We lived in Pismo Beach for 38 days and it was 100% amazing. We enjoyed the infinite beaches and hiking trails, visited beautiful vineyards and wineries, and even made friends! We even found the perfect word to describe our stay in Pismo: workation.
So are we moving to Pismo Beach, California? Let's see what the numbers have to say.
Table of Contents
Overall Score
Scores by categories
Affordability
Cannabis
Coffee
Community
Diversity
Dog Friendly
Grocery Stores
Magical Spirit
Natural Beauty
Parks & Rec
Political Climate
Restaurants
Sustainability
Walkability & Bikeability
Weather
Wine & Beer
Summary of Pismo Beach Livability Rating
Overall score: 68 / 100 = Okay!
We were surprised that even though we had such a great time during our stay, Pismo Beach only scored a 68 on our rating system. Compare this to Berkeley, CA and San Diego, CA, which both scored more than 80 points, and it's clear that Pismo is lagging behind.
Here is the summary of how these points breakdown in each of our 16 categories:
Affordability
Rating = 1
Weighted score: 1.9
As of February 2022 Pismo Beach Median Home Prices are an extremely spendy 1.2M (and trending up).
The even bigger problem is that Pismo is a small town with little available inventory. It's rare for the city to see over 20 homes sell within a single month. With this combination of factors (high costs and low inventory), it seems unlikely that we'd be able to find a place at all, much less within our budget.
Our ideal home would be a 2 bedroom 1+ bath (approx. 900 square feet) home with some outdoor space. We would expect to pay a minimum of $800K for this, but again with the inventory we'd have to have a big dose of luck to squeeze in to this market.
If we zoom out to the larger neighboring city of San Luis Obispo, we see median home prices sitting at a more realistic 886K (and trending up). There is a little bit more inventory with an average of 50 home sales/month. However, it still doesn't appear to be an easy market to break into.
Cannabis Culture
Rating = 0 worst
Weighted score: 0
There are no cannabis dispensaries in Pismo Beach. There are, however, places to purchase cannabis in the neighboring cities of San Luis Obispo and Grover Beach.
However, we try to stay focused on the city where we are living when creating these ratings, and since there isn't a single dispensary within Pismo Beach city limits, we give Pismo a 0, or nonexistent score, for cannabis.
Coffee / Cafes
Rating = 4
Weighted score: 4
For its small size, Pismo Beach has some really nice coffee shops and it was easy to chat with the other patrons!
Our top three favorite coffee shops:
The only reason we couldn't give this is a 5 was there were zero coffee shops within walking distance of our house in Pismo. We had to hop in the car to get some morning brew, and any time we have to hop in the car it takes a bit of magic out of the experience for us. Call us spoiled, but in Berkeley we had at least a half dozen coffee shops that we could reach within an easy walk from home.
Community
Rating = 5
Weighted score: 9.5
There is just something really easygoing and open about the people of Pismo Beach. Nearly every time we walked out the door we found ourselves in conversation with strangers. The conversations we had didn't always stick to the surface level stuff either. People were more than happy to connect on an authentic level and really quickly. We joked that maybe people let their guards down when they're walking shoeless on the beach.
We go into great detail about community in our friends episode. So for this writeup, suffice it to say that we actually had dinner with friends during our short stay. This idea of traveling the country to have dinner with friends was one of the initial ideas behind this trip, so we are feeling pretty happy with this category.
Diversity
Rating = 1
Weighted score: 1.3
Pismo Beach is not a diverse city with a diversity index of 44.
Here's how the racial demographics of Pismo Beach compares to the United States.
| Race | % Population in Pismo Beach | % Population in U.S. | Pismo Vs. U.S. |
| Black | 1% | 13% | -12% |
| Hispanic / Latino | 8% | 18% | -10% |
| Asian | 3% | 6% | -3% |
| White | 88% | 76% | +12% |
We know this chart is not all inclusive, but we hope it illustrates the demographic makeup of the area vs. the country.
The lack of diversity is the most disappointing aspect of Pismo Beach, and it plays a big role--along with affordability--for why we likely wouldn't choose Pismo Beach as home.
There is something that happens in a town that is not diverse, which we discuss at some length in our rating episode. This level of disparity in racial and economic structures is not a paradigm that we particularly want to be a part of.
What's more, Tre' ends up being singled out as the "only" black man in the community, and this comes with a lot of baggage. The baggage can take place in the form of being the singular representative for all black people, being the token friend, and being mistaken for the "other" black guy. Obviously, more overt types of racism can be even more problematic in homogenous communities. This is especially true when an aura of white supremacy has taken hold, which appears to be the case in the neighboring community of Grover Beach.
Dog Friendly
Rating = 5
Weighted score: 5
During our stay, we didn't encounter a single issue with bringing Oskar our dog anywhere. All the beaches are dog friendly, with no leash laws on many of them, with the exception of the main tourist beach near the pier. There was plentiful dog friendly patio dining (special shoutout to Zorro's Cafe & Cantina and Vespera Resort Restaurant.
Also along the cliff walks, you can find plentiful high quality waste pickup bags everywhere (with double layers, they were really tuxedo of poop bags), and even though there is nice landscaping everywhere, there are no signs warning dog owners away, which is so refreshing!
An additional bonus for dog friendly is the free dog wash outside of the Dolphin Bay Resort. It's just a simple hose that's hooked up to a beach shower, and it worked perfectly. Having been in cities were I have to settle for dog washes that will cost $15 or more, this was really refreshing and much needed given all the ocean swimming Oskar was doing.
Finally, a special shoutout to Springdale Pet Ranch. Oskar had an overnight all alone while we were doing bday celebrating. It is such a cool little business! The ranch is set up on a big acreage where they have set up fresh air kennels with a little dog park and a walking area.
Grocery Stores/Farmer's Market
Rating = 3
Weighted score: 3.9
Overall, grocery shopping in Pismo Beach was a pretty average experience. Unfortunately, the Pismo Beach farmer's market was not open during our stay.
We did most of our shopping at the California Fresh Market, which had a pretty nice bulk section and decent produce. It was really expensive, though, and it was easy to spend over $300 on groceries for a week, which is about double our normal grocery bill.
Our favorite little market was actually DePalo and Sons, which had a delectable bakery (we had to try everything), a tasty cheese selection, and wine. It was priced very high for the tourist market, so we did spend a bit too much on our forays there, especially considering they were the only place within walking distance of our condo.
Magical Spirit
Rating = 2
Weighted score: 2
We debated the magical spirit category quite a bit in our Pismo Beach rating episode. Ultimately, we decided that it's not enough to BYOM (bring your own magic)--the city in question really needs to provide access to practices and practitioners, and unfortunately, Pismo Beach does not deliver on this front.
That said, we both found it easy to practice magic ourselves from within the beauty of Pismo Beach, but we reserved those points for the Natural Beauty category.
Natural Beauty
Rating = 5
Weighted score: 5
The beauty that can be found in Pismo Beach is truly next level.
The beaches are outrageously eye catching with amazing rock formations and awe inspiring cliffs.
Beautiful sunsets over the Pacific are visible nearly every evening. And there is an outrageous variety in topography once you wander into the surrounding area from expansive rolling hills and vineyards, oak tree and sycamore forests, and more.
Photos will do this category description a bit more justice than words, so we'll include a few here.
Parks & Rec
Rating = 5
Weighted score: 5
Going hand in hand with natural beauty, it was really nice to see the city taking great care to make the beauty accessible to folks via well maintained yet wild beaches, little city parks and walking paths lacing throughout the shoreline, and the Pismo Beach Preserve hiking trails, which are far more extensive than they first appear.
View of Pismo Beach from the Pismo Beach Preserve trails
Political Climate
Rating = 3
Weighted score: 4.8
Pismo Beach is somewhat liberal. The "somewhat" definitely shows when you venture south of the pier to the sand dunes. Here you'll find recreational trucks sporting thin blue line flags and taking a proud and aggressive stance against liberal ideals.
It's not uncommon to see men sporting tee-shirts, that are reminiscent of sports paraphernalia, stating in bold language their stance for guns and against vaccinations and masks, etc. Honestly, we would prefer a world where politics aren't put on display like some kind of sports affiliation. This type of intense identification with political ideology creates tribalism and a sort of "win at all costs" atmosphere, which isn't particularly healthy for our country as a whole.
One morning, we had breakfast in a cafe in Grover Beach where a number of patrons proudly displayed conservative messaging on their clothing. We had to laugh (albeit a bit uncomfortably) that the bathroom door code was 1776. We don't think it's because we had encountered a group of history buffs. Having only recently left the extremely liberal city of Berkeley, these types of displays can come across as a bit shocking.
However, the mood shifts a lot as we go north and away from the Grover/Pismo Beach border. We found that around the area of Shell Beach where we were staying and north up to SLO people seemed a bit more relaxed and less in-your-face about their political leanings.
Yet even with this political tension, we somehow still landed at a 3 average score for politics, which interestingly is the same score we give Berkeley. We talk at some length about how this might have happened in our rating episode.
Restaurants
Rating = 3
Weighted score: 3
Pismo Beach is a tourist city, and with that comes a lot of overpriced and underwhelming hotel restaurant food. What's more, the vegetarian options are lacking. We found a few gems, but overall our favorite restaurants weren't within the Pismo Beach city limits. Here are a few of our top picks:
- Spyglass Inn Restaurant - Come here to sit on the patio and enjoy the sunset! We enjoyed fries, nachos and wine while watching the sun set over the ocean.
- Lido Restaurant at Dolphin Bay Resort - this place has a nice outdoor patio where you can sit either pool side or on the cliffs. Fresh good food and nice cocktail menu.
- Novo - This is our top pick restaurant in SLO. They have a gorgeous expansive patio situated over the river and it's very dog friendly. The food is fresh and veggie friendly.
- Del Monte Cafe - Also in SLO, they have a comfortable patio with vines that provide good coverage from the sun. Food was a simple and classic brunch.
- Mission Pizza, Avila beach - A perfect Friday evening: take a walk on Avila beach and about 15-30 minutes before you're ready to leave, call and order ahead to pick up a pie to take home.
- Taste Craft Eatery - This is a fun spot in SLO for sliders (with vegetarian/vegan options), fries and beer.
- Ziggy’s - A vegan casual take-out eatery in SLO with greasy, fried vegan food. We really liked their cauliflower wings with Korean BBQ sauce.
Sustainability
Rating = 3
Weighted score: 3.9
The Pismo Beach Climate Action Plan was adopted in 2013. Among other things the CAP set out to "Provide a roadmap for achieving the City’s GHG emissions reduction target of 10 percent below 2005 levels by the year 2020."
Unfortunately, the city has not put out an update to that CAP and it's not easy to determine whether they ultimately hit their 2020 target and what the plans for the city are going forward.
Due to this lack of accessible information, we are giving Pismo Beach a 3 in this category. We did not score it lower because the city does have a CAP and we must give them the benefit of the doubt that this means there is an ongoing effort to improve the climate outlook for the city. The City of Pismo Beach also cares for its nature as evidenced by the maintenance of the Pismo Beach Preserve and the beaches.
Walkability/Bikeability
Rating = 3
Weighted score: 3.3
The neighborhood where we stayed in Pismo Beach was rated "car dependent". We definitely felt this as the only places we could walk to were a handful of hotel restaurants and one little market.
However, since Pismo Beach is long and skinny, once you get to the south side of town near the downtown area, the walkability definitely improves. Since we did not get to experience the walkable side of Pismo Beach, we settled on a 3 average score for this category.
Weather
Rating = 5
Weighted score: 8
Typically summers in Pismo Beach, California are warm and dry and winters are cool and wet. Annual temperatures range from 42°F to 76°F degrees Fahrenheit, and rarely go above 88. Overall, this beachside town is mostly cool and comfortable.
During our stay, even though it was winter, we definitely saw more sun than clouds. There was very little rain likely due to the significant drought that California has been experiencing. We did, however, encounter some chilly and windy oceanside days that made us think twice about spending time on the beach or at outdoor patios. Overall though, there wasn't much to complain about when it came to the weather.
Wine & Beer
Rating = 5
Weighted score: 5
This was an easy category to score, with its proximity to Edna Valley, we really enjoyed experiencing all that the Central Coast wine country has to offer during our stay. We talked in some detail about this in our wine episode.
A special shoutout to our favorite vineyards/wineries in the area:
And if you're looking to add a little extra fun and excitement to your wine tasting tour, check out Sidecar Tours!
So that's our experience living in Pismo Beach for a month. We'd love to hear from you. Hop on over to our contact page to leave us a message and share your experience with Pismo Beach. Did we miss something that you love about the city?