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Kern County, California

Caregiver Jobs in Kern County, CA

From Bakersfield and Oildale to the farm towns along SR-99, the Tehachapi mountains and the high desert: one page on how paid in-home care is organised across Kern County, what it pays, and where to train.

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Finding caregiver jobs in Kern County

Kern County had 927,328 residents on 1 January 2026, and fewer than half of them live in Bakersfield. The rest are spread across a county larger than some states, in towns that sit 30 to 90 minutes apart by road, so a caregiver here chooses a territory rather than a city. The postings below are gathered from within 50 miles of Bakersfield; the town pages linked from this one narrow the view and add what is local, such as which Dial-A-Ride serves a town and where the senior lunch is served. The state projects home health and personal care aide jobs in the county to grow from 14,340 in 2023 to 19,940 in 2033, a 39.1% increase with 30,570 openings over the decade, while the county's oil-and-gas and mining employment contracts by 7.5%. Caregiving is where a good share of Kern's displaced energy and farm workers are heading.

The county divides into five working areas. The Bakersfield metro, including the unincorporated Oildale area north of the Kern River, has the three hospital systems, the county offices and Golden Empire Transit buses, so it is the one place a caregiver without a car can work. The northern valley towns of Delano, McFarland, Wasco and Shafter line SR-99 and SR-43, run on agriculture and two state prison complexes, and each has its own small city transit system that does not cross city limits. Taft and the west-side oilfields are a separate drive out of Bakersfield on SR-119. Tehachapi sits in the mountains to the east with a 25-bed critical access hospital. Ridgecrest, California City and Mojave are desert communities two hours from the county seat and are in practice a separate market, served by Cerro Coso Community College rather than Bakersfield College.

Build the profile once and let it serve the whole county. Put in the languages you actually use with a client: 40.1% of county residents speak Spanish at home, rising to 62.6% in Delano and 67.6% in Wasco, and Delano's Filipino community (11.9% of the city) means a Philippine language is an asset there. State plainly whether you drive and how far you will travel, because outside the metro every assignment involves a car. No caregivers have joined from Kern County yet, so the first profiles here will be seen by every family that posts.

Live postings

Open caregiver opportunities in Kern County

Real postings from families on CaregiverConnect, matched to Kern County by distance.

No open postings in Kern County right now

No family within 60 miles has an open posting today. Nearest current postings: Los Angeles, CA, about 105 miles away. A profile created now is visible to Kern County families as soon as they join, and they can send you a direct request.

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Cities and towns in Kern County

Caregiver jobs by city and town

Each page below has its own local research and shows live postings near that place. Towns without a page yet are covered by this hub.

Area by area

The communities of Kern County

Kern County is five markets, not one. Each place below has or will have its own page; the notes say what sets it apart for a caregiver.

  • Bakersfield (city, county seat)Four acute hospitals, the county offices on Truxtun Avenue, Bakersfield College and the GET bus network; 422,853 residents and the source of most postings.
  • Oildale (census-designated place)Unincorporated area north of the Kern River with an older, lower-income profile than the city; GET routes 22 and 45 connect it to Bakersfield.
  • Delano (city)Northern Kern's hospital town (Adventist Health Delano, 156 beds), with a city senior centre, an adult day health centre, two state prisons and the county's largest Filipino community.
  • Wasco (city)Farm town in the north-west of the valley with a 4,580-bed state prison reception centre; 87.4% Hispanic and the youngest age profile on this page.
  • Shafter (city)Logistics and farm town north-west of Bakersfield with a city Dial-A-Ride and Kern Transit routes 110 and 115.
  • McFarland (city)Small city between Delano and Wasco on SR-99; served by the Bakersfield College Delano Campus counselling line. No page yet; post or search from this county page.
  • Arvin (city)South valley farm town; Bakersfield College's South Kern services cover it.
  • Taft (city)West-side oil town with Taft College, reached from Bakersfield by SR-119.
  • Tehachapi (city)Mountain town with a 25-bed critical access hospital, a Cerro Coso campus and the Tehachapi adult day health centre.
  • Ridgecrest (city)Desert city and home of Cerro Coso's main campus and its CNA course; a separate market from Bakersfield. No page yet.
  • California City (city) and Mojave (census-designated place)Eastern desert communities; caregivers here work locally and rarely commute to the valley. No page yet.
  • Lake Isabella and the Kern River Valley (census-designated places)Cerro Coso's Kern River Valley campus at 6504 Lake Isabella Boulevard runs the CNA information line for the valley. No page yet.
Types of caregiver jobs

Types of caregiver jobs in Kern County

Countywide, families post daytime personal care and companionship for a parent, help after a discharge from Kern Medical, Memorial, Mercy or Adventist Health, respite for a working adult child, and dementia support. Farm and prison work schedules mean early-morning and evening cover is asked for in the northern towns. Companionship and household help are open to people without experience; personal care and dementia care go to those who can show they have done it.

  • Senior caregiving: day-to-day help so an older adult can stay at home.
  • Personal care: bathing, dressing, grooming, transfers.
  • Companion care: company, errands, appointments, light help.
  • Dementia care: routine-based support for memory loss.
  • Respite care: cover so a family caregiver can rest or work.
  • Live-in: room and board as part of the arrangement.
  • Overnight: supervision through the night.
  • Part-time and full-time: set by day and time block on your profile.
Pay

Caregiver pay in Kern County

Public figures first, then what they mean for private work. Statistics describe employed aides across the Bakersfield–Delano, CA metro (Kern County); private rates on CaregiverConnect are agreed between each caregiver and family and are not tracked by any agency.

MeasureHourlySource and coverage
Home health and personal care aides, Bakersfield–Delano, CA metro (Kern County)$16.50 median ($16.92 mean)BLS OEWS, May 2025; 17,270 jobs; concentration 1.84× national
IHSS provider wage, Kern County$17.90CDSS; effective July 1, 2026
California minimum wage$16.90effective January 1, 2026

Who is the employer. A family that hires you directly is your employer under California's Domestic Worker Bill of Rights. The state minimum wage ($16.90 an hour from 1 January 2026; some cities set more, for example $17.75 in the City of San Diego) is the legal floor, and a personal attendant earns overtime at 1.5× after 9 hours in a day or 45 in a week. The main exceptions are IHSS recipients and an employer's own parent, spouse or child. Source: California DIR, Domestic Worker Bill of Rights FAQ.

Kern County projection: 14,340 aide jobs in 2023 to 19,940 in 2033 (+39.1%), about 30,570 openings over the decade including replacements (California EDD, 2023–2033 projections). Openings are not the same as net new jobs.

The BLS metro area for these figures is the whole county, so the $16.50 median applies from Ridgecrest to Taft. Three numbers anchor pay here: the $16.90 state minimum wage, the $16.50 median for employed aides, and the $17.90 IHSS rate from July 2026, which puts the county programme above both. The 39.1% projected growth is the largest percentage increase of any county on this site, and it comes as EDD expects health care and social assistance to add about 9,350 jobs by 2033 while oil, gas and mining shed work. Private rates are agreed per family; driving distance is a bigger factor in Kern than anywhere else on this site, so caregivers covering the outer towns price mileage separately.

IHSS wages for every county we cover, with effective dates, are in the IHSS pay by county guide.

How the public numbers relate to private rates, and what affects them, is covered in the caregiver pay guide.

Rules

Caregiver requirements in California, applied to Kern County

State rules apply across the county. A caregiver hired directly by a family for non-medical help needs no licence; aides employed by a licensed agency must be on the Home Care Aide Registry, and independents may register voluntarily ($35, Live Scan). IHSS providers enrol through the Kern County IHSS Public Authority at 5357 Truxtun Avenue in Bakersfield, which handles the application, fingerprinting and the required in-person orientation for the whole county, including the desert and mountain towns. Nursing tasks and facility work need a CDPH Certified Nurse Assistant certificate; Bakersfield College trains CNAs in the metro and Cerro Coso runs the CNA course for the Ridgecrest and Kern River Valley side. Anyone paid to care for an older adult is a mandated reporter; Kern's 24-hour abuse line is (800) 277-7866. The requirements guide has the full picture.

Local resources

Training and career resources near Kern County

Countywide resources; the town pages list what is in each town.

  • Kern County IHSS Public Authority5357 Truxtun Avenue, Bakersfield, (661) 868-0987, ihssinfo@kerncounty.com. Provider enrolment, orientation and the registry for the whole county.
  • Kern County Aging and Adult Services5357 Truxtun Avenue, Bakersfield, (661) 868-1000. The Area Agency on Aging for Kern: Family Caregiver Services, senior meals, HICAP, Adult Protective Services and the Long-Term Care Ombudsman ((661) 323-7884).
  • Employers' Training Resource / America's Job Center of California1600 E. Belle Terrace, Bakersfield, (661) 325-4473. The county workforce agency: job-search help and funded training for people changing careers.
  • Bakersfield College, Nurse Assistant Training Program1801 Panorama Drive, Bakersfield, (661) 395-4011. Job skills certificate preparing for the California Nurse Assistant Competency Exam; a 40-hour Home Health Aide course (MEDS B68) for current CNAs.
  • Bakersfield College Delano Campus and rural servicesCounselling lines for Wasco and Shafter students (661) 758-7414, Delano and McFarland (661) 720-2000, Arvin and Lamont (661) 396-4992. Provides access to BC courses in the northern and southern valley towns.
  • Cerro Coso Community College, CNA course3000 College Heights Blvd, Ridgecrest, (760) 384-6100; CNA information Ridgecrest (760) 384-6219 and Lake Isabella (760) 384-6395; Tehachapi campus 126 S. Snyder Avenue, (661) 823-4986. CDPH-authorised course leading to the Nurse Assistant Competency Exam.
  • Taft College29 Cougar Court, Taft, (661) 763-7700. Medical assisting certificates and dental hygiene; the 2026–27 catalogue lists no nurse assistant programme, so west-side CNAs train in Bakersfield.
The area

Kern County in numbers

The county's 2026 population of 927,328 (Department of Finance) is 56.5% Hispanic or Latino, and 45.7% of residents speak a language other than English at home (ACS 2020–2024). Only 11.9% are 65 or older, one of the youngest age profiles among the counties on this site, but 27.5% of households include someone 65 or over, and the state expects the over-65 population to grow by about 38% between 2025 and 2040. Median household income is $70,210 and 19.1% of residents live below the poverty line; the ACS unemployment rate is 8.6%. The economy EDD describes is one of the five most productive agricultural counties in the country, one of the nation's leading petroleum producers, and increasingly a distribution hub, with 12.4% of workers in agriculture or mining and 22.7% in education, health care and social assistance.

Home health and personal care aides held 17,270 jobs in the Bakersfield–Delano metro in May 2025, 84% more concentrated than the national average. Hospitals are in Bakersfield (Kern Medical, 222 beds and the only Level II trauma centre; Memorial, 385 beds; Adventist Health Bakersfield, 253 beds; Mercy Hospital Downtown, 144 beds), Delano (Adventist Health Delano, 156 beds) and Tehachapi (25 beds). The county's adult day health centres are in Bakersfield, Delano and Tehachapi. Neighbouring pages: Tulare County to the north and Bakersfield for the metro in detail.

A younger woman and an older woman looking at a phone together on a park bench
A younger woman and an older woman looking at a phone together on a park bench. Stock photograph; not a CaregiverConnect user.
How it works

How to find caregiver work in Kern County on CaregiverConnect

CaregiverConnect is a marketplace, not an agency. Families post what they need, caregivers apply, and the two of you work out the arrangement directly.

Illustration of a caregiver and an older adult chatting on a sofa in a bright living room

  1. Tell us about your experience

    Years of experience, the care types you provide, any certifications. No licence is needed for non-medical care.

  2. Set your availability and rate

    Full-time, part-time or live-in; days and time blocks; hourly rate; travel radius; vehicle.

  3. Create your account

    Name, email, ZIP code, password. Your profile is live immediately for families in your radius.

  4. Browse, apply or respond

    Open postings plus a matched list. Apply, or answer a family's direct request; the family chooses who to hire. Applying to open postings and starting a new conversation are part of Caregiver Premium ($7.99/month, cancel anytime). Replying to a family who contacts you is always free.

  5. Agree on the details

    Message to settle schedule, duties and pay. CaregiverConnect takes no cut of what you earn.

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Widen your search

Caregiver jobs near Kern County

Families often post from neighbouring towns. Set your travel radius in your profile and you will appear in their searches too.

Guides

Useful reading before you apply

Sources (checked 2026-10-13):
  1. California Department of Finance, E-1 2026 and P-2B projections
  2. U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2020–2024 (DP02, DP03, DP05), Kern County and its places
  3. BLS OEWS May 2025, Bakersfield-Delano, CA (31-1120)
  4. California EDD, Kern County profile and 2023–2033 projections
  5. CDSS, IHSS wages by county
  6. California Department of Aging, Kern County services directory (PSA 33)
  7. Kern County IHSS Public Authority, Become a Provider
  8. Kern County Aging and Adult Services
  9. Employers' Training Resource, America's Job Center of California
  10. Bakersfield College, Nurse Assistant Training Program and Delano Campus
  11. Cerro Coso Community College, Allied Health and locations
  12. Taft College 2026–2027 catalogue, degrees and certificates
  13. Adventist Health Bakersfield, Delano and Tehachapi Valley
  14. Dignity Health Memorial Hospital and Mercy Hospital Downtown; Kern Medical
  15. Golden Empire Transit, routes and fares
Questions

Caregiver jobs in Kern County: frequently asked questions

Which Kern County towns have their own caregiver job page?

Bakersfield, Oildale, Delano, Shafter, Wasco, Arvin, Taft and Tehachapi are listed above. McFarland, Ridgecrest, California City, Mojave and the Kern River Valley do not have pages yet; search and post from this county page.

How wide should my travel radius be in Kern County?

In the metro, 15 to 20 miles covers Bakersfield and Oildale. From Delano, 20 miles reaches McFarland, Wasco and Shafter but not Bakersfield. Ridgecrest and Tehachapi caregivers should keep the radius local; the drive to the valley is too long for an hourly shift.

Where do I enrol as an IHSS provider if I live outside Bakersfield?

Enrolment for every town, including Ridgecrest and Tehachapi, runs through the Public Authority at 5357 Truxtun Avenue in Bakersfield; call (661) 868-0987 before travelling, because the orientation is in person and you need your original Social Security card and photo ID.

Is the $17.90 IHSS rate the same across the county?

Yes. IHSS wages are set per county, so a provider in Delano, Taft or Mojave is paid the same $17.90 an hour from July 2026 as one in Bakersfield, for the hours the county authorises.

Can I train as a CNA without moving to Bakersfield?

Cerro Coso runs the CNA course from Ridgecrest and the Kern River Valley and has a Tehachapi campus; Bakersfield College's Delano Campus gives the northern towns access to BC courses. Taft College does not list a nurse assistant programme.

What about the Tulare County side of the line?

Porterville and Tulare are closer to Delano than Bakersfield is, and Delano's DART buses connect to Tulare County transit. The Tulare County page covers that side; Tulare County's IHSS rate is $17.50.

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