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California City

Living

Living in California City: what to know before you move

For anyone weighing a move here: whether it is safe and what it costs, the schools, the weather and how far it is to work, answered from public figures with the sources beside them rather than with a grade.

Figures checked · 17 sources

What is California City like?

A wide view from a desert hilltop over green scrub, yellow wildflowers and straight dirt roads to the low, spread-out houses of California City, with the snow-streaked southern Sierra Nevada along the horizon.
California City from the Twin Buttes, looking west to the Sierra Nevada, March 2019. “Cal City Looking West” by Smm413, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0; resized and converted to WebP.

The state estimates that 13,141 people lived in California City on 1 January 2026,1 fewer than the 14,973 the 2020 census counted.2 The fall was the prison on the edge of town emptying in late 2023, not households leaving: the number of people living in homes has edged up, from 12,909 in 2020 to 13,097.34 The population figures on the facts page have the whole series.

Housing is among the cheapest in California. The Census Bureau’s survey for 2020–2024 values the median owner-occupied home at $278,000, about 38% of the state median,5 and only 33 of the 480 California cities it gives a figure for have a lower one.67

The town itself is a small part of a city of 203.7 square miles.7 The grid map shows how small, and where the houses are, which matters if you are looking at a lot rather than a home: owning land in California City is a section of its own.

Is it safe, and what does it cost?

In 2025, the latest year the state has published, reported crime in the city ran at 5.1 violent crimes for every 1,000 residents, above the state’s 4.3 and below Kern County’s 6.4, and 13.5 property crimes, below the state’s 17.8 and below Kern County’s 18.8.89 California City’s crime rate, year by year, sets those against every year since 2015 and says what the rating sites’ grades are built on.

The median rent is $1,300 a month, against $1,300 in Kern County and $2,036 statewide.10 The median household income is $60,113, against $99,122 across California.11 The cost of living in California City adds the property and sales tax rates and what the city charges for water.

Which schools serve California City?

Four public schools have a California City address, all run by the Mojave Unified School District: two elementary schools that split the younger years between them, a middle school and a high school.12 The district’s office is in Mojave, and it runs six schools in all; the four in California City taught 2,082 of its 2,904 students in 2024–25.13

Public schools in California City, with their grades and enrolment in 2024–25
SchoolGradesStudents
Robert P. Ulrich ElementaryKindergarten to grade 2503
Hacienda ElementaryGrades 3 to 5497
California City MiddleGrades 6 to 8478
California City HighGrades 9 to 12604
Enrolment in the 2024–25 school year, from each school’s federal record.12
Aerial photograph of California City High School: green-roofed classroom buildings and a gym around a car park, a grass football field inside a running track, a baseball field and rows of solar panels, surrounded by bare desert crossed by dirt roads, with houses along the top edge.
California City High School from the air, July 2023. “California City High School Mohave School District” by Tedder, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0; resized and converted to WebP.

How the schools are doing is measured by the state, which publishes its own measures for the district and each school on the California School Dashboard.14 This page does not summarise them yet; a fuller schools guide is among the parts still to be written.

What is the weather like?

Hot summers and cold winter nights. The city has no long-running weather station of its own; at Mojave, about 11 miles west-southwest and a little higher, the average high in July and August is 97°F and the average low in December is 32°F.15 About 34 days a year reach 100°F, about 40 nights fall to freezing, and 5.8 inches of rain falls in an average year.16 California City’s weather through the year has the month by month figures, and the wind in California City has a page of its own.

How far is it to work and the nearest cities?

Road distances and driving times from City Hall to Edwards Air Force Base and the towns and cities around it, with no traffic. Times at the hours people actually commute are still to be written.17

Road distances and free-flow driving times from California City
ToMilesDrive
Edwards Air Force Base, north gate13.521 min
Mojave15.723 min
Tehachapi30.040 min
Lancaster41.854 min
Palmdale50.21 h 2 min
Ridgecrest50.91 h 15 min
Bakersfield70.21 h 27 min
Downtown Los Angeles (City Hall)110.02 h 11 min
Routed on OpenStreetMap data from City Hall, without traffic.17 Getting to California City has the full list.

Still to be written

The rest of this section is still being researched. Until each part is written from its sources, this page lists it rather than guess:

  • Schools in depth: what the state’s own measures say about each of them.
  • Healthcare: what is in town, and how far the nearest emergency department is by road.
  • The commute to Edwards, Mojave, Tehachapi, Lancaster and Bakersfield, timed for the hours people drive it.
  • Work: who employs people here, with numbers only where a source gives them.
  • Getting around without a car: the buses and dial-a-ride.

Sources

Every fee, rule, distance and date above traces to one of these, checked on the review date. Rules, closures and fees change: where it matters, confirm with the managing agency before you go. If something here is wrong, tell us and it will be fixed.

  1. 1.E-1 Population Estimates for Cities, Counties, and the State, January 1, 2025 and 2026. California Department of Finance, May 2026.California City: 13,141 on 1 January 2026, against a revised 13,243 a year earlier. The state: 39,646,907 on 1 January 2025.
  2. 2.Historical Census Populations of Counties and Incorporated Cities in California, 1850–2020. California Department of Finance, Demographic Research Unit, revised 13 August 2021.The decennial census count for every census since incorporation (1970 to 2020), the county, and the 1965 incorporation year.
  3. 3.E-5 Population and Housing Estimates for Cities, Counties, and the State, 2020–2026. California Department of Finance, May 2026.Splits each year's estimate into people living in households and people in group quarters (institutions such as prisons), and counts housing units.
  4. 4.California City Detention Facility. Wikipedia.The state moved the last inmates out of the prison in November 2023.
  5. 5.Median Value (Dollars), owner-occupied housing units (table B25077), American Community Survey 2020–2024 5-year estimates. U.S. Census Bureau.California City $278,000 (margin of error ±$18,789); Kern County $338,300 (±$2,944); California $734,700 (±$1,307).
  6. 6.Median Value (Dollars) (table B25077) for every place in California, 2020–2024 5-year estimates. U.S. Census Bureau.Ranked here against the 482 incorporated cities in the 2020 Gazetteer's California place file; 480 have an estimate.
  7. 7.2020 Census Gazetteer Files: Places, California. U.S. Census Bureau, 2020.California City: 203.611 square miles of land and 0.085 of water; internal point 35.14659, −117.869346.
  8. 8.Crimes and Clearances (including Arson), 1985–2025. California Department of Justice, OpenJustice, 2026.Crimes reported by each law enforcement agency, by year. California City is the California City Police Department's row; Kern County is the sum of every agency in the county.
  9. 9.E-4 Population Estimates for Cities, Counties, and the State, 2021–2026, with 2020 Census Benchmark. California Department of Finance, May 2026.1 January populations of California City, Kern County and California for 2021 to 2025.
  10. 10.Median Gross Rent (Dollars) (table B25064), American Community Survey 2020–2024 5-year estimates. U.S. Census Bureau.California City $1,300 a month (±$247); Kern County $1,300 (±$21); California $2,036 (±$5). Gross rent includes utilities where the tenant pays them.
  11. 11.Median Household Income in the Past 12 Months (table B19013), American Community Survey 2020–2024 5-year estimates. U.S. Census Bureau.California City $60,113 (margin of error ±$6,771); Kern County $70,210 (±$1,287); California $99,122 (±$310), in 2024 dollars.
  12. 12.Search for Public Schools: California City, California. National Center for Education Statistics, Common Core of Data, 2024–25 school year.Four public schools, all in Mojave Unified; each school's page gives its grades and enrolment.
  13. 13.District Detail for Mojave Unified. National Center for Education Statistics, Common Core of Data, 2024–25 school year.Six schools and 2,904 students, with the district office in Mojave.
  14. 14.California School Dashboard: Mojave Unified. California Department of Education.The state's own measures for the district and each of its schools.
  15. 15.U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020, monthly: Mojave, CA (USC00045756). NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information.Average highs and lows, precipitation, snowfall and freezing nights by month.
  16. 16.U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020, annual and seasonal: Mojave, CA (USC00045756). NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information.Days of 90°F and 100°F or more, and freezing nights, per year and per season.
  17. 17.OSRM routing on OpenStreetMap data, from California City City Hall. Project OSRM and OpenStreetMap contributors, routed 17 September 2026, long-distance rows added 24 September 2026.Every distance and time was computed this way, and each one links to its own route so it can be re-run. Times assume no traffic.