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Welcome to Arroyo Grande ...

The city of Arroyo Grande is located in San Luis Obispo County<1>.

While we don't have a date for the founding of Arroyo Grande, you might consider that their post office opened  in 1869.

The city was incorporated July 10, 1911.

From the  Census Estimates for 2019, Arroyo Grande has a population of 17,897 people<2> (see below for details).

Arroyo Grande is 200 feet [61 m] above sea level.<3>.

Time Zone: Arroyo Grande lies in the Pacific Time Zone (PST/PDT) and observes daylight saving time

Area Codes for Arroyo Grande: 805 & 820<4>

The ZIP codes for Arroyo Grande: 93420-93421<5>

Population Details ...

Taken from the 2019 Census Estimates, Arroyo Grande had an population of 17,897 people. This is an increase of 3.74% since the 2010 Census (or an increase of 12.91% since the 2000 Census).

At the time of the 2010 Census, Arroyo Grande had a population of 17,252 people (or 6.39% of the total population of San Luis Obispo County). This makes Arroyo Grande the county's 4th most populous community.

The population of Arroyo Grande represents 0.05% of the population of California (which has 37,253,956 people), making it the state's 306th most populous community.

With a 2010 count of 17,252 people, the population of Arroyo Grande increased 8.84% from the 2000 Census (which had a count of 15,851 people).

More information can be found on the Census Page for Arroyo Grande.

Websites for Arroyo Grande ...

Official Website: www.arroyogrande.org/

Communities near Arroyo Grande ...

We have created a list of 10 communities that are near Arroyo Grande.

To Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

We have a couple of sections for those tracing their genealogy.

We created a list of cemeteries that are in the area around Arroyo Grande. Our list includes the location of those cemeteries and we provide an overhead view. See our Cemetery List for Arroyo Grande.

Using the information from an 1895 Atlas, we've created a list of communities that were in the area of Arroyo Grande. Our list includes information such as whether the 1895 community had a post office or railroad service. See our List of 1890's Communities around Arroyo Grande.

We also have a detailed list of newspapers that have been published in the area around Arroyo Grande. Our list includes 10 papers. See our Newspapers Page for Arroyo Grande.

TripAdvisor Tourism Pages for Arroyo Grande ...

Looking for more information about Arroyo Grande? A wonderful source is the TripAdvisor website. We always start with the TripAdvisor Tourism page, where you can read an overview with links that will help you find lodging, restaurants and attractions.

In addition to the Tourism page for Arroyo Grande, there are neighboring communities that also have Tourism pages. More information about those communities can be found on our TripAdvisor Page for Arroyo Grande.

Adding Arroyo Grande to Our Gazetteer ...

We originally found mention of Arroyo Grande in both the FIPS-55 and the GNIS. For more information, see the FIPS and GNIS Codes sections on our Miscellaneous Page.

From our notes, the earliest published mention we've found for Arroyo Grande was in the document titled List of Post Offices from Cameron Blevins and Richard Helbock.<8>

X2X - From that list, the Arroyo Grande post office opened in 1869.

We also found Arroyo Grande in the book titled List of Post Offices in the United States (1870).

For more details, see References and Mentions for Arroyo Grande.

The official website for Arroyo Grande: www.arroyogrande.org/

The official website for San Luis Obispo County: www.co.slo.ca.us/

The official website for State of California: https://www.ca.gov/

Footnotes ...

<1>If you're interested in how the shape of California's counties, including San Luis Obispo, have changed over time, we recommend the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.
<2>Population counts have been provided by the U.S. Census Bureau. For more detail, please visit our Census Page for Arroyo Grande.
<3>The elevation is an estimate for the area around Arroyo Grande - it will be higher in some places and lower in others.
<4>When there's a risk of an area code running out of phone numbers, an 'Overlay Area Code' is created that has the same geographic boundaries as the existing area code. In this case, the 805 code has been Overlayed with the 820 area code. New phone numbers in the Arroyo Grande area will be assigned with one of these codes: 805 or 820. As a result, placing a call in the Arroyo Grande area will require 10-digit dialing (where you enter both the area code and then the phone number).
<5>ZIP Codes have been created by the United States Postal Service (USPS) as a way of grouping addresses to make delivery more efficient. The boundaries of the ZIP Code can be changed, re-assigned, eliminated or overlapped with other ZIP Codes. So keep in mind that any given ZIP Code is only 'loosely' associated with a city (such as Arroyo Grande). When looking for a ZIP Code, whether Arroyo Grande or elsewhere, it's always best to check the website of the United States Postal Service (USPS).

Our list of ZIP Codes for Arroyo Grande includes: 93420 & 93421.
<6>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<7>The location has been supplied by the Geographic Names Information System - which is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). While these values should be definitive, we found that accuracy can vary and you should double-check the location if accuracy is required.
<8>A copy of their list with background information can be found at:

      https://cblevins.github.io/us-post-offices/data-biography/









 

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This page was last modified/updated: 28 Apr 2025