City · Kern County, California

Wasco, California

Wasco is a city in Kern County, California, part of the Bakersfield-Delano, CA metro area. It has 26,558 residents. Wasco, California has a quality-of-life score of 0 out of 100 (very low), ranking #15,626 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within California it ranks #1,053 of 1,062 cities and towns. It ranks best on comfortable days (high), job growth (high) and public EV charging ports (high). It ranks worst on high school diploma or higher (low), fine particulate matter (PM2.5) (high) and high ozone days (high).

0Very low

Quality-of-life score: #15,626 of 15,651 cities and towns
California: #1,053 of 1,062 in CA
Population: 26,558 (2020-2024)
Land area: 9 mi²
Density: 2,829.1 /mi²
FIPS code: 0683542

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.

Safety5#14,789/15,637
Economy17#12,976/15,631
Housing6#14,130/14,977
Health18#12,875/15,609
Healthcare14#13,417/15,650
Environment1#15,252/15,453
Education0#15,598/15,649
Infrastructure12#13,706/15,650
Community3#15,174/15,651
Leisure & amenities24#11,814/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

Indicators where Wasco, California ranks highest and lowest among US cities and towns (score = percentile, 100 = best). Values marked “Kern 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

Comfortable days · high33.6%
91/100California 34.8%United States 26.8%2016-2025NOAA National Centers for Environmental InformationKern County value
Job growth · high2.5%
91/100California 0.9%United States 0.1%2026 Q1U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsProvisional dataKern County value
Public EV charging ports · high14.0 /10k
90/100California 17.4 /10kUnited States 7.6 /10kOct 2026U.S. Department of EnergyKern County value
Drought exposure · low2%
89/100California 9%United States 43%Oct 2025–Sep 2026National Drought Mitigation Center (University of Nebraska–Lincoln), USDA and NOAAKern County value
Grocery stores · high2.2 /10k
79/100California 2.0 /10kUnited States 1.7 /10k2025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsKern County value
Depression · low20.4%
79/100California 20.5%United States 20.7%2023Centers for Disease Control and PreventionModel-based estimate

Weaknesses

High school diploma or higher · low62.4%
1/100California 84.7%United States 89.6%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B15003
Fine particulate matter (PM2.5) · high11.9 µg/m³
1/100California 9.4 µg/m³United States 8.0 µg/m³2022Centers for Disease Control and Prevention · U.S. Environmental Protection AgencyKern County value
High ozone days · high60 days
2/100California 38 daysUnited States 7 days2022Centers for Disease Control and Prevention · U.S. Environmental Protection AgencyKern County value
Poor or fair health · high35.7%
2/100California 21.5%United States 19.9%2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteModel-based estimate
Bachelor's degree or higher · low6.2%
2/100California 37.1%United States 35.7%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B15003
Days with unhealthy air · high17.8%
3/100California 12.4%2025U.S. Environmental Protection AgencyKern County value

Trends

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

Broadband subscriptionsImproving
58.0% (2015-2019) → 84.1% (2020-2024)
+26 pts5 yearsCensus table B28002US 82.7% → 91.0%
New homes permittedWorsening
2.4 /1k (2021) → 0.3 /1k (Sep 2025–Aug 2026)
−86%5 yearsUS 5.2 /1k → 4.2 /1k
Median household incomeImproving
$39,250 (2015-2019) → $51,727 (2020-2024)
+32%5 yearsCensus table B19013US $65,712 → $81,604
Child poverty rateImproving
28.3% (2015-2019) → 22.9% (2020-2024)
−5.3 pts5 yearsCensus table B17001US 16.8% → 15.5%
High school diploma or higherImproving
57.2% (2015-2019) → 62.4% (2020-2024)
+5.3 pts5 yearsCensus table B15003US 88.0% → 89.6%
Home price to income ratioWorsening
4.3× (2015-2019) → 5.3× (2020-2024)
+23%5 yearsCensus table B25077US 3.5× → 4.1×

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, Wasco, California improved on 3 of 14 measures with a comparison and declined on 1. 10 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.

Improved3

Broadband+26 points58.0% → 84.1%
Household income+32%$39,250 → $51,727
Bachelor's++2.7 points3.5% → 6.2%

Declined1

Uninsured+4.5 points7.3% → 11.8%

All 14 measures

Change of every measure of Wasco, California between two periods about five years apart
Measure	Before	After	Change	Reading	Favourable vs peers
Average commute time	23.4 min2015-2019	23.3 min2020-2024	−0.1 min	Within the margin of error	48%
Bachelor's degree or higher	3.5%2015-2019	6.2%2020-2024	+2.7 points	Improved	49%
Broadband subscriptions	58.0%2015-2019	84.1%2020-2024	+26 points	Improved	96%
Child poverty rate	28.3%2015-2019	22.9%2020-2024	−5.3 points	Within the margin of error	70%
Effective property tax rate	0.91%2015-2019	0.82%2020-2024	−0.1 points	Within the margin of error	32%
High school diploma or higher	57.2%2015-2019	62.4%2020-2024	+5.3 points	Within the margin of error	83%
Home price to income ratio	4.3×2015-2019	5.3×2020-2024	+1.0×	Within the margin of error	22%
Income inequality (Gini index)	0.3992015-2019	0.4242020-2024	+0.026	Within the margin of error	30%
Median household income	$39,2502015-2019	$51,7272020-2024	+32%	Improved	59%
Poverty rate	21.5%2015-2019	18.4%2020-2024	−3.1 points	Within the margin of error	70%
Rent as share of income	36.4%2015-2019	34.5%2020-2024	−1.9 points	Within the margin of error	68%
Rent-burdened households	63.8%2015-2019	60.8%2020-2024	−3 points	Within the margin of error	66%
Unemployment rate	10.3%2015-2019	7.0%2020-2024	−3.3 points	Within the margin of error	91%
Uninsured residents (under 65)	7.3%2015-2019	11.8%2020-2024	+4.5 points	Declined	12%

“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 Wasco, California five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Wasco, 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, Wasco, California itself moved +1.4 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

26,558 residents (±34)

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

6,342 households (±424)

Wasco, California
California share

Under $25k22%1,396
$25k–50k27%1,708
$50k–75k13%†842

Homes

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

Owners and renters

6,342 households (±424)

Wasco, California
California share

Own58%3,697
Rent42%2,645

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

8,991 workers (±536)

Wasco, California
California share

Drive alone78%7,051
Carpool16%1,440
Public transit0.2%†21

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 Bakersfield-Delano, 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 Kern County, the county holding most of Wasco's residents.

Kern County has 14,352 employer establishments, 156 for every 10,000 residents (0.63× the US rate of 248; 0.60× California's), with 219,016 paid employees at an average annual pay of $56,579. The Census Bureau also counts 59,790 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 14,352; 59,790 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 156; US 248 · California 263
Paid employees: 219,016
Average annual pay: $56,579; US $68,342

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

Ambulatory health care services	1,371	14.9	0.72×Fewer than typical	15,772	$67,137	1,914
Restaurants and other eating places	1,352	14.7	0.80×About typical	25,258	$24,177	329
Truck transportation	921	10	1.98×More than typical	5,869	$58,647	5,727
Specialty trade contractors	912	9.9	0.64×Fewer than typical	9,058	$63,643	2,757
Limited-service restaurants	717	7.8	0.97×About typical	14,090	$22,253	148
Lessors of real estate	604	6.6	0.53×Fewer than typical	2,173	$49,166	4,115
Offices of physicians	515	5.6	0.87×About typical	4,885	$76,718	343
Full-service restaurants	450	4.9	0.64×Fewer than typical	8,165	$27,687	107
Automotive repair and maintenance	415	4.5	0.90×About typical	2,274	$44,248	1,251
Building equipment contractors	402	4.4	0.73×Fewer than typical	4,749	$67,403	623
Services to buildings and dwellings	349	3.8	0.56×Fewer than typical	2,476	$37,973	4,322
Management, scientific and technical consulting	306	3.3	0.50×Fewer than typical	1,215	$70,695	1,163

Rank places for an industry Open Kern County

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

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 917,599 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 $4,184 of federal contract obligations were for work performed in Wasco, California: $0.16 per resident (US $1,994).

Obligations: $4,184; +12% vs FY2025
Per resident: $0.16; US $1,994
Sole-source: 0.0%; US 30%
Single offer: 31%; 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

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service$3,58186%
Federal Prison Industries / Unicor$60314%

Top recipients

Spending by fiscal year

5.1KFY2017
9.3KFY2019
65.1KFY2020
34.1KFY2021
34.7FY2022
1.9KFY2023
7KFY2024
3.7KFY2025

Top industries (NAICS)

Support activities for forestry · 1153$2,30455%
Architectural, engineering, and related services · 5413$1,27631%
Cattle ranching and farming · 1121$60314%

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 Wasco, California, so they do not add up across cities.

Wasco, California's figures are part of those of Kern County, CA ($769.4M 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: Wasco is mostly in Kern County.

See federal money in Kern 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.

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

House

Senate

Adam B. SchiffD-

County

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

Kern County10100% of residents

Metro area

The metro or micro area the city belongs to.

Bakersfield-Delano, CA5

Other cities and towns in Kern 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/0683542

Scores by category

Strengths · Weaknesses

Strengths

Weaknesses

Trends