The commercial zone of gas, food and lodging businesses is at Kettleman Junction, where Interstate 5 and State Route 41 meet.

The residential area together with some retail businesses and county government buildings is located about 1.2 mi (1.9 km) north on State Route 41.

[citation needed][6] Kettleman City has a semi-arid climate (Köppen: BSk/BSh) typical of that of the San Joaquin Valley, with hot, dry summers and cool winters characterized by dense tule fog.

[6] The Kettleman Hills were named after Dave Kettelman (with a change in spelling), a pioneer sheep-raiser and cattleman who grazed his animals there in the 1860s.

[citation needed] As the Tulare Lake receded in the late 1920s, this stretch between the two cities became State Route 41.

[11] The early 1970s saw two substantial projects that had significant impacts on the community: the completion of the California Aqueduct and the opening of Interstate 5.

Kings Area Regional Transit's (KART) Hanford-Avenal route serves Kettleman City.

The junction of Interstate 5 and State Route 41 is surrounded by commercial development that primarily serves through travelers on the highways.

[19] Many local residents are employed in agriculture, which experienced significant growth on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley after the completion of the California Aqueduct in the early 1970s.

However, the community has been impacted by the 2008–2012 global recession as well as drought and restrictions on pumping from the Sacramento River delta to protect endangered species.

The water contains naturally occurring arsenic in excess of the maximum contaminant level adopted by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

In a public notice issued to residents on January 29, 2010, the District reported that the average arsenic concentration from these wells during the 4th Quarter of 2009 ranged from 12.7 to 16.1 micrograms per liter.

For several years, the Kings County government has been working with the District to secure funding to construct a water treatment plant that would be supplied by the California Aqueduct.

In 2007 and 2008, the environmental justice organization Greenaction announced that it had discovered a cluster of birth defects and infant deaths in Kettleman City.

Greenaction contends that these health issues are linked to toxic chemical releases from several pollution sources in the area, including the Kettleman Hills Hazardous Waste Facility.

When the facility requested permission to expand its landfill by 14 acres, the low-income, largely Latino community of 1,500 residents took a stand against the expansion, fearing that the introduction of more PCB waste could increase the incidence of infant maladies.

It also contends that there has been no established link between the facility and the defects, and that it is a large economic factor and employer in the community of Kettleman City as well as Kings County.

[22] On July 2, 2013, the California Department of Toxic Substances Control released a draft decision on a permit modification that would allow Waste Management.

[23] On May 21, 2014, that agency issued a final permit approving the company's planned expansion to allow an additional 5.2 million metric tons of capacity.

Bradley Angel of Greenaction was quoted as saying that his group would continue to challenge the permit with a lawsuit and by filing administrative civil rights complaints in the courts.