Its northernmost city is Delano, and its southern reach extends to just beyond Frazier Park, and the northern extremity of the parallel Antelope Valley.

[7] Native Americans lived in this region for hundreds of years: Chumash, tribes grouped together under the settler name Yokuts, and others.

Entering from Grapevine Canyon to the south in 1772, Commander Don Pedro Fages became the first European known to set foot in the area.

The surviving Native Americans were pacified and brought back to Santa Barbara in June 1824 after a pursuit and negotiation, in which many were allowed to keep their arms for the return march over the mountains.

[10] Settlers considered the flat land of the valley inhospitable and impassable at the time due to swamps, lakes, tule reeds, and diseases such as malaria.

This changed when residents started draining land for farming and constructing canals, most dug by hired Chinese laborers.

The Kern River was originally named Rio Bravo de San Felipe by Father Francisco Garcés when he explored the area in 1776.

Tehachapi suffered the greatest damage and loss of life from the earthquake, though its effects were widely felt throughout central and southern California.

Repercussions of the sequence of earthquakes were still being felt in the heavily damaged downtown area of Bakersfield well into the 1990s, as city leaders attempted to improve safety of the surviving unreinforced masonry buildings.

Following the event, a field survey was conducted along the fault zone, with the goal of estimating the peak ground acceleration of the shock based on visually evaluating rock formations and other indicators.

Ground disturbances that were created by the earthquakes were also surveyed, both in the valley and in the foothills, with both vertical and horizontal displacements present in the epicenter area.

Between 1983 and 1986, several ritual sex ring child-abuse cases occurred in Kern County, resulting in numerous long prison sentences, all of which were overturned—some of them decades later, because the prosecutors had coerced false testimonies from the purported child victims.

[12] The details of these false accusations are covered extensively in the 2008 documentary Witch Hunt, narrated by Sean Penn.

[18] California buckeye is a notable tree found in both chaparral and forests and whose southern range terminates in Kern County.

Hispanics or Latinos of any race were 413,033 persons (49.2%); 43.4% of Kern County residents are of Mexican heritage, 1.0% Salvadoran, 0.5% Colombian, and 0.4% Guatemalan.

About 38.4% of the population were Hispanics or Latinos of any race; 8.4% were of German, 7.2% American, and 5.7% Irish ancestry, according to the census, and 66.8% spoke English, 29.1% Spanish, and 1.0% Tagalog as their first language.

[43] The United States Office of Management and Budget has designated Kern County as the Bakersfield, CA metropolitan statistical area.

Kern remains the only county in Southern California that consistently votes Republican in recent elections.

Some constituencies in Kern County in particular some of the most widely contested in California, and the United States as of the early 2020s,[49][50] with the 2022 race for the 22nd US House district being close, and the 26th Senate District having one of the tightest margins in electoral history, with incumbent Democrat Melissa Hurtado retaining her seat by 13 votes.

[51] Democratic strength is concentrated in the small agricultural towns in the San Joaquin Valley portion of the county, such as Arvin, Delano, McFarland, Shafter, and Wasco.

Along with the northern parts of Bakersfield, the wealthy unincorporated area of Rosedale and working-class Oildale are also seen as being strongly Republican.

[54] On November 4, 2008, Kern County voted 75.29% in favor of Proposition 8, which amended the California Constitution to ban same-sex marriages.

KCFD provides fire protection services for over 500,000 citizens living in the unincorporated areas of Kern County and the cities of Arvin, Delano, Maricopa, McFarland, Ridgecrest, Shafter, Taft, Tehachapi and Wasco.

In 2009, the district attorney claimed "the highest per capita prison commitment rate of any major California county."

[57] In 2015, it was revealed that the Kern County Sheriff's office engaged in a longstanding program of attempted cash payoffs to women who had accused deputies of sexual assault.

In the same year, a civil lawsuit filed by a survivor of a sexual assault committed by Kern County Sheriff's deputy Gabriel Lopez was settled for $1 million.

[72] The Michailides & Avenot group finds severe boscalid resistance in isolates of Alternaria alternata pathogenic on pistachio here.

BNET, an industry web publication, said the find would add to the company's 708 million barrels of proven reserves in California.

Hunting, paintball, white-water rafting, kayaking (Kern River), snow skiing (Shirley Meadows and Mount Pinos), shooting ranges (5 Dogs Range), hiking, biking (trails, paths, and roads), camping and fishing are also part of the recreational culture.

[84] † county seat School districts include:[85] Unified: Secondary: Elementary: The 2015 Disney film McFarland, USA, starring Kevin Costner, is based on the cross-country team in the city of McFarland, California, which is located in northern Kern County.