Moving to
Hillcrest.

All Hillcrest data Compare Hillcrest

10,511people live here $46,285median household income▼ 43% below US $1,259median rent per month▼ 11% below US $272,700median home value▼ 18% below US

Hillcrest is an unincorporated community in Kern County, CA. It has no city government: the county runs it, and the Census counts it as its own place.

What it's like to live in Hillcrest

Hillcrest is an unincorporated community in California with rent below the national average, home prices that remain within reach, and commutes that run shorter than most cities. Those factors carry real weight for anyone weighing where to move next.

The tradeoffs are worth naming plainly. Hillcrest deals with county unemployment above the national average, household incomes below the national average, air quality that falls short of national benchmarks, and college degree attainment below the national average.

The good

Rent below the national average
Affordable home prices
Short commutes

The not so good

Above-average unemployment in the county
Below-average household incomes
Air quality concerns
Low college degree attainment
High student-teacher ratio
High poverty rate

How Hillcrest compares

Median household income

Hillcrest$46,285

California avg$99,122

US$80,734

Median rent (per month)

Hillcrest$1,259

California avg$2,036

US$1,413

Median home value

Hillcrest$272,700

California avg$734,700

US$332,700

What it takes to move to Hillcrest

Based on Hillcrest's median rent, home value and household income

To rent

$2,518

up front: first month plus a typical one-month deposit

Income to keep rent under 30%: $50,360 a year
57% of Hillcrest renters spend 30% or more of their income on rent

To buy

$54,540

a 20% down payment on the median home

With 10% down: $27,270
Homes cost 5.9× the typical local household income (US: 4.1×)

Moving costs, closing costs and taxes not included.

The details

Cost of living▼ 11% below US

$1,259/mo median rent

Cost of living works in this city's favor. Median rent sits around $1,259 a month, nothing that raises eyebrows. Solid value overall. Home prices are reasonable, with a median around $272,700. Not a steal, but not intimidating either.

Median home value $272,700 · 57% of renters cost-burdened

Job market

9.0% county unemployment

Unemployment in Kern County is 9.0%, well above the national average of 4.3%. Moving with a job already lined up matters more here. That's the county-wide rate; BLS doesn't measure a place this size on its own.

Kern County (county-wide)

Safety

1060 violent crimes per 100k, whole jurisdiction

Hillcrest doesn't have its own police department, so there's no crime rate for it alone. The figures shown are for the Kern County Sheriff's Office jurisdiction as a whole, which runs above the national average for violent crime and covers many communities. Individual neighborhoods can differ a lot from that overall rate.

Property crime 2069/100k · Policed by Kern County Sheriff's Office (county-wide rate) · 2025 data

Getting around▼ 15% below US

22 min average commute

Commutes are reasonable, averaging 22 minutes. Nothing heroic, and there's still time left over for a life after work. 9 in 10 workers drive to work; 6% work from home.

How workers get to work

Drive alone

72%

Carpool

20%

Work from home

5.5%

Public transit

1.6%

Other

0.6%

Walk

0.2%

Climate

Summers are hot and humid, with highs regularly hitting 95°F, and winters are chilly but manageable, with lows around 39°F. It's a dry climate with limited rainfall.

Average month

High °FLow °FPrecip (in)

30-year averages, 1991–2020

Education & workforce▼ 75% below US

9% bachelor's degree or higher

This is a working-class city, and college degree rates reflect that. Trades, manufacturing, and service industries tend to dominate the local economy, which is a strength for some fields and a real constraint for others.

Schools

6 public schools inside the boundary

There are 6 public schools inside the boundary. The student-to-teacher ratio is 23:1, above the national average of 16:1.

Parks & recreation

The nearest national park or historic site is César E. Chávez National Monument (25 miles away). There are 3 national parks and sites within a day's drive.

Bottom line

Hillcrest's strongest points are rent below the national average and home prices that remain within reach; the main tradeoffs are county unemployment above the national average and household incomes below the national average. A year of median rent ($1,259/mo) equals 33% of the median household income here, more than the 21% typical nationwide. It tends to suit people watching their budget. It may be a harder fit for anyone moving without a job lined up and anyone who doesn't drive.

See all the data for Hillcrest →·All California cities →