San Luis Obispo County, California Genealogy Records

Listed record inventories

Selected holdings and indexes for San Luis Obispo County, checked against the repository descriptions linked below. Date spans may contain gaps; an index is not a complete set of original records.

See the repository's descriptions and search options

Repository access note: Selected newspaper titles cataloged by the Library of Congress with explicit county geography. Priority is given to titles beginning by 1950; up to five later titles are included where no earlier dated title is listed for that county. Dates describe publication history, not the issues available at a library. Multiple format records with the same title, place and dates are grouped. The catalog may describe paper, microfilm or online resources. Open ends and the word Current reflect the catalog description; confirm present availability and exact holdings with the libraries listed on the linked record.

Sources: the catalogs and repository descriptions linked on the entries above. Selected inventories do not establish complete coverage of every record type or online access to original documents. Read the repository access note for source dates and limitations.

Where to find the records

• San Luis Obispo County official website

  Hours, addresses and phone numbers for the county recorder and the superior court, and any online record search the county offers.

• The county recorder

  Deeds and other land records, and copies of birth, death and marriage records registered in the county.

• The superior court

  Probate (wills and estates), divorces, adoptions and civil cases; older files may be at the county archives or historical society.

• The California State Archives

  In Sacramento: state government records, including some court and prison records. The Great Registers of voters on microfilm are at the California State Library, also in Sacramento.

• California State Archivesfree

  The state archives in Sacramento, with state government records, legislative papers and other collections.

• FamilySearch Catalogfree

  Search by place for "California, San Luis Obispo" to find filmed and digitized records, many viewable free online with a FamilySearch account.

Offices change their hours and access rules; call before you visit.

Boundaries and parent counties

Formed from: Land not yet in any county

Later formed partly from San Luis Obispo County: Ventura County

Records stay with the county that created them. If your ancestor lived here before 1850, search the parent county. The Atlas of Historical County Boundaries shows each boundary change.