Taft, 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. 8,546 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 955 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 Taft
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 1 record
Fort, Thelisted 1981
Population over time
2 figuresTaft fell from 9,327 to 8,546 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 | 9,327 | |
| 2020 | 8,546 | -781 (-8%) |
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
398 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 398 fires within 5 miles of Taft between 1992 and 2020, burning about 2,141 acres in total. 13 started naturally. 21 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 | 184 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 77 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 58 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 31 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 21 |
| Natural | 13 |
| Debris and open burning | 6 |
| 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 Taft: 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 1997Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Taft in 9 storm reports between 1997 and 2019: 4 flood, 1 wildfire, 1 lightning, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| December 2010 | Flood | Taft | $1,000,000 | Heavy rain caused widespread urban and poor drainage flooding on the morning of the 29th across much of the San Joaquin Valley. Especially hard hit were the metro areas of Fresno, Visalia, and Bakersfield, and the adjacent foothills. |
| July 2003 | Lightning | Taft | $50,000 | Numerous power pole and grass fires were touched off by lightning strikes in the Southwest San Joaquin Valley from Taft northward to Fellows during the wee hours of the morning of the 30th. Over 8000 utility customers lost power during the thunderstorm/lightning episode in the Kern County area, including 4000 customers on the West Side of the South Valley. |
| January 2010 | Flood | Taft | $35,000 | CHP reported flooding of Herring Rd exit on Hwy 99 and flooding of Hwy 33 From Hwy 46 to Lerdo Hwy. |
| May 1998 | Flood | Taft | $20,000 | An evening deluge brought substantial sheet flow through the City of Taft resulting in basement flooding of one home and other minor flooding problems. |
| March 2015 | Heavy Rain | Taft | $10,000 | Rainfall of 0.49 inches fell at the APRS station in Taft. The rain contributed to the development of a sinkhole that was 200 feet long, 1 to 2 feet wide, and 1 to 4 feet deep. Five homes were evacuated as a precaution, but no damage was reported to any buildings or utilities. |
| March 2019 | Debris Flow | Taft | - | California Highway Patrol reported a large amount of water and mud across the roadway on Western Minerals Rd. near Hazelton. |
| June 2015 | Flash Flood | Taft | - | Approximately 1.5 inches of rainfall fell over the cities of Taft and Maricopa in 30 minutes or so. This resulted in some flooding of an apartment complex in the city of Taft as well as a vehicles being stranded on flooded roadways. Also, SR 166 was closed around 7 PM due to flooding. |
| February 2007 | Flood | Taft | - | Heavy rain occurred in the town of Taft, where 1.71 inches of rain was measured by both the Taft cooperative observer and a mesonet station near Tehachapi. |
| May 1997 | Wildfire | Taft | - | no account filed |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| South Taft | 0.5 miles | 24 | |
| Ford City | 0.8 miles | 24 | |
| Taft Heights | 1.0 miles | 24 | |
| Wallace Center | 1.9 miles | 24 | |
| Spellacy | 2.2 miles | 23 | |
| Midoil | 3.7 miles | 23 | |
| Warren (historical) | 4.1 miles | 23 | |
| Valley Acres | 5.1 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 Taft | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q983611 | 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 1661543. 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.










