Kernville, California
25 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1906 and the latest in 1986. It stands in the Lake Isabella census division. It lies in ZIP code area 93238. It lies near Noyer Canyon. The Survey maps it on the Kernville quadrangle. 1,549 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 2,667 feet above sea level.
Then and now
1906 to 1986The same ground, surveyed 80 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.


Compare 1906 against another survey:
Population over time
2 figuresKernville grew from 1,395 to 1,549 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 | 1,395 | |
| 2020 | 1,549 | +154 (+11%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
11 surveys from 25 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.
- 1906 USGS Kernville quadrangle1:125000
- 1908 USGS Kernville quadrangle1:125000, 6 printings
- 1948 USGS Bakersfield quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1955 USGS Bakersfield quadrangle1:250000
- 1956 USGS Bakersfield quadrangle1:250000
- 1956 USGS Kernville quadrangle1:62500, 3 printings
- 1960 USGS Bakersfield quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1962 USGS Bakersfield quadrangle1:250000, 4 printings
- 1966 USGS Bakersfield quadrangle1:250000
- 1978 USGS Isabella Lake quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
- 1986 USGS Kernville quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
Fires near this place
262 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 262 fires within 5 miles of Kernville between 1992 and 2020, burning about 30,745 acres in total. 19 started naturally. 10 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 | 113 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 30 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 25 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 24 |
| Debris and open burning | 21 |
| Natural | 19 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 10 |
| Smoking | 9 |
| Fireworks | 5 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 5 |
| Other causes | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 September 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Sequoia National Forest | FALLING WATERS |
| 9 September 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Sequoia National Forest | HUT |
| 9 September 2000 | Smoking | under an acre | Sequoia National Forest | POWER |
| 8 September 2009 | Misuse of fire by a minor | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
| 7 September 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Kern County Fire Department | not named |
| 7 September 1996 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 8.0 acres | Sequoia National Forest | TERRACE |
| 5 September 1993 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Sequoia National Forest | HALFWAY |
| 3 September 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Kern County Fire Department | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
10 of 36 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 36 workings within 5 miles of Kernville: 16 past producers, 8 occurrences, 5 prospects, 4 unknowns. 3 still produce. What was taken out: Tungsten, Gold, Bismuth, Silver, Gold. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Big Blue Group | Gold, Silver, Copper, Lead | Producer | ||
| Big Blue Group | Gold, Silver, Lead, Copper | Past Producer | ||
| Big Blue Mine | Tungsten, Gold | Producer | Gold, Scheelite | |
| Cove | Silver, Gold | Past Producer | 1860 | |
| Kern Mines | Gold, Bismuth | Occurrence | ||
| Kern Rock Co. Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Los Tres Burros No. 1 | Uranium | Unknown | ||
| Onyx # 1 & 2 | Gemstone | Prospect | ||
| Thunderbird Millsite | Gold, Copper, Silver | Prospect | ||
| Tip-Top Lead-Zinc Property | Lead, Zinc | Prospect |
Storms near this place
10 since 1997Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Kernville in 10 storm reports between 1997 and 2023: 7 flood, 2 debris flow, 1 hail. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| September 2011 | Flood | Kernville | $25,000 | Highway Patrol reported street flooding in Kernville. |
| January 2023 | Flood | Kernville | - | Public report of multiple rocks in the roadway at the intersection of Kern River Dr. and Burlando Rd. in Kernville. |
| January 2023 | Flood | Kernville | - | California Highway Patrol reported a rockslide with golfball to football sized boulders near Kernville Rd. and Kern River Dr. |
| January 2023 | Flood | Kernville | - | Public report of large amount of rocks on the roadway at the intersection of Burlando Rd. and Kern River Dr. |
| March 2023 | Flood | Kernville | - | Social media report of flooding of the Kern River in Kernville. |
| March 2023 | Flood | Kernville | - | Social media report showing Riverside Park in Kernville flooded. |
| January 2019 | Debris Flow | Kernville | - | California Highway Patrol reported mud, dirt and rocks effecting Burlando Road and Kern River Dr. in Kernville. |
| March 2019 | Debris Flow | Kernville | - | California Highway Patrol reported a rock slide in the area of Burlando Rd. and Kernville Rd. in Kernville. |
| January 2017 | Flood | Kernville | - | Broadcast Media reported through twitter a picture of Kern River Overflowing near Kernville. |
| September 1997 | Hail | Kernville | - | No damage reported and hail size estimated due to WSR-88D algorithms and public reports of coverage area. |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Camp Owens | 1.0 miles | 25 | |
| Riverkern | 2.7 miles | 25 | |
| Kernville (historical) | 2.9 miles | 28 | |
| Wofford Heights | 3.7 miles | 28 | |
| Alta Sierra | 6.8 miles | 25 | |
| Isabella (historical) | 7.1 miles | 28 | |
| Shirley Meadows | 7.6 miles | 25 | |
| Mountain Mesa | 8.0 miles | 28 |
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 Kernville | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q3028509 | 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 1660834. 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.










