† Citizen voting-age population estimated for prior cycles; 2004 predates the ACS and is extrapolated. Source: ACS 5-year, table B05003.
——
D+60R+60
1 counties by 2024 margin · County returns · MIT Election Lab
People and households
Who lives here
Exact values for this place, its state, and the United States.
Race · ethnicity · ancestry
Communities and origins
GroupBakersfieldCaliforniaUnited States
Mexican50.4%32.3%11.3%
Salvadoran1.5%2.0%0.7%
Guatemalan0.8%1.3%0.5%
Puerto Rican0.5%0.6%1.8%
Spaniard0.4%0.3%—
Spanish0.4%0.3%—
Honduran0.3%—0.3%
Cuban0.2%—0.7%
German5.7%6.8%12.5%
English5.6%6.3%9.5%
Irish4.8%5.9%9.4%
American3.5%2.8%5.3%
Italian1.9%3.4%4.8%
French1.0%1.3%1.6%
Scottish1.0%0.9%1.3%
Polish0.6%0.9%2.2%
Filipino2.2%3.3%0.9%
Asian Indian1.5%2.3%1.4%
Chinese0.4%3.9%1.3%
Vietnamese0.3%1.7%0.6%
Korean0.2%1.2%0.4%
African American†4.3%4.4%9.9%
African0.2%0.3%0.5%
Aztec0.4%0.3%—
Hispanic or Latino counts residents of any race; the race groups count only their non-Hispanic residents, so the groups are mutually exclusive and sum to 100%. Expand a row to see ancestries reported within that group.
Age and life stage
Measure
Bakersfield
California
United States
Median age
32.7
37.9
39.1
Age 18–24
9.9%
9.1%
9.2%
Age 65 and older
11.9%
15.6%
17.2%
Household economy
Measure
Bakersfield
California
United States
Median household income
$70,210
$99,122
$84,427
Poverty rate
19.1%
12.0%
12.5%
Bachelor's degree or higher (25+)
18.8%
36.6%
35.6%
Languages at home
Measure
Bakersfield
California
United States
Speaks a non-English language at home
45.7%
44.4%
22.3%
Spanish
40.1%
28.4%
13.6%
Other Indo-European
1.6%
3.4%
2.0%
Tagalog (incl. Filipino)
1.3%
2.1%
0.6%
Religious landscape
Measure
Bakersfield
California
United States
Catholic
26.0%
26.2%
18.6%
Evangelical Protestant
13.1%
9.0%
16.5%
Unclaimed / not counted
54.6%
55.2%
51.5%
American Community Survey 2024 5-year (CVAP, income, age, poverty, education, language, race, ancestry) · presidential returns from MIT Election Lab through 2024 · 2020 U.S. Religion Census (ASARB) — congregational adherents; unclaimed is the residual not counted by congregations.
Bakersfield, California
presidential history
Presidential margin, 1892–2024
Democratic minus Republican, by election
Presidential margin over time
Year
Margin (D minus R)
1892
+10.9%
1896
+10.2%
1900
+7.2%
1904
−13.9%
1908
−1.1%
1912
+51.7%
1916
+24.7%
1920
−6.8%
1924
−29.2%
1928
−26.2%
1932
+45.2%
1936
+50.4%
1940
+24.5%
1944
+11.6%
1948
+14.6%
1952
−10.4%
1956
−3.0%
1960
−1.3%
1964
+17.5%
1968
−4.1%
1972
−25.0%
1976
−6.7%
1980
−26.0%
1984
−31.0%
1988
−24.1%
1992
−11.3%
1996
−17.2%
2000
−24.5%
2004
−34.0%
2008
−17.7%
2012
−16.7%
2016
−12.7%
2020
−10.2%
2024
−21.1%
DemocraticRepublican
34 presidential elections
Third column names the leading third-party or independent finisher. Source · MIT Election Lab · ICPSR · VEST (precinct-level 2024). Swing · margin change from the prior cycle. vs U.S. · margin relative to the national result that year.
Year
Won
Democratic
Republican
Other
Margin
Swing
vs U.S.
Total
R
38.2%Harris108,241
59.3%Trump167,879
1.3%Kennedy3,730 +4
R+21.1
R+10.9
R+19.6
283,246
All 7 candidates in 2024 · 5 minor / independent
Donald J TrumpRepublican59.3%167,879
Kamala D HarrisDemocratic38.2%108,241
Robert F Kennedy Jr.Independent1.3%3,730
Jill SteinIndependent0.5%1,344
Chase OliverLibertarian0.4%1,038
Claudia De La CruzIndependent0.4%1,006
OtherAll other candidates0.0%8
R
43.7%Biden133,366
53.9%Trump164,484
2.4%
R+10.2
D+2.5
R+14.6
305,292
R
40.4%Clinton98,689
53.1%Trump129,584
6.5%
R+12.7
D+4.1
R+14.7
244,163
R
40.3%Obama89,495
57.0%Romney126,618
2.7%
R+16.7
D+1.0
R+20.6
222,189
R
40.0%Obama93,457
57.7%McCain134,793
2.4%
R+17.7
D+16.3
R+25.0
233,808
R
32.5%Kerry68,603
66.5%Bush140,417
1.0%
R+34.0
R+9.5
R+31.5
211,174
R
36.2%Gore66,003
60.7%Bush110,663
3.1%
R+24.5
R+7.3
R+25.0
182,308
R
36.6%Clinton62,658
53.8%Dole92,151
9.7%
R+17.2
R+5.9
R+25.7
171,391
R
33.8%Clinton60,510
45.1%Bush80,762
21.2%
R+11.3
D+12.8
R+16.9
179,263
R
37.4%Dukakis55,083
61.5%Bush90,550
1.1%
R+24.1
D+6.9
R+16.4
147,293
R
34.0%Mondale49,567
65.0%Reagan94,776
1.0%
R+31.0
R+5.0
R+12.8
145,744
R
33.7%Carter41,097
59.6%Reagan72,842
6.7%
R+26.0
R+19.3
R+16.3
122,121
R
45.6%Carter50,567
52.3%Ford58,023
2.1%
R+6.7
D+18.2
R+8.8
110,961
R
35.2%McGovern41,937
60.1%Nixon71,686
4.7%
R+25.0
R+20.9
R+1.8
119,193
R
42.5%Humphrey49,284
46.6%Nixon53,990
10.8%
R+4.1
R+21.6
R+3.4
115,832
D
58.7%Johnson64,174
41.2%Goldwater45,014
0.1%
D+17.5
D+18.8
R+5.1
109,308
R
49.1%Kennedy51,440
50.4%Nixon52,800
0.4%
R+1.3
D+1.7
R+1.5
104,705
R
48.3%Stevenson43,533
51.3%Eisenhower46,220
0.4%
R+3.0
D+7.4
D+12.4
90,075
R
44.4%Stevenson36,151
54.8%Eisenhower44,600
0.7%
R+10.4
R+25.0
D+0.4
81,332
D
56.2%Truman33,029
41.6%Dewey24,464
2.2%
D+14.6
D+3.0
D+10.1
58,811
D
55.6%Roosevelt26,205
44.0%Dewey20,730
0.5%
D+11.6
R+12.9
D+4.1
47,161
D
61.8%Roosevelt32,202
37.3%Willkie19,445
0.9%
D+24.5
R+25.9
D+14.5
52,126
D
74.6%Roosevelt25,726
24.2%Landon8,345
1.2%
D+50.4
D+5.2
D+26.1
34,479
D
70.3%Roosevelt19,634
25.1%Hoover7,011
4.6%
D+45.2
D+71.4
D+27.4
27,920
R
36.4%Smith8,541
62.7%Hoover14,692
0.9%
R+26.2
D+3.0
R+8.8
23,445
R
16.8%Davis3,159
46.1%Coolidge8,646
37.1%
R+29.2
R+22.4
R+4.1
18,763
R
42.2%Cox6,095
49.0%Harding7,079
8.8%
R+6.8
R+31.6
D+19.4
14,444
D
59.9%Wilson9,566
35.1%Hughes5,611
5.0%
D+24.7
R+27.0
D+21.6
15,981
D
51.7%Wilson5,569
0.0%Taft0
48.3%
D+51.7
D+52.8
D+32.2
10,765
R
44.5%Bryan2,215
45.6%Taft2,270
9.9%
R+1.1
D+12.8
D+8.4
4,978
R
37.7%Parker1,724
51.6%Roosevelt2,359
10.7%
R+13.9
R+21.0
D+5.8
4,571
D
52.3%Bryan1,960
45.2%McKinley1,692
2.5%
D+7.2
R+3.0
D+14.7
3,746
D
54.0%Bryan1,763
43.8%McKinley1,430
2.2%
D+10.2
R+0.7
D+16.3
3,265
D
50.4%Cleveland1,266
39.5%Harrison992
10.1%
D+10.9
—
D+9.2
2,513
voter registration
Registered voters
By party of registration, over time
Party registration · 2024R+3.3
vs
Presidential vote · 2024R+21.1
Registration leans Republican; the presidential vote runs 18 points more Democratic.
451,797 registered voters · 2024 · up from 433,887 in 2022
Domestic migration in Bakersfield in Bakersfield: net domestic migration by year
Year
Net domestic migration
2011
−2,631
2012
−4,189
2013
−1,435
2014
−2,226
2015
−2,531
2016
−4,426
2017
−1,634
2018
−288
2019
−291
2021
+1,877
2022
−2,064
2023
−8,569
2024
−2,626
2025
−2,628
Anchored by Kern County's oil-and-agriculture economy, the Bakersfield media market consistently returns some of the widest Republican margins of any media market in California, making it a structural outlier in an otherwise Democratic-dominant state.
Across the recorded series it reached a Democratic high of 51.7 points in 1912 and a Republican high of 34.0 points in 2004. Between 2020 and 2024 the market moved 10.9 points toward the Republican candidate; the 2024 margin was 21.1 points.
A population of 915,075, a 30% non-Hispanic-white share, and a median household income of $70,210 describe the market. The market's voting pattern over the last decade is most similar to that of Fresno-Visalia and San Antonio.
Akashic
Political twins — media markets
The media markets whose fingerprint — 2000–2024 trajectory, demographics, ancestry, religion — sits closest to this one, and why.
Twin score (0–100) = weighted cosine between tier-standardized fingerprints: presidential margins 2000–2024 with 12-yr trend and elasticity, ACS income, age, education, population and race, top reported ancestries, and religious adherence — chips name the closest-shared dimensions and the widest gap. Re-weight the groups in the twins explorer.
Compare two places, side by side
Twelve curated comparisons line up election history, demographics, and the divergence story for two places at a glance. Browse all comparisons →
Cite this page
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Bakersfield, California. Akashic. https://akashic.app/dma/800/. Accessed May 20, 2026. License: CC BY 4.0.
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In 2024, Bakersfield, California voted Republican by 21.1 points (R+21.1), carried by the Republican candidate. Out of 283,246 votes cast, 108,241 went Democratic and 167,879 went Republican.
When did Bakersfield, California last vote Democratic?
The most recent presidential election in which Bakersfield, California voted Democratic was 1964.
How many people live in Bakersfield, California?
Bakersfield, California has a population of 915,075 according to the 2024 American Community Survey 5-year estimates from the US Census Bureau.
What is the median household income in Bakersfield, California?
Median household income in Bakersfield, California is $70,210 — below the national median of $80,734. The California state median is $99,122.
What is the political history of Bakersfield, California?
Akashic tracks 34 presidential elections in Bakersfield, California from 1892 to 2024. Of those, 11 went Democratic and 23 went Republican.
