SLO County named the second-best place to retire in California

San Luis Obispo County is now the second-best place to retire in California , according to a new ranking, moving up two spots from last year.

In the latest analysis from SmartAsset’s Retirement Calculator , SLO County was named the No. 2 spot in the state to spend your post-career years, topped only by Marin County, which continues to hold the No. 1 spot.

In 2023, SLO was ranked No. 4 in the same list, behind Marin, Nevada and Tuolumne counties.

The analysis was conducted by indexing factors such as tax burden, the number of medical centers, recreation centers and retirement communities per 1,000 people, and the percentage of the population that are seniors.

SLO County is one of the 10 best places to retire in California, site says

Though San Luis Obispo County carries a slightly higher tax burden compared to other counties, it ranked highly in terms of retirement communities and medical centers per 1,000 people.

Around 20% of SLO County’s population is over the age of 65 , according to SmartAsset’s analysis — higher than the state population of around 17.8% — indicating the area is a popular place for older residents to build community.

SmartAsset ranked San Luis Obispo County’s stock of retirement communities highly, with 0.18 communities for every 1,000 residents — well above the state’s 0.10 rate.

Counties with larger, better-known attractions such as Marin, Ventura and Nevada tended to score better in the report’s ranking of recreation centers per 1,000 people. San Luis Obispo has 0.52 recreation centers per 1,000 people.

Counties with the highest recreation center, retirement community and medical care scores were generally found in Northern California, making SLO something of an outlier in those categories.

Somewhat surprisingly, the county ranked better than any other in the top 10 for medical care, with 2.04 medical centers per 1,000 people.

3 SLO County cities are among the best places to retire in California, site says

Marin County, listed as the best place to retire in California, carries the same ratio of medical centers, while Orange County, which ranked eighth overall, has 2.11 medical centers per 1,000 people.

San Luis Obispo County ranked highly despite carrying a relatively high tax burden of 16.1% — more than seven others in the top 10.

No other Central Coast county made SmartAsset’s top 10, with Santa Barbara ranked No. 15 and Monterey ranked No. 32 overall.

Here’s the full list of the top 10:

1. Marin County
2. San Luis Obispo County
3. Placer County
4. Tuolumne County
5. Nevada County
6. Shasta County
7. Amador County
8. Orange County
9. Ventura County
10. El Dorado County

Local cities have also ranked high as retirement destinations in recent years.

In a 2022 list from WorldAtlas, Paso Robles, Pismo Beach and San Luis Obispo were among the 11 best small towns in retire in California.

“California is a widely-chosen state to retire for the desired proximity to beaches, financially stable economy, and great climate,” the travel site said. “(Here) retirees will never feel underappreciated for their hardworking lives.”