Karen Goh (Republican) has been Mayor of Bakersfield since 3 Jan 2017. In Aug 2026 the unemployment rate was 6.9% of the labour force, unchanged from when Karen Goh took office in January 2017; California's moved −0.3 percentage points over the same months. Bakersfield ranks 19th of 71 cities on population growth; on the fall in violent crime it is 91st of 106. Over the same months California's real GDP per person rose 2.8% a year; Bakersfield's rose 1.2%; the gap was widest in 2022, −1.4% against +19.7%. Over Harvey Hall's tenure, 2001 to 2017, the unemployment rate moved +1.0 percentage point. Homelessness is 63.9 people per 10,000 (2024), 43 per 10,000 above its level at day zero.

The president, governors and mayors of the United States

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