Best PlacesKern County, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Kern County, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages are not the whole story, and the strongest areas score well above them. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Kern County ranks 2,096th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It ranks low mainly on air quality and civic engagement. It does better on the weather, which keeps it off the bottom.
The best neighborhoods in Kern County
BestNeighborhood is the only ranking that scores 40 measures of daily life neighborhood by neighborhood and lets you re-weight every one of them yourself.
The best areas in Kern County
The parts of Kern County, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the county.
Ridgecrest
Prices have run up less, health care is easier to reach, and more adults hold degrees.
Delano, Wasco & Shafter
Transit reaches fewer jobs and schools score lower.
Oildale
Fewer households have young kids and heat risk is higher.
Rosamond, California City & Mojave
It is quieter, though commutes are longer.
Arvin, Tehachapi & Golden Hills
Disaster risk is higher and more homes sit empty.
Bakersfield
Local pay stretches less far and fewer residents vote.
Taft
Incomes run lower and biking is worse.
Kern County shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 2% of the country and others in the top 3%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Kern County's strengths and weaknesses
Kern County lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. The weather, transit, and cell coverage carry most of that.
The one real hole is air quality, near the bottom of the country. Civic engagement and education levels also cost it ground. That varies block to block rather than evenly, and the map below shows where.
Where Kern County ranks high
- Nice weatherabout 171 pleasant days a year, better than 97% of counties
- TransitBetter than 95% of counties
- Cell coverageBetter than 94% of counties
- Big-city accessBetter than 94% of counties
- BikingBetter than 91% of counties
Where Kern County ranks low
- Air qualityBetter than only 1% of counties
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 2% of counties
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 4% of counties
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 4% of counties
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 6% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Kern County
A household needs to earn about $86,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Kern County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $77,801; the gap is small, which keeps homes within reach of local pay.
Where the monthly payment goes
Assumes a 20% down payment, a 6.6% 30-year fixed rate, and a 28% share of income going to the payment. The rate is the 2026-07-23 30-year fixed average, series MORTGAGE30US from the St. Louis Fed, which publishes Freddie Mac's weekly survey. Against the median home value, property tax uses Kern County's effective rate of 0.88%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices, buying tends to cost more than renting for about the first 8 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Kern County
Kern County runs younger than the country, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Kern County.
Who works in Kern County, and how
Work in Kern County centers on health care & social and agriculture & forestry. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 89%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Kern County
Kern County has fewer places to eat and drink per resident than most counties and less late-night activity than most counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Kern County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Kern County growing, and who is moving in?
Kern County has grown about 6% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Los Angeles, CA.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Kern County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Kern County, month by month
Kern County sees roughly 171 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 102 degrees. January highs sit near 63, with lows near 40. The comfortable stretch runs March through May, October, and November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 63° | 51° | 40° |
| April | 80° | 65° | 51° |
| July | 102° | 88° | 73° |
| October | 84° | 69° | 55° |
Flying in and out of Kern County
The nearest airport, Meadows Field, is about 8 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Bob Hope, about 87 miles away.
The best schools in and around Kern County
Schools across Kern County average a C+, better than 58% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Mckittrick ElementaryB · 47% proficient
- Rio Bravo ElementaryB · 45% proficient
- Cummings Valley ElementaryC+ · 37% proficient
Top middle schools
- Lincoln Junior HighA+ · 75% proficient
- Rio Bravo-greeley ElementaryC+ · 38% proficient
- Jacobsen MiddleC− · 29% proficient
Top high schools
- Ridgeview HighA+ · 95% proficient
- Centennial HighA+ · 95% proficient
- Frontier HighA+ · 95% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Kern County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Kern County measure by measure
Cards are ordered by how much each measure matters to you, so the ones you weighted highest come first. Expand to see every measure. Percentages compare Kern County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Kern County suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 8% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Kern County
Is Kern County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Kern County ranks 2,096th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on the weather, transit, and cell coverage, and lowest on air quality and civic engagement. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Kern County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $326,157. The overall cost of living runs about 4% above the national average. Set against a $77,801 median income, cost of living beats 26% of counties.
Is Kern County safe?
Kern County is safer than 29% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $455 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Kern County?
July highs average about 102 degrees, and January highs near 63 with lows near 40. That works out to about 171 pleasant days a year, more than 97% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Kern County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Ridgecrest, Delano, Wasco & Shafter, and Oildale. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Kern County good for families?
Schools beat 58% of counties, crime safety beats 29%, and childcare runs $1,172 a month.
Is Kern County good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 26% of counties, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 64% of counties. About 8% of workers already work from home.
Compare Kern County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Kern County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Kern County represents the same real quantity as a 60 anywhere else, and the ranking is a weighted average of those absolutes. The map colors come from a national scale calibrated against a population weighted random sample of 5,000 neighborhoods. That absolute scoring is what no other places-to-live ranking does: it puts a single neighborhood, a town, a metro, and a state on one scale, so the same 40 measures answer both which metro to move to and which street inside it to buy on. Read the full methodology.
Kern County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Kern County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Kern County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Kern County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Kern County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Kern County detail on related sites:
- CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
- ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
- CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.
Federal and public data:
- U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey: income, home value, rent, vacancy, commute time and mode, educational attainment, home age, age structure, household type, industry, and race.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
- FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
- Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
- FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
- U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
- FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
- CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
- National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
- FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
- Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.
Your priorities
Move a slider to say how much a measure matters. Zero turns it off.