Photo: Bobak Ha'Eri · CC BY 3.0Unemployment in Bakersfield (7.0%) is higher than in 82% of U.S. towns
8% of workers work from home, where California as a whole has 17%. For jobs and income Bakersfield is better than 42% of U.S. towns (C+); for walkability it is more walkable than 67% of U.S. towns (B+). About half work in Bakersfield itself; outside it, Los Angeles draws the most (3%, 99 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Bakersfield at work: what stands out
Most jobs in Bakersfield go to people who live here
Of the 133,860 jobs based in Bakersfield, 52% are held by Bakersfield residents. In most towns, people from elsewhere hold most of the local jobs. Day and night ↓
Commutes from Bakersfield are quick
The average trip to work takes 24 minutes, against 29 across California. That’s about 38 hours a year less on the road than the typical California worker. Time on the road ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey.
Income, poverty and work: Bakersfield’s grade explained
Job access by car holds Bakersfield’s grade up (ahead of 78% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down. It also does well on household income.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Bakersfield could be anywhere from C+ to B−.
How many people are in Bakersfield by day
On a workday 77,363 residents head out to work, 69,948 work right here, and 63,912 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
About as many jobs as working residents (0.91 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
A commute of about 24 minutes in Bakersfield
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Bakersfield workers work from home, vs 17% across California. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 157,431 commuters (the 8% who work from home are left out). Across California: 79% drive alone, 3% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
Where Bakersfield goes to work
Where Bakersfield clocks in
2% of workers
2% of workersLines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
Jobs in Bakersfield: what the 133,860 are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Bakersfield, 2013 → 2023: 120,474 → 133,860. Big swings can come from how a large employer reports its locations, not only from real openings or closings.
Primary jobs covered by unemployment insurance (not the self-employed). Pay is monthly earnings. LEHD 2023.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Bakersfield’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How far Bakersfield’s workers travel
About 27% show a job over 50 miles away. Some of that is real, and some is employers that report every worker at a head office, so a few long commutes are on paper only.
Straight-line distance from each worker’s home block to their main job’s block. LEHD 2023.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Bakersfield is a driving town
The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 7.1% across California.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 171,408 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 74% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 19% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 3.9 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 80% of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 7.4% of Bakersfield households have no vehicle (California 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Bakersfield’s commuters take a bus or train.
These are town averages; neighborhoods differ.
33rd of 47: where Bakersfield ranks among U.S. towns of 296,000 to 570,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Oyster Bay NY | 301,115 | $160K | 3.9% | 4.6% | 19% | A |
| 2 | Islip NY | 340,867 | $130K | 6.4% | 4.5% | 28% | A |
| 3 | Brookhaven NY | 496,410 | $120K | 7.0% | 5.2% | 32% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 5 | Irvine CA | 318,764 | $137K | 10.8% | 5.9% | 29% | B+ |
| 6 | Santa Ana CA | 315,586 | $94K | 10.8% | 4.8% | 18% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 10 | Anaheim CA | 341,008 | $95K | 12.4% | 5.8% | 17% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 31 | Albuquerque NM | 556,588 | $68K | 15.5% | 5.4% | 72% | C+ |
| 32 | Miami FL | 489,812 | $62K | 19.4% | 5.2% | 34% | C+ |
| 33 | Bakersfield CA | 422,165 | $81K | 16.3% | 7.0% | 47% | C+ |
| 34 | Corpus Christi TX | 317,247 | $67K | 17.1% | 5.1% | 61% | C+ |
| 35 | Wichita KS | 400,987 | $65K | 15.9% | 5.6% | 67% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 47 | Cleveland OH | 363,608 | $41K | 30.6% | 10.8% | 42% | C− |
Census ACS 2020–24 (income, poverty, unemployment), Census LEHD (work in town), TownRatings Jobs & income grades. Each town links to its Work & commute page.
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Bakersfield, the top three, the last and three more from California.
The towns around Bakersfield
The biggest share goes to Rosedale (2%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Bakersfield workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bakersfield | – | C+ | B+ | 24 min | $80,540 |
| Rosedale | 2% | A− | C+ | 28 min | $135,966 |
| Greenacres | under 1% | B+ | B | 22 min | $91,528 |
| East Niles | 1% | C− | B+ | 25 min | $55,124 |
| La Cresta | under 1% | C | A− | 23 min | $49,605 |
| East Bakersfield | under 1% | D | A− | 24 min | $38,644 |
| Potomac Park | under 1% | C− | A− | 23 min | $51,166 |
| Pumpkin Center | under 1% | — | — | 23 min | — |
| Oildale | 2% | C− | A− | 23 min | $51,298 |
| Greenfield | under 1% | C+ | B | 26 min | $74,185 |
| Fairfax | under 1% | C− | B− | 21 min | $30,417 |
Same-state neighbors only. Pumpkin Center: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Bakersfield’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Two sources, two years. Trips, distances and jobs based here: Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs, where the employer reports them. Income, poverty, unemployment, commute time and how people travel: Census ACS 2020–24 averages.
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Bakersfield: questions
What is the median household income in Bakersfield?
$80,540 (±$2,119) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $99,122 across California and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Bakersfield?
16.3%, against 12.0% across California and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Bakersfield?
24 minutes each way on average, against 29 across California and 26 nationally. 8% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Bakersfield work?
47% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Los Angeles (3%, 99 mi), Oildale (2%, 5 mi), Shafter (2%, 13 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Bakersfield walkable?
Bakersfield is more walkable than 67% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 11.4 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Bakersfield without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 7% of households have no car. 19% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Bakersfield, from the people who make the trip.
More of Bakersfield
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2023, primary jobs. Commute time, working from home and working out of state: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates. Distances are straight lines between home and work; real drives run longer. Walkability index, job access and transit service: U.S. EPA Smart Location Database. The two grades are our own summaries of these figures, not official ratings.