coastal scrub, and willow and mixed riparian habitat. The San Luis Obispo County city also lies amid grassland, coastal prairie, agricultural land, dunes, and intertidal areas within the California Floristic Province. Its climate is temperate Mediterranean. The 2020 census counted 18,441 residents. Northern, or Obispeño, Chumash people were the valley’s earliest inhabitants and still occupied the area when Juan Cabrillo arrived during the first Spanish contact. Around 1840, the Mexican government divided the valley between two major ranchos. San Luis Obispo County established Arroyo Grande Township in 1862.