Ford City, California
24 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1910 and the latest in 1981. It stands in the West Kern census division. It lies in ZIP code area 93268. The Survey maps it on the Taft quadrangle. 4,348 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 892 feet above sea level.
Then and now
1910 to 1981The same ground, surveyed 71 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.


On record in Ford City
Buildings and businesses the archive holds for this place. Each opens its own page, with the source record it came from.
On the National Register within a mile 1 record
The National Register names another town for these. They stand within one mile of this settlement's coordinate.
Fort, Thelisted 1981 · 0.6 miles away
Population over time
2 figuresFord City grew from 4,278 to 4,348 between 2010 and 2020. These are the recorded population figures Wikidata holds for this place, reached through the Geographic Names Information System number this page is keyed on rather than by name, so they belong to this place and not to another of the same name. Most are census counts, but not all are: an early figure may be a founding or settlement estimate, and an estimate published within five years of a census is left out. The change column is computed, and is left blank where more than 20 years separate a figure from the one before it, because a gap that long is not a change between two counts.
| Year | People | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 4,278 | |
| 2020 | 4,348 | +70 (+2%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
11 surveys from 24 printed sheetsMatched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.
- 1910 USGS Buena Vista Lake quadrangle1:125000
- 1912 USGS Buena Vista Lake quadrangle1:125000, 4 printings
- 1948 USGS Bakersfield quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1950 USGS Taft quadrangle1:24000, 5 printings
- 1951 USGS Taft quadrangle1:24000
- 1955 USGS Bakersfield quadrangle1:250000
- 1956 USGS Bakersfield quadrangle1:250000
- 1960 USGS Bakersfield quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1962 USGS Bakersfield quadrangle1:250000, 4 printings
- 1966 USGS Bakersfield quadrangle1:250000
- 1981 USGS Taft quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
Fires near this place
409 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 409 fires within 5 miles of Ford City between 1992 and 2020, burning about 11,796 acres in total. 13 started naturally. 27 were recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Reported cause | Fires |
|---|---|
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 185 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 77 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 60 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 32 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 27 |
| Natural | 13 |
| Debris and open burning | 7 |
| Smoking | 5 |
| Fireworks | 1 |
| Firearms and explosives use | 1 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 1 |
The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.
| Date | Cause | Size | Reported by | Name on the report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 September 1999 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | under an acre | Central California District | UNNAMED FIRE 0617 |
| 7 September 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Kern County Fire Department | ELK HILLS |
| 7 September 1998 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 15 acres | Central California District | UNNAMED FIRE 0546 |
| 6 September 2017 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 10 acres | Central California District | HILL |
| 6 September 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
| 4 September 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3.0 acres | Central California District | UNNAMED FIRE 0314 |
| 4 September 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Central California District | UNNAMED FIRE 0788 |
| 4 September 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Central California District | UNNAMED FIRE 0651 |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
10 of 14 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 14 workings within 5 miles of Ford City: 9 past producers, 3 producers, 1 occurrence, 1 prospect. 3 still produce. What was taken out: Uranium, Sand and Gravel, Construction, Stone, Crushed/Broken, Fullers Earth. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Where | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Taft Pit | Silica | Past Producer | ||
| Elkhorn Pit and Mill | Clay | Past Producer | Sedimentary | |
| Elkhorn Pit and Mill | Clay | Producer | ||
| Excel Mill | Fullers Earth | Producer | ||
| Excel Pit | Fullers Earth | Producer | ||
| Fellows Quarry No. 2 | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer | ||
| Taft Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer | ||
| Morton Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Standard Oil Co. Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Taft Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer |
Storms near this place
9 since 2007Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Ford City in 9 storm reports between 2007 and 2026: 5 flood, 2 hail, 1 flash flood, 1 heavy rain. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| October 2010 | Flash Flood | Ford City | $100,000 | Sandy Creek flooded and caused a debris flow into the Taft Hills Shopping Plaza. Several businesses were inundated with water, rocks and mud and had to shut down for several hours. |
| October 2010 | Flood | Ford City | $10,000 | CHP reports water over the road at CA Highway 33 and Midway Road in Fellows. |
| October 2010 | Flood | Ford City | $5,000 | Heavy rainfall from thunderstorms caused street flooding in the town of Taft. |
| January 2026 | Flood | Ford City | - | CHP reported flooding at Birch St and Harrison St in Taft. |
| December 2025 | Flood | Ford City | - | CHP reports flooding up to 5 inches at Birch St and Harrison St. |
| December 2019 | Flood | Ford City | - | California Highway Patrol reported approximately a foot of water across Monroe St. and onto the sidewalk near the intersection of Cedar St. in Taft. |
| May 2016 | Heavy Rain | Ford City | - | California Highway Patrol reported water on roads at intersection of Cypress Street and Orange Street in Valley Acres at 1514 PST. |
| June 2015 | Hail | Ford City | - | A trained spotter reported one inch hail just to the north of Ford City at 1715 PDT. Also, received a report via Facebook after the event showing the one inch hail. |
| October 2007 | Hail | Ford City | - | A trained spotter reported penny sized hail. |
Nearest settlements
The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.
| Map | Place | Distance | Sheets |
|---|---|---|---|
| Taft | 0.8 miles | 24 | |
| Wallace Center | 1.2 miles | 24 | |
| South Taft | 1.4 miles | 24 | |
| Taft Heights | 1.6 miles | 24 | |
| Spellacy | 3.0 miles | 23 | |
| Midoil | 3.5 miles | 23 | |
| Warren (historical) | 3.8 miles | 23 | |
| Valley Acres | 4.4 miles | 24 |
Elsewhere
Matched on this settlement's Geographic Names Information System number rather than its name, so it cannot be a different place of the same name in another state.
| Wikipedia article on Ford City | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q3295940 | The structured record the population and elevation above come from. Public domain (CC0). |
Provenance
This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 1660645. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.










