Bakersfield

Sister cities

• Amritsar
• Bucheon
• Minsk
• Cixi City
• Wakayama
• Santiago de Querétaro

History

Archaeological evidence indicates the presence of Native American settlements dating back thousands of years. Upon Spanish arrival, present-day Bakersfield was inhabited by the Yowlumne, a Yokuts people. Yowlumne accounts indicate that the village of Woilu was situated in the bounds of the present city. The Yokuts of the region lived in lodges along the branches of the Kern River delta and hunted antelope, tule elk, deer, bear, fish, and game birds. In 1776, Spanish missionary Francisco Garcés became the first European to explore the area. Recording his May 1 arrival to a Yokuts village along the Kern River, immediately northeast of present Bakersfield, Garcés wrote, The Bakersfield area, once a tule reed-covered marshland, was first known as Kern Island to the handful of pioneers, who built log cabins there in 1860. The area was subject to periodic flooding from the Kern River, which occupied what is now the downtown area, and experienced outbreaks of malaria. Bakersfield is the fifth-largest majority-Hispanic city in the United States, with 53% of its population being Hispanic in 2020. In 1861, disastrous floods swept away the original settlement founded in 1860 by the German-born Christian Bohna. Baker moved to the banks of the Kern River in 1863, By 1870, with a population of 600, what is now known as Bakersfield was becoming the principal town in Kern County. Businessmen and others began to resent Mills, who was cantankerous and high-handed in his treatment of them. Wanting to fire him but fearing reprisals, they devised a scheme to disincorporate, effectively leaving him without an employer. According to local historian Gilbert Gia the city was also failing to collect the taxes it needed for services. In 1876, The city voted to disincorporate. For the next…

Geography

Bakersfield is located near the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley, with the southern tip of the Sierra Nevada just to the east. The city limits extend to the Sequoia National Forest, at the foot of the Greenhorn Mountain Range and the entrance to the Kern Canyon. To the south, the Tehachapi Mountains, rising more than a vertical mile, feature the historic Tejon Ranch. To the west is the Temblor Range, behind which is the Carrizo Plain National Monument and the San Andreas Fault. The Temblor Range is about from Bakersfield across the valley floor. The Kern River created a fertile region consisting of a large alluvial plain, or inland delta, which once spread out into vast wetlands and seasonal lakes in the region. Most of the river's flow is now diverted into various canals for agricultural use in the southern San Joaquin Valley, and provides municipal water supplies to the City of Bakersfield and surrounding areas. Diverting the river's flow has left of the riverbed that runs through Bakersfield dry. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which are land (98.99%) and are covered by water (1.01%). At the 2000 census, the city had a total area of , of which were land (98.86%) and were water-covered (1.14%). Hart Memorial Park is located in northeast Bakersfield along Alfred Harrell Highway. Bakersfield has historically referred to its regions by directional names. They include North Bakersfield, Northeast, Southeast, South Bakersfield, Southwest, and Northwest. East Bakersfield generally refers to the former town of Sumner (later renamed East Bakersfield). As a result, the Northeast wraps around East Bakersfield.

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• Mourning Dove

  Zenaida macroura (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  5,542
• California/Woodhouse's Scrub-Jay

  Aphelocoma californica (Vigors, 1839) · Aves
  5,063
• Black Phoebe

  Sayornis nigricans (Swainson, 1827) · Aves
  5,006
• House Finch

  Haemorhous mexicanus (P.L.Statius Müller, 1776) · Aves
  4,981
• Northern Mockingbird

  Mimus polyglottos (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  4,387
• European Starling

  Sturnus vulgaris Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  4,174
• Anna's Hummingbird

  Calypte anna (R.Lesson, 1829) · Aves
  4,134
• House Sparrow

  Passer domesticus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  3,519

Largest nearby schools

• Bakersfield High
  High · Bakersfield · 3,004 students · 23.8:1 ratio
• Ridgeview High
  High · Bakersfield · 2,688 students · 25.4:1 ratio
• Highland High
  High · Bakersfield · 2,599 students · 25.2:1 ratio
• Golden Valley High
  High · Bakersfield · 2,533 students · 24.1:1 ratio
• East Bakersfield High
  High · Bakersfield · 2,421 students · 24.7:1 ratio
• Independence High
  High · Bakersfield · 2,394 students · 26.3:1 ratio
• Liberty High
  High · Bakersfield · 2,358 students · 27.4:1 ratio
• Stockdale High
  High · Bakersfield · 2,298 students · 27:1 ratio

Most recent

• M 2.79 — 2026-07-29
  10 km SW of Lamont, CA
• M 2.92 — 2026-07-12
  2 km SSE of Frazier Park, CA
• M 4.10922888670317 — 2026-07-12
  2 km ESE of Frazier Park, CA
• M 3.43 — 2026-06-06
  15 km NW of Fillmore, CA
• M 2.74 — 2026-05-22
  20 km N of Pine Mountain Club, CA
• M 3.05 — 2026-05-18
  27 km SSE of Kettleman City, CA