661 Area Code 🌍☎️

Bakersfield, the county seat of Kern County in California's Central Valley near the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley, had a 2020 population of 403,455, making it the 47th-most populous city in the United States and the 9th-most populous in California. The Bakersfield-Delano Metropolitan Statistical Area encompasses all of Kern County with a 2020 population of 909,235, ranking as the 62nd largest metropolitan area in the United States. As a significant economic hub, Bakersfield is located in California's most productive oil-producing county and the fourth most productive agricultural county by value in the United States, with major industries including petroleum refining, natural gas extraction, food processing, and mining. The city was officially incorporated in 1873 after being founded in 1863 by Thomas Baker, a lawyer and former Ohio militia colonel, following the California gold rush and the discovery of oil in the valley in 1865. Bakersfield is the birthplace of the Bakersfield sound, a country music genre, and is the fifth-largest majority-Hispanic city in the United States, with 53 percent of its population being Hispanic as of 2020. Palmdale is a suburban city in northern Los Angeles County in California's Antelope Valley, with a 2020 population of 169,450 making it the 33rd most populous city in California, and together with neighboring Lancaster forms an urban area of 359,559 residents. The city became the first municipality in Antelope Valley on August 24, 1862, and was chartered in November 2009. The area was originally inhabited by the Kitanemuk people for an estimated 11,000 years before Spanish explorers like Captain Pedro Fages (1772) and Father Francisco Garces (1773) arrived, after which Spanish and Mexican settlers established cattle ranches. The permanent settlement of Palmenthal was founded on April 20, 1886, by Lutheran immigrants from the American Midwest who mistook Joshua trees for palm trees, and relocated to present-day Palmdale in 1899 near the Southern Pacific railroad tracks connecting Los Angeles and San Francisco. The San Gabriel Mountains separate Palmdale from the Los Angeles Basin to the south. Santa Clarita is a suburban city in northwestern Los Angeles County, California, with a 2020 census population of 228,673, making it the third-most populous city in Los Angeles County and the 103rd-most populous in the United States, located approximately 30 miles northwest of downtown Los Angeles in the Santa Clarita Valley. The region was first settled by the Chumash people before the Tataviam arrived around 450 AD, and after Spanish colonization, Henry Mayo Newhall purchased Rancho San Francisco in 1875 and established the towns of Saugus and Newhall, with the city of Santa Clarita officially incorporated in December 1987 encompassing four communities: Canyon Country, Newhall, Saugus, and Valencia. Santa Clarita is home to three institutions of higher education - California Institute of the Arts, The Master's University, and College of the Canyons - and serves as headquarters for major companies including Princess Cruises, Sunkist, and the Newhall Land and Farming Company. The city is bounded by the Golden State Freeway (I-5) on the west and the Antelope Valley Freeway (CA-14) on the northeast, with both freeways meeting at Newhall Pass. Though Six Flags Magic Mountain is commonly associated with Santa Clarita's Valencia community, it actually lies west of city limits.