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Bakersfield, 
United States
503,676 people lived in Bakersfield in 2025. It is the 1098th largest of the world's 12,138 cities, and the 37th largest in the United States.
That figure counts the whole built-up area, not the area Bakersfield governs, so it may be far from the number the city publishes about itself. How the UN measures a city.
Verified 2026-09-30 · 73 canaries
People · every five years · 1975 to 2050
How Bakersfield grew
Where Bakersfield had 10 people in 1995, it had 37.4 in 2025.
On the UN's projection it will have 522,651 people in 2050. It passed 250,000 people between 2000 and 2005. The UN first counts it as a city in 1995, when it passed 50,000 people.
projected (after 2025) · how sure the UN is: high moderate low
How to read this: one column every five years, 1975 to 2050; its height is the number of people. Hatched columns are the UN's projection. The thin strip beneath says how sure the UN is of each figure: the stronger the colour, the surer. A blank means the place was not on the UN's list of cities that year.
People · your family's years · 1975 to 2050
Bakersfield through your family’s years
Put in the years your family were born. You’ll see how many people lived in Bakersfield in each of those years, and when each of them turned 30.
United States · every city · 2025
Where it is
How to read this: the United States and its 348 cities in 2025, each a dot whose area is its number of people (the largest is New York City). Bakersfield is ringed, in colour; the other cities are grey. Neighbouring countries are outlines.
Area and built-up land · km²
How much land it covers
In 2025, Bakersfield covered 199 km², and buildings, roads and other built-up land covered 63 km² of it. That is 126 m² of built-up land for each person, about a square 11 by 11 metres. Since 1995, its built-up land has grown to 2.8 times its size, and its people are 3.7 times as many.
How to read this: each pale square is the city's whole area, the strong square inside it the part that is built on; one scale for all three, so a bigger square is more land. Hatched is the UN's projection.
Of every 100 people in the United States
Its share of the United States
Of every 1,000 people in the United States in 2025, 1 lived in Bakersfield, which is 503,676 people.
How to read this: shrink the United States to 1,000 people and this is what you get. The coloured squares are the ones who would live in Bakersfield; the grey ones are everybody else, in other cities, in towns and out in the country.
Ranked by people · 2025
Cities of a similar size
In the world, 2025
- 1094 Kohat Pakistan506,145
- 1095 Belkuchi Bangladesh505,615
- 1096 Jingjiang China505,098
- 1097 Mansehra Pakistan503,920
- 1098 Bakersfield503,676
- 1099 Nha Trang Vietnam503,051
- 1100 Anqing China503,036
- 1101 Oaxaca de Juárez Mexico502,534
- 1102 Barnaul Russia502,491
In the United States, 2025
- 965 Norfolk567,473
- 994 Tampa551,988
- 1015 Salt Lake City542,449
- 1022 Honolulu540,683
- 1098 Bakersfield503,676
- 1136 Provo488,429
- 1165 Orlando477,249
- 1202 West Valley City463,325
- 1212 Atlanta458,225
How to read this: the figure in front of a name is where that city stands among the 12,138 cities the UN counted in 2025, and each bar is its people, on one scale per list. Numbers are missing where a city has fewer than 300,000 people and so has no page of its own.
Apparatus
Sources and method
The figures for Bakersfield are the UN's own, at five-year steps: an estimate for each of 1995 to 2025, then projection to 2050. Projected years are drawn hatched, and the UN publishes no range of uncertainty for a city. What a city means here, how the UN measures one, and why that number can differ from the one Bakersfield publishes about itself: how the figures here are put together.
Sources: UN WUP 2025 · Natural Earth · flag-icons. Every source, its licence and how to cite it →
Verified 2026-09-30 · 73 canaries