Kern County · California
Bakersfield, CA jobs and wages
Who works here, what they earn, and which industries carry the local economy — Census ACS estimates for the city itself, not the wider metro.
Quick answer
Workers in Bakersfield, CA earn a median of $39,919 a year, 10% below the national median of $44,587. Unemployment is 7% against 5.2% nationally, and education, health care & social assistance is the largest employer at 24.7% of jobs.
- Median earnings
- $39,919#68 of 94 metros
- Unemployment rate
- 7%US 5.2%
- Labor force participation
- 62.7%US 63.5%
- People employed
- 174,687Civilian employed, age 16+
What Bakersfield does for a living
Share of the civilian employed population by industry, largest first.
- Education, health care & social assistance24.7%
- Retail trade11.4%
- Arts, entertainment, recreation, accommodation & food9.3%
- Professional, scientific & management8.7%
- Agriculture, forestry, fishing, hunting & mining7.9%
- Transportation, warehousing & utilities7.9%
- Construction7.3%
- Manufacturing5.8%
- Public administration5.4%
- Other services, except public administration4.6%
- Finance, insurance & real estate3.8%
- Wholesale trade2.2%
- Information1%
Related data for Bakersfield
Earnings only mean something next to what things cost.
Tables B23025, B20002 and C24030, 2019-2023 ACS 5-year. Industry shares combine the male and female columns of C24030 and are rounded, so they may not total exactly 100%.
More Bakersfield data
Other Bakersfield datasets on this site.
- Bakersfield population and income
- Bakersfield sales tax rate
- Bakersfield property tax
- Bakersfield cost of living
- Bakersfield home values and rent
- Bakersfield crime rates
- Bakersfield public schools
- Bakersfield weather normals
- Bakersfield commute times
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