Arvin, California

Area Profile

19,539 residents. Public schools, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Arvin, in Kern County.

42out of 100
Area Score
Bottom 2% of 2,944 published profiles

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
Opportunity3698th of 3,904 published cities28
Growth1984th of 2,973 published cities41
Housing affordability3650th of 4,223 published cities54
Climate2343rd of 4,223 published cities69
Physical resilience3738th of 4,182 published cities15
AccessTop 50% of 4,226 published cities92
Economic stability3486th of 4,226 published cities40
The quick read

Employment conditions sit below most comparable published city profiles: unemployment is 8.8% and the Opportunity signal places Arvin in the bottom 5%.

Buying strains local incomes far more than renting does — the median home is 5.3 times median household income, against a historic benchmark near three — while rent takes 27% of it.

Physical-risk exposure is above the national median, driven mainly by earthquake, inland flooding and heat wave.

At a glance

Population
19,539
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$49,183
Bottom 22% nationally
Density
4,055/sq mi
4.8 sq mi of land
Median age
25.0
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Kern County
California
Metro area
Bakersfield-Delano, CA
Nearest major airport
BFL
21 mi · Meadows Fld
Median home value
$262,700
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 8.8% is lower than 1% of the 3,904 measured US cities.

Employment fell 0.1% over the past year, to 370,080 employed residents.

Median household income of $49,183 is below 78% of measured US cities.

MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Median household income ±$3,904$49,183Bottom 22%2024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$1,324$15,612Bottom 4%2024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate34.6%Top 7%2024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute26.3 minBottom 48%2024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher5.0%Bottom 10%2024 ACS 5-Year
Employment370,080Top 19%June 2026
Employment change (3 years)0.4%Top 43%June 2026
Employment change (year over year)-0.1%Top 32%June 2026
Labor force405,667Top 19%June 2026
Labor force participation61.4%Top 47%2024 ACS 5-Year
Mean annual wage$64,650Bottom 29%2025 OEWS
Median annual wage$47,470Bottom 19%2025 OEWS
Unemployment change (year over year)-0.6%Bottom 15%June 2026
Unemployment rate8.8%Top 1%June 2026
Median household income, successive ACS releases
202120222023202450k43k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $49,183 in the 2024 ACS 5-Year. Consecutive releases share four years of sample, so AreaProfile shows them as a record of successive estimates and does not compute a year-over-year change from them.
Largest occupations — Bakersfield-Delano, CA
OccupationPeople employedMedian annual wage
Farmworkers and Laborers, Crop, Nursery, and Greenhouse32,500$34,620
Home Health and Personal Care Aides17,270$34,320
Fast Food and Counter Workers9,180$39,470
Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand8,440$46,890
Cashiers8,350$35,220
Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers7,050$57,690

Occupational employment and wages are published for metropolitan areas rather than for individual cities or ZIP areas, so these describe the wider labor market this location sits in. 2025 OEWS, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes city-level labor data only for places of 25,000 or more. This is the figure for Kern County, CA, which contains this city.

There are 23.0 students for every full-time teacher, more than in most measured places.

Public schools
7
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
23.0
across all schools here
Math proficiency
Reading proficiency
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Arvin HighKern High2,65326.0
El Camino Real ElementaryArvin Union77122.7
Bear Mountain ElementaryArvin Union72820.2
Sierra Vista ElementaryArvin Union69023.0
Haven Drive MiddleArvin Union61217.5
Di Giorgio ElementaryDi Giorgio Elementary23123.1
Grow Academy Arvin · charterGrow Academy Arvin District8721.8

94.9% of students here are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. That describes the circumstances families arrive with rather than how the schools perform, which is why AreaProfile shows it and does not score it.

Public schools only, from the NCES Common Core of Data. Schools are placed by ZIP code, so this is which schools are in this place rather than which one a particular address is zoned for — district boundaries do not follow municipal ones, and enrollment zones change. Fully virtual schools are excluded: they enroll students from across the state while reporting one administrative address, and counting them here would describe a school population this place does not have. The assessment covers grades 3 through 8, so a high school shows no proficiency figure — a dash in those columns means the test was not given at that school, not that it performed badly. Proficiency is measured against California’s own standard, so it compares cleanly within the state and only broadly against other states; AreaProfile therefore ranks it within state. The directory is current, while the proficiency figures are from the last school year with national coverage before the pandemic interrupted testing.

Housing & affordability

How it’s calculated →

Median rent of $1,122 takes 27% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 5.3 times median household income here, well above the historic benchmark, at a level conventionally described as seriously unaffordable.

Rent as a share of income
27.4%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
5.3×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$1,122
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$262,700
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Home price to income5.34Top 13%2024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate54.4%Bottom 13%2024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±2464,896Top 12%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$89$1,122Top 38%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$14,907$262,700Top 33%2024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income27.4%Top 11%2024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate4.4%Bottom 26%2024 ACS 5-Year

Both affordability measures come from the same ACS release as the income they are compared with, so the comparison is like for like. They describe housing cost against local earnings and are not a cost-of-living index — transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes are not included, and a place can look affordable here and still be expensive to live in for reasons this does not capture.

Growth & development

How it’s calculated →
Development Momentum
41/ 100
Ranks 1984 of 2,973 published city profiles
Permitting is increasing, measured from 2022 to 2025.

An AreaProfile calculation combining permit volume per resident, its direction over one and three years, population change and employment growth. Permit volume alone is not the measure.

Population has grown 1% since 2020, reaching 19,661 in 2024.

Permitting has turned upward after moving the other way the year before.

New construction is predominantly single-family: only 0% of permitted units are in buildings of five or more homes.

At 0.2 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is below the median for measured US cities.

Units permitted
3
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
0.2
Bottom 11% nationally
Year over year
0%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
0.0%
units in 5+ unit buildings
Population, annual estimates
2020202120222023202420k19k
Census Population Estimates Program, July 1 of each year. These annual estimates are designed for year-over-year comparison, unlike the ACS five-year figure shown as this profile's population.
Housing units permitted per year
20222023202420253.01.0
Annual totals from the Census Building Permits Survey. Permitting in 2025 was higher than 2022 (+50%).

Weather & climate

7 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 98°F and January a low of 41°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 6.4 inches.

Air quality measures a median index of 72, in the Moderate band, and about 94 days a year pass 100, the threshold at which the air is unhealthy for sensitive groups.

30°50°70°90°110°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station BAKERSFIELD AP, 20.8 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND1.2"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
90th percentile air quality index140.02024 calendar year
Annual precipitation6.4"1991-2020 Normals
Annual snowfall0.1"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low41°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high98°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months71991-2020 Normals
Days above AQI 100942024 calendar year
Median air quality index72.02024 calendar year
Seasonal temperature swing36°F1991-2020 Normals
Air quality
Median air quality index
72
Moderate on a typical day
Worst tenth of days
140
90th percentile index
Days above 100
94
unhealthy for sensitive groups

A comfortable median and a bad tail are different problems. Wildfire smoke and summer ozone show up in the worst tenth of days, not in the middle of the year.

Climate figures are thirty-year normals, not current conditions. They describe what a typical year looks like rather than what the weather is doing today. Air quality is measured rather than modelled, by EPA monitors, and published by county only where a monitor sits — roughly half the counties AreaProfile publishes have one, and the rest show nothing rather than an estimate. Air masses are regional, so a county reading describes the air over a place reasonably well, but it is still the county reading.

Physical risk

15 / 100
Physical resilience

The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are earthquake, inland flooding and heat wave.

WildfireHigh
Heat waveHigh
EarthquakeHigh
Inland floodingModerate
AvalancheModerate

Low or minimal exposure: landslide, drought, lightning, winter weather, hail, volcanic activity, strong wind, tornado, cold wave.

Hazard ratings are AreaProfile calculations derived from the FEMA National Risk Index v1.20.0 (December 2025). FEMA publishes at county level. City values are the population-weighted mean of the counties the city overlaps, using AreaProfile place-to-county land-area weights. FEMA does not endorse this presentation. Higher physical resilience means lower exposure.

These are deaths, not offences. AreaProfile does not publish reported crime, and this is not a substitute for it — it says nothing about burglary, theft or assault.

Kern County records 8.0 homicide deaths per 100,000 residents a year, higher than most counties measured. The CDC does not publish this below county level.

Firearm deaths of all intents run at 13.0 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 31.0 per 100,000 residents in Kern County.

Homicide
8.0
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Firearm deaths, all intents
13.0
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Drug overdose
31.0
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Suicide
13.4
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths

Firearm deaths count every intent together, and nationally the majority are suicides rather than homicides. The two columns overlap and should not be added.

Age-adjusted rates from provisional death certificate records, published by the CDC for Kern County as a whole — these rates are not published below county level. A county can hold both a dense city centre and a suburb whose experience of it is nothing alike, so this describes the county around Arvin rather than Arvin itself. That is why AreaProfile shows these figures and does not put them in the Area Score. Where fewer than ten deaths were recorded the count is suppressed at source, and a rate built on single figures moves sharply between releases. What this measure has that reported crime does not: a death certificate is filed whether or not the local police agency submitted a return that year, so the figures stay comparable between places and over time.

What this profile does not cover

Three things people look for are missing from every AreaProfile page, and each is missing for a reason rather than by oversight. The Area Score is calculated without them and the weighting is documented on the methodology page.

Reported crime
The FBI’s Crime Data Explorer is the only source for reported offences with national coverage and a published method, and it requires an API key AreaProfile does not hold. Arrest counts, news volume and commercial “safety scores” are not substituted in the meantime. What is published above under Safety is a different measurement — deaths rather than offences, from death certificates rather than police returns — and it covers no property crime at all.
Taxes
No tax dataset has met the source admission test for coverage, transparent methodology and update cadence. Nothing here is individualized tax advice.
Full cost of living
No public source publishes one with national coverage and a documented method. Housing affordability above is computed from published rent, price and income, and excludes transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes — commuting cost in particular tends to offset suburban housing savings.

Access

5 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest 21 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Meadows FldBFL21 mi10,849 ft
Mojave Air & Space Port/Rutan FldMHV40 mi12,503 ft
Van NuysVNY71 mi8,001 ft

Airport identity, position and runway data come from the FAA. “Major airport” is an AreaProfile classification — a public-use civil airport with a paved runway of at least 8,000 feet — not an FAA hub designation. Distances are straight-line, not driving distance.

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Area Score
42
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Other cities in Bakersfield-Delano, CA

Same metropolitan area, measured the same way
CityCountyPopulationArea ScoreCompare
BakersfieldKern County411,98653vs Arvin
DelanoKern County51,67951vs Arvin
OildaleKern County34,687vs Arvin
East NilesKern County28,532vs Arvin
RidgecrestKern County28,22552vs Arvin
WascoKern County26,55842vs Arvin
RosamondKern County21,473vs Arvin
ShafterKern County21,19352vs Arvin
RosedaleKern County18,877vs Arvin
California CityKern County14,41444vs Arvin
McFarlandKern County14,22249vs Arvin
LamontKern County13,164vs Arvin

Every city here is measured on the same scale from the same source releases, so the comparison is like for like. A higher Area Score reflects AreaProfile’s standardized weighting rather than a judgment about which is the better place to live.

Compare

Put Arvin side by side with a similar place.

Arvin vs OildaleArvin vs Potomac ParkArvin vs WascoArvin vs Marysville

Data & methodology

Used forSourceSource periodUpdated
AccessFederal Aviation Administration
Airports (NASR) — Aeronautical Data Delivery Service
NASR current cycle28-day NASR cycle
Physical riskFederal Emergency Management Agency
National Risk Index
National Risk Index December 2025 (v1.20.0)Periodic dataset versions (v1.20.0 current)
ClimateNOAA National Centers for Environmental Information
U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020 (Monthly)
1991-2020 NormalsEvery ten years (next release follows the 2001–2030 period)
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Local Area Unemployment Statistics
June 2026Monthly
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics
2025 OEWSAnnual (spring release)
DemographicsU.S. Census Bureau
Population Estimates Program
July 1, 2024 estimateAnnual (vintage released each spring)
DevelopmentU.S. Census Bureau
Building Permits Survey
12 months ending July 2026Monthly, roughly three weeks after the reference month
Demographics, Housing, Income, JobsU.S. Census Bureau
American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (Table-Based Summary File)
2024 ACS 5-YearAnnual (5-year estimates released each December)
safetyU.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics
Provisional county-level mortality by intent
April, 2025 to March, 2026Quarterly, with a rolling twelve-month window alongside complete calendar years
schoolsU.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics
Common Core of Data and EDFacts assessments
2024-25 school yearDirectory annually; assessment results as EDFacts releases them
ClimateU.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Air Quality System
Daily Air Quality Index by county
2024 calendar yearAnnually, once a calendar year is complete

Profile recalculated August 30, 2026. Recalculation is not the same as new source data — each figure above shows the period its source actually covers. Read the full methodology or browse every source.

ZIP codes in Arvin

1 published ZIP profiles
ZIPPopulationMedian household incomeArea Score
9320320,712$49,21741