Living in Ridgecrest, CA
Small city in California
Ridgecrest is a small city in California, home to about 28,000 people, with 34,000 living within 31 mi. Day to day, most trips are by car. Life moves at a slow, calm pace, and homes are a mix of apartments and houses.
Is Ridgecrest a good place to live? Pros and cons
👍 Pros
- Sunny: more sunshine and clearer skies than most places
- Affordable housing: a typical 3-bedroom home is about $253k and rents for $2,060 a month
- Low natural disaster risk: 7 federally declared disasters since 2000
- Great outdoors: hills or mountains nearby
👎 Cons
- Hot summers: highs around 102°F
- Quieter on culture: few museums and attractions nearby
- Smaller job market: about 34,000 people live within 31 mi
- Fewer graduates: 32% of adults have a bachelor's degree or higher
Whether it's a good place for you depends on what you value. Take the quiz to see how Ridgecrest ranks against your own priorities.
Key facts
Living in Ridgecrest: common questions
What is the cost of living in Ridgecrest?
A typical 3-bedroom home is worth about $253k, and a 3-bedroom rents for about $2,060 a month including utilities. Overall living costs are above the US average (index 111, where the US is 100).
What are taxes like in Ridgecrest?
California collects about $3,279 in state income tax per resident, and homeowners here pay about 0.96% of their home's value in property tax each year.
Is Ridgecrest safe?
Violent crime is somewhat above the national rate (1.3× in FBI 2019 data).
How are the schools in Ridgecrest?
Public schools in Ridgecrest test below the US average in math and reading (2018–19 state tests, put on one national scale with NAEP), with about 22 students per teacher.
What is the weather like in Ridgecrest?
Ridgecrest has mild winters: winter days average around 61°F and summer days around 102°F.
Does Ridgecrest get natural disasters?
Natural disaster risk is moderate, mainly from earthquakes and flooding: 7 federally declared disasters have hit the county since 2000, and FEMA expects about 0.63 deaths or injuries per 100,000 residents a year.
What is the nearest major airport to Ridgecrest?
The nearest major airport is BUR, about 106 mi away.
How Ridgecrest scores
Each bar compares Ridgecrest with the other 1,990 places in Best Life Fit Me. A dot shows where it sits between two ends, such as major metro and small town; neither end is better. Coloured bars run from poor (red) to excellent (green).
Places like Ridgecrest
These places have the most similar overall profile across all 24 aspects.
The circle is each place's all-round score out of 100: the average of its 15 quality scores, from red (poor) to green (excellent).
Nearby
See all the best places to live in California.
Is Ridgecrest right for you?
Answer 27 quick questions and see how it ranks against your priorities.