City in California, United States

Ridgecrest

$264kMedian Home
356Sunny Days/yr
79°FAvg High Temp
Loading Weather
View on MapPopulation29kElevation2,290 ft
Quick Read

Hot season is intense, with mostly dry year-round. The hottest stretch is likely to shape daily routines. The air stays fairly dry through the year. Air quality can be a watchout.

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. 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.Wikipedia

Intense hot seasonNo real winterDry year-round
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Where It Is

Location Context
Ridgecrest, California
Latitude35.62°
Longitude-117.67°
Population29k
Altitude2,290 ft

State Context

CaliforniaU.S. state

California is a state in the Western United States that lies on the Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares an international border with the Mexican state of Baja California to the south. With almost 40 million residents across an area of 163,696 square miles (423,970 km2), it is the largest state by population, third-largest state by area and the largest state economy in the U.S., with a GDP of approximately $4.3 trillion.Wikipedia

Income tax: 1.00% - 14.40%Avg sales tax: 8.85%Property tax: 0.69%Official school data available

About the Region

California

California contains multitudes in a way that makes any single characterization misleading. The Bay Area and Los Angeles operate as global city-states, with housing markets, income levels, and cultural gravity that put them in direct competition with London and Tokyo rather than with other American metros. Both have lost net domestic migrants to lower-cost states for most of the last decade — primarily to Texas, Arizona, and Nevada — though both also continue to be net draws for international migration and maintain labor markets of extraordinary depth and diversity.

But California's geography is vast. The Central Valley offers costs of living that rival the Midwest with driving distance to the Sierra Nevada; the North Coast is one of the most beautiful and least-crowded stretches of American coastline; and the smaller cities of the inland valleys represent genuinely different lifestyle profiles. For remote workers who can absorb the state income tax and housing cost, the combination of climate diversity, outdoor access, and cultural institution density remains difficult to replicate anywhere in the world.

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Nature Access

Nature & Park Feeds

Closest protected landscapes, reserves, and big park systems surfaced from the same nearby feeds used in compare.

Distances in miles
Federal park feed

National Parks

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OpenStreetMap feed

Local Nature & Reserves

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Sources: National Park Service and OpenStreetMap
03

City Profile

Median Age35 yrs
College Educated34%bachelor's or higher
Work From Home9%of workforce
Poverty Rate11%
04

Cost of Living

Housing
$1k/mo
Median rent
$264k
Median home price
Rent burden18% of income
Household Income
$86k
Median annual
05

Livability

Safety Score
62
School Rating
4.6/10
Internet
Fiber
20%
Cable
98%
address availability
06

Climate

Sunshine
356
sunny days per year
98% of the year
Avg High Temp
79°F
annual average
Humidity Pattern
Dry air
21% warm season / 44% cool season
Comfort Score
60/100
Good
Temp Swing
46°F
seasonal high-temp spread
Rainfall
6"
inches per year
Snowfall
0"
inches per year
Air Quality
43
Good AQI
How To Read Comfort

Comfort combines temperature band fit, humidity fit, seasonal swing, and penalties for long stretches of extreme heat or cold. Higher scores mean the yearly pattern stays closer to an easier day-to-day climate band.

Monthly Temperature
Daylight Span (Sunrise to Sunset)
Precipitation Distribution
6" of rain per year
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
Humidity Through The Year
Hover any month for the exact RH value. This is measuring monthly relative humidity, not dew point or current weather.
dry air much of the year
Summer 21% · Winter 44% · Jul-Jan 18-49%
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
Hover a month for exact RH and seasonal context.
08

Current Conditions

10

Local Next Steps

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11

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