Jury Pool Profile

Kern County, California

Republican +21 (2024)

Population: 910,433
Median household income: $67,660
Unemployment: 8.9%

Who sits on a jury?

Race & ethnicity

White alone 448,046 49.2%
Black or African American alone 46,946 5.2%
Asian alone 46,219 5.1%
American Indian / Alaska Native alone 10,938 1.2%
Native Hawaiian / Pacific Islander alone 1,472 0.2%
Some other race alone 162,739 17.9%
Two or more races 194,073 21.3%
Hispanic or Latino (any race) 507,456 55.7%

U.S. Census ACS 2023

Age distribution

Median age 32.4

Under 18 262,550 28.8%
18–24 89,073 9.8%
25–44 258,783 28.4%
45–64 194,374 21.3%
65 and over 105,653 11.6%

U.S. Census ACS 2023

Economic context

Local economy

Unemployment (12-mo): 8.9%; +3.48 pp vs. state
County GDP: $63.1B; 1.56% of state
Avg. annual pay: $60,066
Establishments: 27,950

U.S. BLS 2026M02 · U.S. BEA 2024 · BLS QCEW 2024

Top employment sectors

Average annual employment by supersector

Education & health services 87,126 25.1%
Natural resources & mining 64,454 18.5%
Trade, transportation & utilities 62,806 18.1%
Leisure & hospitality 30,168 8.7%
Public administration 29,396 8.5%
Professional & business services 26,490 7.6%
Construction 15,984 4.6%
Manufacturing 13,261 3.8%
Other services 8,250 2.4%
Financial activities 7,873 2.3%
Information 1,838 0.5%
Unclassified 18 0.0%

BLS QCEW 2024

Housing

Home ownership: 59.8%
Median gross rent: $1,220
Owner-occupied: 168,321
Renter-occupied: 113,095

U.S. Census ACS 2023

Political composition

Presidential results

2024 presidential · 283,246 votes cast

Republican 167,879 59.3%
Democratic 108,241 38.2%
Other / third-party 7,126 2.5%

Election results 2024

Languages, households, faith & health

Languages spoken at home

54.8% speak only English at home

Spanish 335,599 39.7%
Other Indo-European 12,096 1.4%
Tagalog 10,599 1.3%
Other Asian/Pacific 6,738 0.8%
Arabic 5,060 0.6%
Chinese 3,305 0.4%
Vietnamese 2,297 0.3%
Korean 1,548 0.2%
Other 1,312 0.2%
Slavic languages 1,167 0.1%
German 1,148 0.1%
French (incl. Cajun) 847 0.1%

U.S. Census ACS 2023

Household composition

Households: 281,416
Family households: 207,458; 73.7% of households
Married w/ children: 137,870
Single-mother households: 26,905
Veterans: 32,696; 5.1% of civilians 18+

U.S. Census ACS 2023

Religious composition

45.6% overall adherence rate

Catholic 236,456 26.0%
Evangelical Protestant 118,957 13.1%
Other (non-Christian + minor traditions) 43,849 4.8%
Black Protestant 9,437 1.0%
Mainline Protestant 4,626 0.5%
Orthodox 940 0.1%

US Religion Census 2020

Health & education

Health insured: 92.2%
With a disability: 11.9%
Bachelor's or higher: 18.6%

U.S. Census ACS 2023

Court infrastructure

Trial court: Kern County Superior Court
Judges: 41 (Superior Court judges + commissioners; vintage 2026 courts.ca.gov per-court rosters and Judicial Council Court Statistics Report. Counts for the smallest rural counties (Alpine, Sierra, Mono, Modoc, Trinity, Mariposa, Colusa) are at or near the statutory authorized-judgeship floor per Cal. Gov. Code § 69590 et seq.)
Court seats: Bakersfield

Court reference

Traffic safety context

California statewide totals, 2023 — not county-specific

Traffic fatalities: 183; 28.25 per 100k drivers
Fatal crashes: 170

NHTSA FARS 2023