A town of 28,225. A typical home worth about $268K.
The 3 things Ridgecrest does most differently from other towns.
Be the first to start the conversation.
Nothing on the calendar.
Ordered by what stands out in Ridgecrest. Another town gets a different order.
43% of Ridgecrest’s working residents work right in town. The top destinations are Los Angeles (5%), Bakersfield (5%) and Searles Valley (3%). Half commute less than 44 miles.
The typical Ridgecrest home is worth about $268,000, down 1.7% in a year, 65% below the California typical home.
35 miles of trails across 7 parks and preserves.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Leroy Jackson Park | 1.3 mi | 78 |
| 2. Petroglyph Park | — | 12 |
| 3. Stauffer Park | — | 11 |
The public schools Ridgecrest’s kids attend, from kindergarten through graduation, trail 57% of California’s districts on state tests and graduation. Among towns with similar incomes, they rank near the bottom.
| School | Grades | Students | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|
| Las Flores Elementary | K–5 | 526 | B |
| Faller Elementary | K–5 | 516 | B− |
| Richmond Elementary | K–5 | 364 | B |
| Gateway Elementary | K–5 | 346 | B− |
| Pierce Elementary | K–5 | 297 | C |
| Ridgecrest Elem Acad for Language Music and Sci | K–6 | 239 | B |
Ridgecrest reports more crime per resident than most U.S. towns we grade: about 76% report less.
Expected storm and flood damage is higher than in 78% of U.S. communities.
Ridgecrest has mild winters and scorching summers, with very little rain. A typical July afternoon reaches 103°, a January night drops to 34°, and snow is almost unheard of.
Ridgecrest beats the California average on 2 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 7.
| What stands out | Ridgecrest | CA |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer uninsured adults | 8.3% | 10.6% |
| More adults screened for colon cancer | 63% | 57.5% |
| More adults with depression | 24.8% | 20.1% |
16 postcards, papers and photographs from public archives.
11 notable people were born in Ridgecrest.
City in California, United States
Ridgecrest is a city in Kern County, California, United States, along U.S. Route 395 in the Indian Wells Valley in northeastern Kern County, adjacent to the Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake (NAWS, or China Lake). It was incorporated as a city in 1963. The population was 27,959 at the 2020 census, up slightly from 27,616 at the 2010 census, making it the third-largest city in Kern County. Ridgecrest is surrounded by four mountain ranges; the Sierra Nevada on the west, the Coso Range on the north, the Argus Range on the east, and the El Paso Mountains on the south. The most isolated community in Kern county, it is approximately 82 miles (132 km) from the Lancaster/Palmdale area, 110 miles…
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
One town shares a border with Ridgecrest.
