Wasco, California.
Typical home $312,584 (-1.0% in a year), asking rent $1,800 . Bakersfield, CA metro.
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$895 (+120%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Down $3,124 -1%
- $315,708$312,584 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Up $65,637 +27%
- $246,947$312,584 since Sep 2021
Monthly payment to buy the typical home
Home value × that month's 30-year mortgage rate, 20% down, principal and interest. This is the line households feel: prices and rates compound each other.
- Wasco$1,641
- California$3,997
- United States$1,922
At the last five years' pace, a typical home here doubles in price every 15 years.
Typical home values in Wasco, CA fell 1.0% over the past year — slower than the nation's +1.2%.
Living in Wasco, Kern County, California
Wasco is a city of 27,047 people in Kern County. Half its households earn more than $51,727 a year and half less, against $70,210 across Kern County; 18% of its people live below the poverty line. 58% of its homes are lived in by their owners and 42% are rented. Unemployment in Wasco was 11.3% in August 2026, and Kern County had 0.2% fewer jobs in 2025 than the year before. The most residents work in farming, then schools and health care.
Written by AI Claude Sonnet 5.5 wrote this on 23 October 2026 from the figures here, a list of nearby places and what it knows. It can be wrong or out of date.
What it’s like
The place. Wasco is a city in Kern County with a young population, younger than is typical across much of the country. Household incomes run below the county's, and more people live below the poverty line than most would expect to find. Most homes are lived in by their owners, and few adults hold a four-year degree. Winters are mild and cool, with chilly days and nights that stay just above freezing, while summers are very hot, with July afternoons at the hot end of what most of the country sees. Rain is scarce and snow is almost unknown.
Work. Farming is a major part of local life, and many residents work in fields, packing and related jobs, alongside others in schools, hospitals, shops, restaurants and hotels. Among the largest workplaces in Wasco are the Wasco Union School District, R.M.T. Contracting, a farm labor contractor, and Walmart. Unemployment in town is high and a little lower than a year ago, and jobs across Kern County have dipped slightly. Most people have a short drive to work, and very few work from home.
Things to do. A short drive away, the Kern River Slough offers a quiet stretch of waterway. Farther afield, Kern National Wildlife Refuge protects wetland habitat, and Colonel Allensworth State Historic Park preserves a piece of California history. The Kern River itself is a longer drive away for time by the water.
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- 6,342households
- 6%of adults have a degree
- 18%below the poverty line
- 23 mintypical commute
- 3%work from home
What residents work in
Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. Kern County had 347,044 jobs in 2025, 0.2% fewer than the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Weather through the year
Coldest in January, with highs near 58° and lows near 39°; warmest in July, with highs near 100° and lows near 69°. About 7 inches of rain a year, and little or no snow.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Wasco weather station, under a mile away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in Wasco
- Wasco Union School DistrictBus operation, school and employee735
- R.M.T. ContractingFarm labor contractors583
- Wasco Union Elementary SchoolsSchool district486FTE
- WalmartWarehouse clubs and supercenters305
- Tinajero AgFarm labor contractors211
- Wasco Union High SchoolsSchool district188FTE
- Rose & a FLCFarm labor contractors155
- R&L ContractingFarm labor contractors60
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 12 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 2,244 people in all. School districts come from the Common Core of Data (NCES, 2023–24); FTE marks full-time equivalent staff. Not listed: many offices and banks, which need not report to OSHA; military bases, whose staff OPM withholds; and, in about half the states, city and county governments.
Natural hazards
- Heat wavesRelatively high
- Earthquakesrelatively high in parts of WascoRelatively moderate
FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms in Wasco’s census tracts, against the rest of the country; all of them together, relatively low. It is meant for planning, not a substitute for a local risk assessment or a flood map: FEMA’s index.
From the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2020 census and its American Community Survey (2020–2024 five-year estimates), and the Bureau of Labor Statistics. A survey, so each figure has a margin of error, and figures it is not sure of are left out. More on Kern County and the Bakersfield, CA metro.
Wasco home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Wasco$312,584
- California$761,538
- United States$366,157
Levy by levy, and a check of one home’s own bill, the site covers Ohio’s property tax.
Sellers are cutting prices on about 1 in 4 Wasco listings — the market is roughly in balance.
When this market ran hot
Each cell is that month's year-on-year home-value growth. Read left to right, top row is the latest year — the 2021–22 band is the boom.
Market heat, inside the city limits
Share of listings with a price cut
The early-warning dial: sellers cut when buyers stop reaching. Rising cuts cool a market months before prices notice.
- Wasco22.41%
- United States26.90%
Homes for sale
Active for-sale inventory. More supply hands power to buyers.
- Wasco28
New listings per month
Sellers arriving at the market.
- Wasco8
Zip codes with a Wasco address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Wasco — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.