SLO County property value rose by $3.5 billion in 2025. Where did it grow most?
The value of property in San Luis Obispo County grew by more than $3.5 billion in 2025 — but according to county experts, that’s a relatively modest increase.
The increase in value comes down to several economic factors, including changes in property ownership, new construction and inflation, according to the 2025 County Assessor’s Report.
Dating back to 2016, property values have now increased by nearly $30 billion, according to the report.
According to the report, the value of all properties assessed in the 2025-26 fiscal year was $78.3 billion, County Assessor Tom Bordonaro said in the report.
“For 2025-26, San Luis Obispo County experienced a moderate increase in values of 4.74%,” Bordonaro said. “This increase is fairly consistent with the average increase of 4.62% across the 58 California counties.”
Number of out-of-county homeowners rises
Though property values continued to rise across the county, the latest report showed that out-of-county property tax transfers from Proposition 19 continues to grow, lowering the amount of property taxes collected by the county, according to the report.
“Homeowners from other areas are transferring their existing lower property tax base values to San Luis Obispo County,” Bordonaro said in the report. “The number of lower base year values transferred in is greater than the number of base values transferring out of our county.”
In that same vein, the rising number of property tax exemptions — 13.7% more than in 2024 — showed an increase in vacation homes, second homes and rental properties in San Luis Obispo County, according to the report.
The number of property owners who utilized Proposition 19’s property tax base transfers continued to play a role in tax assessments, though to a lesser extent compared to the previous year, according to the report.
With a total of 282 base year transfers processed in 2025 — 111 within San Luis Obispo County, 171 coming from other counties and 79 transferring out of the county — the county lost around $34 million in property value, according to the report.
Property assessments across San Luis Obispo County varied by the region in 2025, according to the report.
Cities such as San Luis Obispo, Grover Beach and Paso Robles saw the most growth in assessed value, growing by 6.69%, 5.75% and 5.23%, respectively. The unincorporated part of the county saw value increase by 4.56%, while Arroyo Grande placed last among incorporated cities at 3.92%.
Wine, hospitality industries dominate business assessments
In 2025, the wine industry continued to thrive in San Luis Obispo County.
The top two businesses by parcel value were both wineries, with E&J Gallo Winery and Treasure Wine Estates Americas Co. valued at $89.5 million and $89.5 million, respectively. Justin Vineyards and Winery, LLC also placed in the top 10 with a parcel value of around $65.3 million, while brewery Firestone Walker, Inc. was assessed at $76.3 million.
Hotels, apartment housing and hospitals rounded out the rest of the top 10 businesses by parcel value, but while individual businesses in those sectors and the winery space all ranked highly, no industry was more highly valued than the solar and fuel cell energy business.
In 2025, the solar and fuel cell energy business was assessed at a total of $803.5 million on just 24 assessments.
The next-most profitable industry, the winery business, came in at just shy of $200 million based on 469 assessments.
Where are your tax dollars going?
In total, San Luis Obispo County took in a grand total of $793 million in property taxes in 2025, according to the report.
School districts were the single largest recipients of property tax revenue, receiving 61.4% of all revenue, or just under $487 million.
The county’s general fund took in 24.31% of property tax revenue, or a little under $193 million, while special districts took another 3.84%, or $30.5 million.
The remaining property tax revenue went to incorporated cities, at $57.3 million and redevelopment agencies at $25.6 million.
This story was originally published November 3, 2025 at 10:30 AM.
