San Luis Obispo County, California Farm Subsidies

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San Luis Obispo County in California received $97.8M in USDA Farm Service Agency payments across 8,427 individual payments from 2017 to 2025.

📊 County Rank

National Rank

#507 of 3087

Rank in California

#17 of 57

Total Subsidies

$97.8M

Payments

8,427

Peak Year

2020

$26.6M

Avg Payment

$12K

150% above national avg

💡 Key Insight

San Luis Obispo County's peak subsidy year was 2020 at $26.6M. COVID-era spending in 2020 ($26.6M) was 5.3× the 2017 baseline. The average payment of $12K is 150% above the national average.

Yearly Trend

Yearly Subsidy Trend

Year-by-Year Breakdown

YearSubsidiesPaymentsAvg Payment
2025$15.7M981$16K
2024$7.5M898$8K
2023$13.0M1,196$11K
2022$14.0M909$15K
2021$9.7M1,085$9K
2020$26.6M1,611$17K
2019$3.1M574$5K
2018$3.2M568$6K
2017$5.1M605$8K

Other California Counties

About Farm Subsidies in San Luis Obispo County

San Luis Obispo County, California is one of 3,087 U.S. counties receiving USDA farm subsidy payments. Over the nine-year period from 2017 to 2025, the county received $97.8M across 8,427 individual payments from Farm Service Agency programs including Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), Price Loss Coverage (PLC), Agriculture Risk Coverage (ARC), and emergency assistance programs.

Like many agricultural counties, San Luis Obispo County saw its peak subsidy payments in 2020 when the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program (CFAP) distributed emergency payments to offset pandemic-related losses.

Data on this page comes from USDA Farm Service Agency payment files, which are public records available under the Freedom of Information Act. All payment data is aggregated at the county level — individual recipient details are available on our top recipients page.