City · Fresno County, California

Kerman, California

Kerman is a city in Fresno County, California, part of the Fresno, CA metro area. It has 16,815 residents. Kerman, California has a quality-of-life score of 4 out of 100 (very low), ranking #14,978 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within California it ranks #956 of 1,062 cities and towns. It ranks best on job growth (high), drought exposure (low) and distance to an airport (low). It ranks worst on fine particulate matter (PM2.5) (high), high school diploma or higher (low) and poor or fair health (high).

4Very low

Quality-of-life score: #14,978 of 15,651 cities and towns
California: #956 of 1,062 in CA
Population: 16,815 (2020-2024)
Land area: 3 mi²
Density: 5,023.8 /mi²
FIPS code: 0638226

Percentile-based score (100 is the best in the country) from 76 of 80 indicators, with the default “Explorer” weights.

Open in the map

Scores by category

Each category averages its indicators' percentile scores among US cities and towns.

Safety22#12,147/15,637
Economy14#13,473/15,631
Housing16#12,506/14,977
Health31#10,817/15,609
Healthcare40#9,335/15,650
Environment2#15,077/15,453
Education3#15,202/15,649
Infrastructure28#11,304/15,650
Community5#14,900/15,651
Leisure & amenities29#11,025/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

Indicators where Kerman, California ranks highest and lowest among US cities and towns (score = percentile, 100 = best). Values marked “Fresno County value” are the county’s: the source publishes no figure for this city or town, and the county holding most of its residents stands in.

Strengths

Job growth · high3.1%
94/100California 0.9%United States 0.1%2026 Q1U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsProvisional dataFresno County value
Drought exposure · low1%
92/100California 9%United States 43%Oct 2025–Sep 2026National Drought Mitigation Center (University of Nebraska–Lincoln), USDA and NOAAFresno County value
Distance to an airport · low10 mi
91/100California 22 miUnited States 33 mi2025Federal Aviation Administration · Bureau of Transportation Statistics · U.S. Census BureauFresno County value
Grocery stores · high2.5 /10k
89/100California 2.0 /10kUnited States 1.7 /10k2025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsFresno County value
Comfortable days · high32.3%
88/100California 34.8%United States 26.8%2016-2025NOAA National Centers for Environmental InformationFresno County value
Mental health providers · high505 /100k
87/100California 487 /100kUnited States 348 /100k2025University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteFresno County value

Weaknesses

Fine particulate matter (PM2.5) · high12.0 µg/m³
0/100California 9.4 µg/m³United States 8.0 µg/m³2022Centers for Disease Control and Prevention · U.S. Environmental Protection AgencyFresno County value
High school diploma or higher · low64.4%
2/100California 84.7%United States 89.6%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B15003
Poor or fair health · high35.8%
2/100California 21.5%United States 19.9%2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteModel-based estimate
High ozone days · high45 days
2/100California 38 daysUnited States 7 days2022Centers for Disease Control and Prevention · U.S. Environmental Protection AgencyFresno County value
Physical inactivity · high38.9%
4/100California 23.5%United States 26.5%2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteModel-based estimate
Food insecurity · high35.8%
4/100California 18.5%United States 15.6%2023Centers for Disease Control and PreventionModel-based estimate

Trends

The largest changes over about five years, next to the country's over the same periods.

PopulationRising
14,816 (2015-2019) → 16,815 (2020-2024)
+13%5 yearsCensus table B01003US 328,329,953 → 340,003,797
Rent-burdened householdsWorsening
40.5% (2015-2019) → 49.4% (2020-2024)
+8.9 pts5 yearsCensus table B25070US 49.6% → 51.1%
Bachelor's degree or higherImproving
7.5% (2015-2019) → 16.0% (2020-2024)
+8.5 pts5 yearsCensus table B15003US 32.1% → 35.7%
Broadband subscriptionsImproving
77.1% (2015-2019) → 85.4% (2020-2024)
+8.3 pts5 yearsCensus table B28002US 82.7% → 91.0%
New homes permittedWorsening
3.5 /1k (2021) → 2.3 /1k (Sep 2025–Aug 2026)
−35%5 yearsUS 5.2 /1k → 4.2 /1k
High school diploma or higherImproving
58.0% (2015-2019) → 64.4% (2020-2024)
+6.4 pts5 yearsCensus table B15003US 88.0% → 89.6%

What changed in five years

How each measure moved between two periods about five years apart, read against whether more or less is better, the published margin of error and the same change in other places.

Over about five years, Kerman, California improved on 2 of 14 measures with a comparison and declined on 0. 12 moved within the margin of error and 0 barely changed.

Earlier (2015-2019)
Latest (2020-2024)
Lower standingHigher standing

Position is the place's standing among cities and towns: further right is better, whichever way the measure counts.

Improved2

Bachelor's++8.5 points7.5% → 16.0%
Broadband+8.3 points77.1% → 85.4%

Declined0

No measure declined by more than its margin of error.

All 14 measures

Change of every measure of Kerman, California between two periods about five years apart
Measure	Before	After	Change	Reading	Favourable vs peers
Average commute time	25.9 min2015-2019	21.3 min2020-2024	−4.5 min	Within the margin of error	88%
Bachelor's degree or higher	7.5%2015-2019	16.0%2020-2024	+8.5 points	Improved	85%
Broadband subscriptions	77.1%2015-2019	85.4%2020-2024	+8.3 points	Improved	51%
Child poverty rate	28.9%2015-2019	25.5%2020-2024	−3.4 points	Within the margin of error	63%
Effective property tax rate	0.79%2015-2019	0.69%2020-2024	−0.1 points	Within the margin of error	34%
High school diploma or higher	58.0%2015-2019	64.4%2020-2024	+6.4 points	Within the margin of error	88%
Home price to income ratio	4.8×2015-2019	6.2×2020-2024	+1.4×	Within the margin of error	12%
Income inequality (Gini index)	0.4322015-2019	0.4652020-2024	+0.033	Within the margin of error	25%
Median household income	$46,4492015-2019	$59,7992020-2024	+29%	Within the margin of error	53%
Poverty rate	20.0%2015-2019	21.3%2020-2024	+1.3 points	Within the margin of error	31%
Rent as share of income	27.8%2015-2019	29.6%2020-2024	+1.8 points	Within the margin of error	41%
Rent-burdened households	40.5%2015-2019	49.4%2020-2024	+8.9 points	Within the margin of error	26%
Unemployment rate	8.3%2015-2019	10.4%2020-2024	+2.2 points	Within the margin of error	15%
Uninsured residents (under 65)	8.3%2015-2019	8.1%2020-2024	−0.1 points	Within the margin of error	49%

“Against peers” compares the change with the same change in the 14640 cities and towns that have the same two periods. It describes how common a change is, not why it happened.

Sources: American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates. Values are the latest and the one five years earlier of the same publisher dataset; datasets that changed publisher in between are never compared.

Survey estimates (American Community Survey) compare the two most recent 5-year windows that do not share years, so the margin of error of the difference holds. The 2015-2019 window predates the pandemic and 2020-2024 includes it.
A change counts only when it is larger than 1.645 times the square root of the two standard errors squared, summed (a 90% margin). Measures published without a margin must change by at least 5% to count.
“Against peers” compares the change with the same change in the 15651 cities and towns that have the same two periods. It describes how common a change is, not why it happened.
Standing is a percentile among the same places: 0 is the lowest value on the measure (or the worst when lower is better), 100 the best.

Cities and towns like Kerman, California five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Kerman, California in the earlier period, ranked by how many measures improved beyond the margin of error, minus how many declined. A comparison of published data, not a forecast and not advice.

For comparison, Kerman, California itself moved −2.3 points in standing on average over the same 10 measures (standings of all places average about zero).

How the ranking works

Similarity is the root-mean-square difference of standings in the earlier period over the measures most places have. Places are ranked by measures that improved beyond the margin of error minus those that declined (a count that estimation noise in small places cannot inflate), then by the mean change of standing over the measures a place has in both periods. Only places with more improvements than declines and a rise in standing are listed. Standings are relative, so a place can improve in absolute terms and still lose standing.

Who lives here

Age, race and education of residents, from the American Community Survey. Shares are of all residents (age), residents of every origin (race) or adults 25 and over (education).

Age and sex

16,815 residents (±44)

Men
Women

80 and over†
70–79†
60–69†

Income

How household income is spread, not just the middle: each bar is the share of households in that income range.

Household income

5,264 households (±417)

Kerman, California
California share

Under $25k23%†1,229
$25k–50k22%1,137
$50k–75k10%†546

Homes

Who owns and who rents, what homes cost, and what the housing stock looks like.

Owners and renters

5,264 households (±417)

Kerman, California
California share

Own51%2,692
Rent49%2,572

No change since 2015–2019 is larger than the margin of error.

Table view

Getting to work

How workers travel to their job and how long it takes them.

How people get to work

6,439 workers (±704)

Kerman, California
California share

Drive alone78%5,044
Carpool11%†719
Public transit0.0%†

Jobs and pay

What the largest occupations here pay, from the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes pay by metro area, not by county or city. The metro area page lists its largest occupations and lets you look up any job.

Pay in the Fresno, CA

Local businesses

Employer businesses and sole proprietors by industry, per resident and against the state and the nation. Counts of businesses next to counts of people, not a measure of demand.

The Census Bureau publishes business counts by county, not by city, so these are the figures of Fresno County, the county holding most of Kerman's residents.

Fresno County has 19,144 employer establishments, 187 for every 10,000 residents (0.75× the US rate of 248; 0.71× California's), with 301,731 paid employees at an average annual pay of $55,303. The Census Bureau also counts 72,764 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 19,144; 72,764 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 187; US 248 · California 263
Paid employees: 301,731
Average annual pay: $55,303; US $68,342

Employer establishments, employees, average pay and nonemployers of Fresno County by industry, with the density per resident against the nation

Ambulatory health care services	2,012	19.6	0.94×About typical	23,985	$80,847	2,855
Restaurants and other eating places	1,571	15.3	0.83×About typical	30,143	$24,054	419
Truck transportation	1,256	12.3	2.42×More than typical	7,591	$56,144	11,483
Specialty trade contractors	1,207	11.8	0.76×Fewer than typical	13,696	$72,011	2,944
Lessors of real estate	869	8.5	0.69×Fewer than typical	4,372	$55,480	4,935
Limited-service restaurants	798	7.8	0.97×About typical	15,398	$22,403	186
Offices of physicians	699	6.8	1.05×About typical	6,363	$117,863	511
Full-service restaurants	520	5.1	0.66×Fewer than typical	11,026	$27,115	130
Services to buildings and dwellings	507	4.9	0.73×Fewer than typical	5,525	$38,711	4,397
Automotive repair and maintenance	494	4.8	0.96×About typical	3,097	$42,425	1,151
Construction of buildings	467	4.6	0.60×Fewer than typical	3,806	$70,764	1,392
Building equipment contractors	454	4.4	0.74×Fewer than typical	6,077	$77,911	648

Rank places for an industry Open Fresno County

County Business Patterns (2023); Nonemployer Statistics (2024)

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 1,025,304 residents here, 336,755,052 in the United States. County Business Patterns counts establishments in 2023; the Nonemployer Statistics count businesses in 2024.
“More than typical” is a density at least 1.25 times the nation's per resident, “fewer” at most 0.8 times, with at least 10 establishments. It compares counts of businesses with counts of people: it says nothing about demand, incomes, size, quality or profit, and visitors and commuters are not residents.
The Census Bureau adds noise to employment and payroll to protect confidentiality, and withholds some figures: an industry with few establishments can show employees or pay as unavailable.
Industries overlap: a narrower industry (full-service restaurants) is part of a broader one (restaurants), so the rows do not add up.
Industries follow the North American Industry Classification System; the two surveys use different editions (NAICS 2017 and 2022), which this page matches industry by industry.

Federal contracts performed here

In FY2026, an estimated $0 of federal contract obligations were for work performed in Kerman, California: $0 per resident (US $1,994).

Obligations: $0
Per resident: $0; US $1,994
Sole-source: —; US 30%
Single offer: —; US 8.8%

A signal is a reason to look closer, not evidence of wrongdoing: most sole-source awards are lawful and justified.

Top buying agencies

Top recipients

Spending by fiscal year

389.8FY2017
916.7FY2018
935.7FY2019
84.1FY2022

What was bought

Source: Federal contract transactions (Federal Procurement Data System) (U.S. Department of the Treasury, USAspending.gov), data current to Oct 3, 2026, loaded Oct 3, 2026.

How this is estimated

Agencies report each contract action's place of performance as a county and a ZIP code. A ZIP code's money is split among the cities it covers by the share of its land inside each (Census 2020 ZIP code tabulation areas); the part outside city limits stays with the county.

The place of performance is what the contracting agency reports, often the contractor's office rather than where the work happens.
Shares are of land, not of people or businesses: a ZIP code that is mostly rural land but has its offices in town gives the town less than it should.
ZIP codes that are not mapped areas (post office boxes, the unique ZIP codes of large federal sites and companies) stay with their county, unless one city covers nearly all of it.
Counts of actions and awards include those only partly in Kerman, California, so they do not add up across cities.

Kerman, California's figures are part of those of Fresno County, CA ($278.4M in FY2026), never added to them: 0.0% of that total.

Grants and other federal assistance are counted by county here, not split among cities: Kerman is mostly in Fresno County.

See federal money in Fresno County

Representation in Congress

Members serving today, with their record in the current Congress (party-unity votes cast with their caucus, roll calls missed). Not a grade.

Kerman, California is split between congressional districts: each representative is shown with the share of its residents in their district (current boundaries).

House

County

A city can lie in several counties. Some indicators are published for counties only: the page marks them.

Fresno County25100% of residents

Metro area

The metro or micro area the city belongs to.

Fresno, CA17

Other cities and towns in Fresno County

Largest first.

Similar cities and towns

Closest indicator profiles across the country (no model: score distances).

Data and sources

Latest published value of each indicator; periods differ by source. Values flagged by their publisher are marked.

PLACES: Local Data for Better HealthCenters for Disease Control and Prevention · release 2025
Local Area Unemployment StatisticsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics · release 2025
American Community Survey 5-Year EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2017-2024
Building Permits SurveyU.S. Census Bureau · release 2026-08
Population Estimates ProgramU.S. Census Bureau · release 2025
Small Area Health Insurance EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2024
Small Area Income and Poverty EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2024
County Health Rankings & RoadmapsUniversity of Wisconsin Population Health Institute · release 2022-2025+2026-03-supplement

JSON · /api/v1/places/0638226

Scores by category

Strengths · Weaknesses

Strengths

Weaknesses

Trends