Bakersfield vs Ridgecrest

A side-by-side comparison of Bakersfield and Ridgecrest: population, income, housing, and more.

Bakersfield and Ridgecrest are places in California. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Bakersfield has the higher population (408,366 vs 28,138 in Ridgecrest). Ridgecrest has the higher median household income ($88,107 vs $77,397 in Bakersfield). Bakersfield has the higher median home value ($347,300 vs $235,800 in Ridgecrest).

Population, income & housing

	Bakersfield	Ridgecrest
Population	408,366	28,138
Median age	31.9 yrs	34.8 yrs
Median household income	$77,397	$88,107
Median home value	$347,300	$235,800
Median gross rent	$1,371	$1,178
Housing units	133,876	11,920
Homeownership rate	60.1%	59.7%
Bachelor's degree or higher	23.3%	31.7%
Unemployment rate	7.0%	8.6%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Bakersfield	Ridgecrest
Population	377,917 → 408,366 (+8.1%)	28,755 → 28,138 (-2.1%)
Median household income	$63,139 → $77,397 (+22.6%)	$69,577 → $88,107 (+26.6%)
Median home value	$247,000 → $347,300 (+40.6%)	$180,300 → $235,800 (+30.8%)
Median gross rent	$1,104 → $1,371 (+24.2%)	$879 → $1,178 (+34.0%)

Bakersfield

Population

377,917408,366

Median household income

$63,139$77,397

Median home value

$247,000$347,300

Median gross rent

$1,104$1,371

Ridgecrest

Population

28,75528,138

Median household income

$69,577$88,107

Median home value

$180,300$235,800

Median gross rent

$879$1,178

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Bakersfield	Ridgecrest
Under 5	7.7%	7.0%
5 to 17	21.9%	19.3%
18 to 24	9.8%	8.2%
25 to 34	15.6%	15.6%
35 to 44	13.2%	14.6%
45 to 54	11.2%	11.0%
55 to 64	9.7%	10.9%
65 to 74	6.8%	7.7%
75 and over	4.1%	5.6%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Bakersfield	Ridgecrest
White (non-Hispanic)	29.0%	64.3%
Black or African American	5.8%	4.4%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.3%	0.3%
Asian	7.5%	3.6%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.1%	0.3%
Some other race	0.5%	0.4%
Two or more races	3.2%	5.6%
Hispanic or Latino	53.6%	21.1%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Bakersfield	Ridgecrest
No high school diploma	18.1%	8.2%
High school graduate	25.7%	19.0%
Some college or associate's	32.9%	41.1%
Bachelor's degree	15.1%	21.8%
Graduate or professional degree	8.2%	9.9%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Bakersfield	Ridgecrest
Drove alone	80.4%	75.5%
Carpooled	9.8%	11.6%
Public transit	0.5%	0.1%
Walked	0.8%	1.7%
Bicycle	0.1%	1.2%
Worked from home	7.1%	9.6%
Other means	1.2%	0.2%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Bakersfield	Ridgecrest
1-unit, detached	71.4%	67.5%
1-unit, attached	3.4%	4.4%
2 to 4 units	8.4%	13.3%
5 to 19 units	7.2%	3.5%
20 or more units	6.5%	2.0%
Mobile home & other	3.2%	9.4%

Poverty & households

	Bakersfield	Ridgecrest
Poverty rate	16.0%	11.7%
Average household size	3.16	2.55
Mean commute (minutes)	24	16
Median year structure built	1989	1981