Bodfish, California

Bodfish is a census-designated place (CDP) in the southern Kern River Valley of the Southern Sierra Nevada, in Kern County, California, United States.

Bodfish
census-designated place
View of Bodfish from Caliente-Bodfish Road in the hills west of town
Location in Kern County and the state of California
Bodfish Location in the United States
Coordinates: 35°35′17″N 118°29′31″W
Country	United States
State	California
County	Kern
Government
• State senator	Shannon Grove (R)[1]
• Assemblymember	Stan Ellis (R)[1]
• U. S. rep.	Vince Fong (R)[2]
Area [3]
• Total	8.23 sq mi (21.31 km2)
• Land	8.21 sq mi (21.27 km2)
• Water	0.01 sq mi (0.03 km2)  0.15%
Elevation [4]	2,687 ft (819 m)
Population  (2020)
• Total	2,008
• Density	244.46/sq mi (94.39/km2)
Time zone	UTC-8 (PST)
• Summer (DST)	UTC-7 (PDT)
ZIP code	93205
Area codes	442/760
FIPS code	06-07274
GNIS feature ID	1660353
U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Bodfish, California

Bodfish is located 32 miles (51 km) east-northeast of Bakersfield,^[5] at an elevation of 2,687 feet (819 m).^[4]

The population was 2,008 at the 2020 census, up from 1,956 at the 2010 census.

History

Guide sign along Lake Isabella Boulevard at the east extent of Bodfish

The place was named for George Homer Bodfish, who settled nearby in 1867.^[5]

The Bodfish post office first opened in 1892, closed in 1895, and re-opened in 1906.^[5] The Vaughn post office was moved to Bodfish in 1906.^[5]

Demographics

Historical population

Census	Pop.	Note	%±
1980	1,379		—
1990	1,283		−7.0%
2000	1,823		42.1%
2010	1,956		7.3%
2020	2,008		2.7%
U.S. Decennial Census[6] 1850–1870[7][8] 1880-1890[9] 1900[10] 1910[11] 1920[12] 1930[13] 1940[14] 1950[15] 1960[16] 1970[17] 1980[18] 1990[19] 2000[20] 2010[21]

The 2020 United States census reported that Bodfish had a population of 2,008. The population density was 244.5 inhabitants per square mile (94.4/km²). The racial makeup of Bodfish was 83.8% White, 1.0% African American, 2.2% Native American, 0.9% Asian, 0.1% Pacific Islander, 3.8% from other races, and 8.2% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 10.6% of the population.

The whole population lived in households. There were 958 households, out of which 15.4% included children under the age of 18, 34.4% were married-couple households, 8.9% were cohabiting couple households, 27.9% had a female householder with no partner present, and 28.8% had a male householder with no partner present. 37.7% of households were one person, and 19.0% were one person aged 65 or older. The average household size was 2.10. There were 511 families (53.3% of all households).

The age distribution was 14.7% under the age of 18, 6.1% aged 18 to 24, 17.2% aged 25 to 44, 33.0% aged 45 to 64, and 29.0% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 55.4 years. For every 100 females, there were 111.8 males.

There were 1,215 housing units at an average density of 147.9 units per square mile (57.1 units/km²), of which 958 (78.8%) were occupied. Of these, 72.5% were owner-occupied, and 27.5% were occupied by renters.^[22][23]

In 2023, the US Census Bureau estimated that the median household income was $33,295, and the per capita income was $16,165. About 42.4% of families and 54.8% of the population were below the poverty line.^[24]