Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
There is the fact that, just like most any other place, Bakersfield has some areas that are better than others.
And just like most areas, those better areas are more expensive. As much as being desirable for being better as being too expensive for the less desirable population to move in.
Yes, the heat is really bad. This week my AC went out and while waiting on the replacement part to come, I'm sitting in my room at over 90 degrees with no option to cool off other than a fan. I can't imagine stepping outside and dealing with worse for long. I usually spend most of my summer indoors. And your timeline sounds about right. There's a joke that Bakersfield has about 9 months of Summer and 3 months of a mild winter.
Air quality is the worst in the US. I don't know about smell. If there is a bad smell, I've never smelt it. Unless you're passing by a dairy or some other place that has it's own local pollution, which generally are located well out of Bakersfield itself and just in other places in Kern county. Like off of the 99 freeway that passes through. We also have Valley Fever, which is an illness some people get when the dust comes up off the ground and they breath it in. Given we're still heavy in agriculture in this desert, there's plenty of opportunity for that if you spend some time in the more rural areas.
Boring? I try not to comment about entertainment. There's a lot to do here, but you have to like it. Some people enjoy that we have a wide selection of bars and clubs downtown. I don't drink, so that doesn't appeal to me. There's tons of hiking and white water rafting options close by, but again, you have to be into that. Bakersfield still tries to retain a small town feel while being far too big to properly handle it and the infrastructure tends to show these growing pains in the older parts. And political issues have made for some interesting issues (there's a point in the 178/Rosedale Hwy that it reaches downtown and becomes city streets for no reason, then resumes as the freeway. An infuriating story behind that concept that to this day causes massive headaches for passing through town).
Crime is high. This goes back to different parts of the city. If you look at a map, find the 99 freeway that's more or line divided down the center of the city. Anything to the east of that line I largely avoid if I can. It's a rough line since some areas are obvious pretty nice (like to the east of Bakersfield College), but generally the west side of town is better, especially the more west you go. But I agree about the crime from the data.
Unsafe ties into above. As well as some seriously bad drivers that don't seem to care. We have double left turn lanes around town and most people have absolutely no clue how to make a left turn. Those in the inside lane will usually finish their turns coming into the middle lane of three lane roadways, which is not for them to take. I had a woman that damn near sideswiped me doing this exact thing when she almost went into my lane and had to slow down a lot more not to hit me. She honked, as if I did wrong, then sped up so her (I assume) daughter, that I'd guess was perhaps 13, could flip me off for a bit before speeding off like a moron. I was tempted to pull up next to her when she had to come to a stop and explain to her that her ****ty driving doesn't excuse getting mad at me, but I left it alone. This type of thing happens a lot and if a person doesn't seem to care that they're ****ing up, then they instead are usually losing their **** at you for them messing up.
The last two points tie hand in hand and honestly tie into a lot of the other problems. We have a lot of Mexicans. Many are illegal. And for those that haven't lived around a lot of Mexicans, they won't understand that the people are extremely rude and classless. They'll smile and act cheerful while blasting their mariachi music for the whole neighborhood to hear into the early morning hours. They'll cut down trees in their yards for some reason. They'll do a lot of things to bring their "culture" with them, which really boils down to drinking and partying with terrible food and drink. There's no shortage of Mexican food restaurants, and no shortage of them failing. I have a neighbor who would put their trash cans in front of my yard and driveway because they have several garbage cars that half don't work and they line the front of their house. I've since gotten them to reel it in a good bit, but ultimately if I said nothing, they'd be more than happy to do whatever they want on and in front of my property because of their poor handling of their own property. Given you're from San Diego, you probably have an idea of what I'm talking about. If you do come here, you should check out areas that do not have Hispanic populations if you can, if you want to avoid that. Otherwise expect a lot of your nights to be sleepless and calls to the police will only sometimes work out.
I have every intention of getting out of Bakersfield in another year from now. There's a thing about people coming back and not being able to leave Bakersfield. But you get to finding out that it's just to watch/take care of family, and it's usually Mexicans who do it. Given that I'm taking the only family I have with me, that won't be an issue and I won't miss this place at all.
One of the diamonds of Bakersfield is staying at the The Padre Hotel located on the corner "H" and 18th Streets downtown. Nice accommodations and good food.
This is my opinion...The main issue Bakersfield faces is the Air Quality and a Negative Reputation,but honestly you'll experience poor air quality in many cities across the country,and despite Bakersfield negative reputation,it's one of the best cities in the Central Valley to actually afford a decent lifestyle for middle income people.
Bakersfield air quality is mostly a problem for those with sensitive respiratory issues,but trust me the air is breathable,we don't go around wearing gas masks all day and the skies are blue not brown,but their are days when we do have wildfires blowing in smoke from far away then we get those warning advisories where you can actually see the haze from the poor air quality or when we have a strong high pressure over us during the summer months.
Another thing is the summers are hot here,similar to desert like temperatures with the low humidity,but we occassionally get cooled down when marine air flows in,and it's also surprisingly green with all the agriculture fields surrounding the area and the greenery that's seen throughout the city despite the drought were having.
Bakersfield does have it's good and bad parts,new and older areas,safe and high crime rate areas,just like any other mid-sized city....The city is large enough where you could be in an entirely different surrounding just by driving around and seeing the differences from one area to another,even the elevation changes depending on where your at.
But even though their are many positives to living in Bakersfield,unfortunately it may always have a negative reputation compared to other parts of CA,and their will always be those that hate Bakersfield no matter what.
Bakersfield is not for everyone,but this city is far from the worst....If you don't like Bakersfield then don't move here or move out,it's that simple,but their are more than 400,000 people that don't mind living here that call it home
if you can get high paying job like in healthcare, grab it. they even pay more than in LA/OC coz there are few competition. that plus low cost of living certainly beat its sleepy reputation
I have every intention of getting out of Bakersfield in another year from now. There's a thing about people coming back and not being able to leave Bakersfield. But you get to finding out that it's just to watch/take care of family, and it's usually Mexicans who do it. Given that I'm taking the only family I have with me, that won't be an issue and I won't miss this place at all.
I remember that "thing." I was stuck there for three years due to my job but left as quickly as I could. I was told about that "curse" then by a number of people, most of them natives of the city; many of whom had left but eventually returned. I'm happy to report that it's been 26 years since I discovered that happiness was Bakersfield in the rear view mirror and I've never been back. On occasions when I had to drive from NorCal to SoCal and visa-versa I always took I-5 so I didn't even have to go through it.
Is Bakersfield THAT terrible? Yes and no. Most people only consider moving here because of work, or out of desperation after having been squeezed out of the housing markets everywhere else in Ca. My hubby and I moved here for both reasons. As a 30 something year old, who is used to being in Hollywood and Pasadena- I find I'm still tremendously BORED most of the time. But, we like to party- and there's certainly plenty of that here in good ol' Bako!
So does Bakersfield live up to its almost inexplicably bad reputation? Not in my experience. But then, I don't live in a particularly bad neighborhood. I have, of course, seen some awful things here.
Speaking of bad neighborhoods- anyone from another place in Ca. may be a bit lost when trying to determine where the good and bad neighborhoods are. They don't really have defined 'boundaries' like you have in LA, or the Bay Area. Rather, there are good and bad neighborhoods all over, and sometimes just looking across a major intersection will drastically change how nice a street/neighborhood are. When we moved here, I decided against buying a McMansion over in the NW side of town. There's lots of gated communities and brand new housing tracts there, and you'll easily spend 400k on a newer house. There's lots of deals to be had in other parts of the city, especially if you don't mind living in a more established neighborhood. Do your research! Drive around, talk to people- pay attention to any prospective neighborhood you might live in. Do all the houses have bars on the windows and pit bulls in the yard? You may not want to live there. Does there seem to be an awful lot of people milling about during the workweek? Maybe they don't work- and you probably don't want to live there. Bakersfield is so diverse, and the neighborhoods are so varied- I would advise against buying or even making a permanent move until you spend some time here and really check out different places.
Another thing transplants may find weird is driving anywhere. Bakersfield is filled with HORRIBLE drivers! The streets are aligned weird in various parts of town, the same major street will be called something else on the other side of an intersection, there's freeways that don't connect to anything, and just dump you onto city streets, and the speed limits are so HIGH everywhere, you'll probably put around like I did for months, wondering why everyone is in such a HURRY. Major streets with shopping centers on both sides have speed limits of 50-55 mph, and everyone seems determined to get up to that speed before the next red light. No wonder the air pollution is so bad.
And that, folks, is no joke. Bakersfield has the WORST air quality in Ca., and even in the USA in recent years. If you or your family have asthma, COPD, or bad allergies- DO NOT EVER move here! Part of it is geography, part of it is all the refineries/oil industry in the area (although Halliburton would NEVER admit that), but the air here is BAD. I never thought I'd live to see the day I looked forward to going to the Valley so I can breathe. When you come into Bakersfield from LA, and you start down the Grapevine, look out into the distance- the fact that you can't even see this major city is telling.
And on to- CRIME. There's a lot of it here. Again, if you're not stupid about where you live, and who you associate with, you'll probably never have an issue. If you're a Neo Nazi Meth head, you'll probably want to live in Oildale- if you hardly speak English, drive a car that has rims costing more than the car, and think it's cool to shoot people, you'll probably live in the East/Southeast part of town. If you're style is more akin to wearing your pants past your ass, dressing in blue, and also randomly killing people, you'll likely take up residence somewhere in the SW part of town. And, if you're proud to be a redneck, have a fake ball sack hanging from your trailer hitch, and your Levis could stand up without you in them, you'll feel right at home in the NW/Rosedale (Bro's dale as its locally known). So, pick the right neighborhood, and have a home alarm system installed. Most of the crime in Bakersfield is theft/robbery. Remember, you may live in a nice neighborhood, but there's likely a not so nice neighborhood a few blocks away, because it's Bakersfield, and people know where to go to get the good stuff- don't make it easy for them.
All in all- the vast majority of people I've met, encountered, or become friends with have been very nice, down to earth, average folks. People here are a hell of a lot more friendly than in LA or SF. Aside from the awful driving, people are pretty cool here. There don't seem to be any more or less "illegals" here than any other place, if that matters to you. One thing there is, in a shocking abundance, are homeless people. I've never seen so many in any other place. That's probably because the cops roust them more regularly than they do here. Even in 'nicer' areas, you are frequently hit up for money or food, and can frequently see large encampments of homeless people scattered about.
So, your happiness here will depend on many things, but I don't think it's fair to completely discount living in Bakersfield. Yes, you can buy a nice house for less than half of what you'll pay in any Metro area, so if you are offered a job here, consider it. Like any place, it has good and bad aspects- you should come see for yourself what those are.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Not the best, not the worst
