Migration to and from Kern County, California
Where Kern County residents came from and where they went over the 5-year window 2016-2020. Census ACS County-to-County Migration Flows, 2020 5-yr (frozen vintage).
Total inflow
41,886
people moved in (5-yr)
Total outflow
36,598
people moved out (5-yr)
Net migration
+5,288
inflow minus outflow
Top 10 counties people moved IN from
| Origin | State / Region | People (5-yr) |
|---|---|---|
| Los Angeles County | California | 10,503 |
| Riverside County | California | 2,498 |
| Fresno County | California | 1,894 |
| San Bernardino County | California | 1,641 |
| Asia | 1,425 | |
| Central America | 1,352 | |
| Orange County | California | 1,237 |
| Imperial County | California | 1,127 |
| Tulare County | California | 1,030 |
| Ventura County | California | 937 |
Top 10 counties people moved OUT to
| Destination | State / Region | People (5-yr) |
|---|---|---|
| Los Angeles County | California | 5,058 |
| San Bernardino County | California | 2,445 |
| Kings County | California | 1,925 |
| Lassen County | California | 1,795 |
| Fresno County | California | 1,334 |
| Riverside County | California | 1,218 |
| Orange County | California | 896 |
| San Diego County | California | 873 |
| Maricopa County | Arizona | 792 |
| Tulare County | California | 757 |
Explore Kern County
- Business data for Kern CountyConstruction sector establishments, employment, payroll
- Cities in CaliforniaACS demographic profiles for places statewide
- ZIP code lookupSearch demographic data by ZIP code
- Opportunity IndexRank counties by business growth potential
- Federal contracts in CAGovBids: RFPs, awards, NAICS matching
- New business filings in CaliforniaNewFilings: fresh SOS registrations
Methodology
- Counts represent the number of people aged 1+ who reported a different residence at the survey reference date than they did one year earlier, aggregated across the 5-year sample window 2016-2020.
- Outbound (OUT) flows are reported less frequently than inbound (IN) because the survey captures the destination side of each move. Many county pairs have null OUT counts, which is normal.
- "Total inflow" sums the published MOVEDIN counts across all origin counties, including foreign-region inflows (Africa, Asia, Central America, etc.). It is not the same as net population change.
- Frozen vintage. The Census Bureau has not released a newer county-to-county migration flows file. The 2020 5-yr vintage (covering 2016-2020) is the latest available as of build date.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey, County-to-County Migration Flows: 2016-2020. Vintage: 2020 5-yr. Generated: 2026-05-28. FIPS: 06029.