Ridgecrest vs Shafter

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

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

Ridgecrest has the higher population (28,138 vs 20,618 in Shafter). Ridgecrest has the higher median household income ($88,107 vs $67,989 in Shafter). Shafter has the higher median home value ($306,800 vs $235,800 in Ridgecrest).

Population, income & housing

	Ridgecrest	Shafter
Population	28,138	20,618
Median age	34.8 yrs	28.0 yrs
Median household income	$88,107	$67,989
Median home value	$235,800	$306,800
Median gross rent	$1,178	$1,140
Housing units	11,920	5,684
Homeownership rate	59.7%	65.6%
Bachelor's degree or higher	31.7%	10.7%
Unemployment rate	8.6%	6.5%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Ridgecrest	Shafter
Population	28,755 → 28,138 (-2.1%)	19,447 → 20,618 (+6.0%)
Median household income	$69,577 → $88,107 (+26.6%)	$45,854 → $67,989 (+48.3%)
Median home value	$180,300 → $235,800 (+30.8%)	$175,300 → $306,800 (+75.0%)
Median gross rent	$879 → $1,178 (+34.0%)	$868 → $1,140 (+31.3%)

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

Shafter

Population

19,44720,618

Median household income

$45,854$67,989

Median home value

$175,300$306,800

Median gross rent

$868$1,140

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Ridgecrest	Shafter
Under 5	7.0%	7.3%
5 to 17	19.3%	27.2%
18 to 24	8.2%	9.5%
25 to 34	15.6%	18.6%
35 to 44	14.6%	13.3%
45 to 54	11.0%	10.6%
55 to 64	10.9%	6.5%
65 to 74	7.7%	4.3%
75 and over	5.6%	2.9%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Ridgecrest	Shafter
White (non-Hispanic)	64.3%	16.3%
Black or African American	4.4%	1.3%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.3%	0.0%
Asian	3.6%	1.3%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.3%	0.0%
Some other race	0.4%	0.0%
Two or more races	5.6%	0.7%
Hispanic or Latino	21.1%	80.2%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Ridgecrest	Shafter
No high school diploma	8.2%	27.7%
High school graduate	19.0%	30.6%
Some college or associate's	41.1%	31.0%
Bachelor's degree	21.8%	7.1%
Graduate or professional degree	9.9%	3.5%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Ridgecrest	Shafter
Drove alone	75.5%	84.3%
Carpooled	11.6%	11.5%
Public transit	0.1%	0.0%
Walked	1.7%	0.3%
Bicycle	1.2%	0.0%
Worked from home	9.6%	3.3%
Other means	0.2%	0.6%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Ridgecrest	Shafter
1-unit, detached	67.5%	83.0%
1-unit, attached	4.4%	1.2%
2 to 4 units	13.3%	7.2%
5 to 19 units	3.5%	0.7%
20 or more units	2.0%	1.4%
Mobile home & other	9.4%	6.6%

Poverty & households

	Ridgecrest	Shafter
Poverty rate	11.7%	21.3%
Average household size	2.55	3.67
Mean commute (minutes)	16	22
Median year structure built	1981	1995