Bakersfield

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Bakersfield
Nickname : California's Country Music Capital
2008-0621-Bakersfield-pan.JPG
Seal of Bakersfield
seal 		Bakersfield flag
flag
Located in California and Kern County
Kern County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Bakersfield Highlighted.svg
Basic data
Foundation : 1869
State : United States
State : California
County : Kern County
Coordinates : 35 ° 21 ′  N , 119 ° 2 ′  W Coordinates: 35 ° 21 ′  N , 119 ° 2 ′  W
Time zone : Pacific ( UTC − 8 / −7 )
Inhabitants :
-  Metropolitan Area :		 376,380 (as of 2016)
884,788 (as of 2016)
Population density : 1,034.1 inhabitants per km 2
Area : 363.96 km 2  (approximately 141 mi 2 )
Height : 123 m
Postcodes : 93301-93314
Area code : +1 661
FIPS : 06-03526
GNIS ID : 1652668
Website : www.bakersfieldcity.us
Mayor : Karen Goh
2009-0726-CA-Bakersfield-ThePadre.jpg
Padre Hotel in Bakersfield

Bakersfield is a city in Kern County in the US state of California with 347,609 inhabitants (last census 2010). The urban area covers an area of ​​363.96 square kilometers.

California State University, Bakersfield is located in the city . The oil fields in the area, such as the Kern River Oil Field , the Mount Poso Oil Field and the Round Mountain Oil Field , made an important contribution to Bakersfield's economic development . Oil exploration and processing are one of the city's main industries, along with agriculture and manufacturing.

history

More than 8,000 years ago, small groups of hunters and gatherers lived in the southern part of the San Joaquin Valley , as has been archaeologically proven. Father Francisco Garcés was the first European to survey the area in 1776.

The place was first settled in 1858 by families who had moved from the south. The place is named after one of these first settlers, Colonel Thomas Baker. In 1871 Bakersfield already had a telegraph station and several shops. The city was designated the county seat of Kern County in 1873 and was finally officially registered as a parish in 1898.

On July 21, 1952, the city was hit by an earthquake that killed 12 people in all of Kern County. The destruction in Bakersfield was not as devastating as in nearby Tehachapi . One of the buildings destroyed in the earthquake was the town hall. It has been replaced by Bakersfield City Hall , which houses the offices of the mayor and the city council.

Population development

The 2010 census showed a population of 347,609. The population increased by over 100,000 within a decade. According to the 2000 census , Bakersfield was still around 244,000 people.

year Residents¹
1980 105,611
1990 174,820
2000 244.217
2010 347,609
2016 376.380

¹ 1980-2010 : census results; 2016: US Census Bureau estimate

Demographics

Nearly half of the population, 45 percent, has a Hispanic background. The number of so-called Latinos has increased significantly since 2000, when this population group still made up a good 32 percent. The proportion of whites therefore fell to 37 percent. In 1980 it was 71 percent. Afro-Americans were represented with a good eight percent of the urban population, while other minorities such as Asians had shares of five percent or less.

The number of households was exactly 111,132 according to the 2010 census. For every 100 women there were exactly 96 men, while the median age was exactly 30 years.

climate

Bakersfield has a desert climate ( Köppen BWh ). In the dry and hot summer, the daytime temperatures in July are over 36 degrees. The maximum temperatures are up to over 45 degrees in July and August. The winter months are mild, so the thermometer rarely drops below 10 degrees even in the months from November to February. Values ​​around 20 degrees are also not unusual during this period. Frost is very rare. The lowest temperature measured in Bakersfield was −11 degrees on January 3, 1908. The precipitation , mostly in the form of rain , sometimes also as dense fog , is concentrated mainly in the months of November to April. The number of hours of sunshine averages at least 10 hours per day throughout the year. In the summer months up to 12 hours are possible.

economy

Oil was discovered relatively early in Bakersfield. The fields or individual winding towers are still in use today. The Kern County is still the second largest county in terms of oil production, about 10 percent of total US funding came in 2006 from the county and the majority of Bakersfield and its suburbs. The ensuing US oil shale and fracking boom massively increased US production and with it the percentage, but it remains one of the most important production regions in the USA.

The second major historical industry is agriculture. Bakersfield is part of the San Joaquin Valley , which is the 5th most productive agricultural area in the USA. An increasing number of illegal immigrants poses a problem for US citizens looking for work, because even today many illegal immigrants are hired out as farm workers and day laborers on the vast estates. The officially recorded per capita income is well below the American average.

Sports

Town twinning

sons and daughters of the town

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ About Bakersfield. (No longer available online.) Bakersfield Official Website, archived from the original on May 5, 2011 ; accessed on June 1, 2009 .
  2. ^ History of Bakersfield. City of Bakersfield, accessed June 18, 2009 .
  3. ↑ Historic Earthquakes. (No longer available online.) United States Geological Survey , archived from the original on July 16, 2009 ; accessed on June 18, 2009 .
  4. ↑ United States Census 2010 ( Memento from February 20, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
  5. ^ Peel, MC, Finlayson, BL, McMahon, TA: Updated world map of the Köppen-Geiger climate classification, Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 11, 1633-1644, 200 7.
  6. ^ Bakersfield Fog Facts US National Weather Service
  7. ^ Bakersfield Climate US National Weather Service
  8. ↑ Climate Bakersfield usclimatedata.com
  9. ↑ Annual Reports: 2006, Oil and Gas Statistics

Web links

Commons : Bakersfield  - collection of images, videos and audio files