Kern County, CA: Foreclosures, Tax Liens & Distressed Properties

Kern County, CA, California: 53 ZIP codes scored, Kern County, CA averaging 30/100 (moderate, Kern, CA), from 22 to 32. Kern County, CA is in its contraction phase (Kern, CA confidence 36/100): Kern, CA home prices down 0.9% (Kern, CA) over twelve months. Kern County, CA lender headwind: 44/100.

Highest-scoring Kern County, CA ZIPs: 93225 (32/100), 93252 (32/100), 93516 (32/100), 93536 (32/100), 93203 (30/100), 93205 (30/100). Also scored in Kern County, CA: 93206, 93220, 93222, 93224, 93226, 93240, 93241, 93249, 93250, 93251.

Across Kern County, CA's scored ZIPs: median home value $300,159, household income $73,130, 17.8% vacancy, 19.6% poverty, 65% owner-occupied, median age 39.6.

Kern County, CA insurance distress 65/100 (#788 in the US); FEMA hazard 63/100 for Kern, CA; 3 federal disaster declarations in Kern County, CA since 2023; 8 Kern, CA NFIP flood claims, $34K paid; Kern, CA construction distress 50/100.

15 banks with 70 branches lend in Kern County, CA; Kern, CA weighted bank stress 63/100, highest 87/100 in Kern, CA.

Kern County, CA unemployment 8.4% (Kern, CA -1.1 pts, six months); 2,949 new housing units permitted in Kern County, CA over twelve months, Kern, CA down 1% from 2,972; Kern, CA home prices +8.8% a year (Kern, CA) over three years.

306,999 housing units in Kern County, CA; 113,095 Kern, CA renter households; 52% of Kern, CA renters spend 30%+ of income on rent, 26% (Kern, CA) half or more.

Kern County, CA ranks #1,660 nationally on the opportunity index (Kern, CA, among all ranked counties); Kern, CA scores 28.9/100 and Kern, CA sits #20 inside California. Kern, CA is in the early_signal opportunity phase; Kern, CA's primary driver is bank institutional, Kern, CA second driver construction; Kern, CA moved up 271 places. 93 short-sale listings across Kern, CA; 87 days on market observed in Kern, CA; 6.5% vacancy over 53 Kern, CA ZIPs.

1.3% of Kern County, CA mortgages were ninety-plus days late in December 2025; Kern, CA's thirty-to-eighty-nine-day share was 3.0% (CFPB county sample). Kern, CA's ninety-day rate is up 0.3 points on twelve months earlier; the Kern, CA peak since 2008 was 9.7% in February 2010; California overall reads 0.5%.

Kern County, CA has 8 watched banks; 8 Kern, CA banks sit in an elevated band. Kern, CA footprints: Bank Of The Sierra (7 branches, stress 57) in Kern, CA; Mechanics Bank (4 branches, stress 59) in Kern, CA; Citizens Business Bank Na (4 branches, stress 50) in Kern, CA.

HUD lists 18 assisted multifamily properties in Kern County, CA with 1,269 units; 464 Kern, CA units are assisted, 5 Kern, CA properties under project-based Section 8.

22,068 of the 306,999 housing units in Kern, CA sit vacant. Kern County, CA permitted 130 multifamily units in twelve months; Kern, CA's one-to-four unit structures added 2,819 units in Kern County, CA.