Oildale vs Ridgecrest

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

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

Oildale has the higher population (34,971 vs 28,138 in Ridgecrest). Ridgecrest has the higher median household income ($88,107 vs $49,622 in Oildale). Ridgecrest has the higher median home value ($235,800 vs $225,000 in Oildale).

Population, income & housing

	Oildale	Ridgecrest
Population	34,971	28,138
Median age	34.9 yrs	34.8 yrs
Median household income	$49,622	$88,107
Median home value	$225,000	$235,800
Median gross rent	$1,220	$1,178
Housing units	13,882	11,920
Homeownership rate	40.5%	59.7%
Bachelor's degree or higher	12.3%	31.7%
Unemployment rate	9.8%	8.6%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Oildale	Ridgecrest
Population	34,763 → 34,971 (+0.6%)	28,755 → 28,138 (-2.1%)
Median household income	$38,099 → $49,622 (+30.2%)	$69,577 → $88,107 (+26.6%)
Median home value	$160,300 → $225,000 (+40.4%)	$180,300 → $235,800 (+30.8%)
Median gross rent	$978 → $1,220 (+24.7%)	$879 → $1,178 (+34.0%)

Oildale

Population

34,76334,971

Median household income

$38,099$49,622

Median home value

$160,300$225,000

Median gross rent

$978$1,220

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)

	Oildale	Ridgecrest
Under 5	5.8%	7.0%
5 to 17	20.6%	19.3%
18 to 24	9.6%	8.2%
25 to 34	14.2%	15.6%
35 to 44	14.4%	14.6%
45 to 54	10.2%	11.0%
55 to 64	12.9%	10.9%
65 to 74	8.2%	7.7%
75 and over	4.1%	5.6%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Oildale	Ridgecrest
White (non-Hispanic)	59.5%	64.3%
Black or African American	1.9%	4.4%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.5%	0.3%
Asian	1.4%	3.6%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.3%	0.3%
Some other race	1.0%	0.4%
Two or more races	4.3%	5.6%
Hispanic or Latino	31.0%	21.1%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Oildale	Ridgecrest
No high school diploma	17.8%	8.2%
High school graduate	32.3%	19.0%
Some college or associate's	37.6%	41.1%
Bachelor's degree	9.0%	21.8%
Graduate or professional degree	3.3%	9.9%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Oildale	Ridgecrest
Drove alone	79.2%	75.5%
Carpooled	13.1%	11.6%
Public transit	1.0%	0.1%
Walked	1.0%	1.7%
Bicycle	0.0%	1.2%
Worked from home	4.3%	9.6%
Other means	1.4%	0.2%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Oildale	Ridgecrest
1-unit, detached	63.9%	67.5%
1-unit, attached	2.5%	4.4%
2 to 4 units	18.7%	13.3%
5 to 19 units	3.9%	3.5%
20 or more units	2.5%	2.0%
Mobile home & other	8.4%	9.4%

Poverty & households

	Oildale	Ridgecrest
Poverty rate	26.9%	11.7%
Average household size	2.71	2.55
Mean commute (minutes)	23	16
Median year structure built	1968	1981