Best PlacesOlive Drive Area, Bakersfield, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Olive Drive Area, Bakersfield, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Several measures below read low, and the ranked lists name which ones. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Olive Drive Area, Bakersfield ranks 3,498th of 5,983 U.S. neighborhoods on the BestNeighborhood index. Air quality pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on the weather.
The best neighborhoods in Olive Drive Area, Bakersfield
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.
Olive Drive Area, Bakersfield's strengths and weaknesses
Where Olive Drive Area, Bakersfield ranks high
- Nice weatherabout 176 pleasant days a year, better than 84% of neighborhoods
- School gradeC+, better than 74% of neighborhoods
- Voter turnoutBetter than 68% of neighborhoods
- Household income$95,870 median, better than 64% of neighborhoods
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 60% of neighborhoods
Where Olive Drive Area, Bakersfield ranks low
- Air qualityBetter than only 2% of neighborhoods
- Tree shadeBetter than only 3% of neighborhoods
- Internet speedBetter than only 8% of neighborhoods
- Heat safetyBetter than only 10% of neighborhoods
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 18% of neighborhoods
What it costs to buy a home in Olive Drive Area, Bakersfield
A household needs to earn about $110,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Olive Drive Area, Bakersfield home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $95,870, so buying stretches a typical household.
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 Olive Drive Area, Bakersfield's effective rate of 0.99%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Olive Drive Area, Bakersfield
Olive Drive Area, Bakersfield's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Olive Drive Area, Bakersfield.
Who works in Olive Drive Area, Bakersfield, and how
Work in Olive Drive Area, Bakersfield centers on health care & social and education. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 88%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Olive Drive Area, Bakersfield
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Olive Drive Area, Bakersfield.
What the weather is like in Olive Drive Area, Bakersfield, month by month
Olive Drive Area, Bakersfield sees roughly 176 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 Olive Drive Area, Bakersfield
The nearest airport, Meadows Field, is about 1 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Bob Hope, about 93 miles away.
The best schools in and around Olive Drive Area, Bakersfield
Schools across Olive Drive Area, Bakersfield average a C+, better than 74% of neighborhoods.
Top elementary schools
- San Lauren ElementaryD− · 14% proficient
- North Beardsley ElementaryF · 9% proficient
- Beardsley ElementaryF · 4% proficient
Top middle schools
- Beardsley Junior HighF · 11% proficient
Top high schools
- Centennial HighA+ · 95% proficient
- North HighA · 75% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Olive Drive Area, Bakersfield school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Olive Drive Area, Bakersfield 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 Olive Drive Area, Bakersfield against the other 5,982 neighborhoods.
Common questions about living in Olive Drive Area, Bakersfield
Is Olive Drive Area, Bakersfield a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Olive Drive Area, Bakersfield ranks 3,498th of 5,983 neighborhoods. It scores highest on the weather, good schools, and civic engagement, and lowest on air quality and tree cover. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Olive Drive Area, Bakersfield expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $408,965. The overall cost of living runs about 5% above the national average. Set against a $95,870 median income, cost of living beats 60% of neighborhoods.
Is Olive Drive Area, Bakersfield safe?
Olive Drive Area, Bakersfield is safer than 55% of neighborhoods. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $494 per resident a year.
Compare Olive Drive Area, Bakersfield with other neighborhoods
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Olive Drive Area, Bakersfield. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Olive Drive Area, Bakersfield 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.
Olive Drive Area, Bakersfield detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Olive Drive Area, Bakersfield: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Olive Drive Area, Bakersfield: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Olive Drive Area, Bakersfield: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Olive Drive Area, Bakersfield: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Olive Drive Area, Bakersfield 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.
- 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.