Featured photograph: Ridgecrest, California aerial view (2023), by Nick Wakley / Jureidini, Wikimedia Commons, licensed CC BY 4.0. No modifications made. This is an archival city image, not a depiction of September 2026 employment conditions.
RIDGECREST NEWS | INDIAN WELLS VALLEY | OCTOBER 18, 2026. The latest California employment figures show an important regional contrast across the county border separating Ridgecrest from communities such as Trona. In the Employment Development Department’s September 2026 county table, Kern County’s unemployment rate was 7.9%, compared with 5.5% for San Bernardino County.
Ridgecrest is in Kern County; Trona and Searles Valley are in San Bernardino County. But those percentages describe their entire counties, not Ridgecrest, Trona or individual neighborhoods. Using Kern’s 7.9% as the exact Ridgecrest unemployment rate, or San Bernardino’s 5.5% as the exact Trona rate, would be misleading.
What the county numbers actually say
| EDD September 2026 estimate | Kern County | San Bernardino County |
|---|---|---|
| Labor force | 417,000 | 1,029,300 |
| Employment | 384,200 | 973,200 |
| Unemployment | 32,900 | 56,100 |
| Unemployment rate | 7.9% | 5.5% |
The figures come from EDD’s not-seasonally-adjusted county series. Labor-force, employment and unemployment numbers are rounded estimates; minor arithmetic discrepancies can result from rounding. A larger number of unemployed people in a bigger county does not automatically imply a worse rate.
Why Ridgecrest and Trona need different analysis
Kern County includes Bakersfield, agricultural communities, the oil industry, desert towns and extensive rural territory. San Bernardino County stretches from desert communities and mountains to much larger metro-area cities. The economic experience of a worker in Ridgecrest or Trona can differ sharply from the countywide average.
Commuting across a county line adds another complication. A person living in Trona but working in Ridgecrest participates in a regional labor market, while EDD household employment estimates generally refer to people’s place of residence. A local business closure, an unfilled job or the number of abandoned houses cannot be translated directly into a population unemployment rate without proper workforce data.
How do the numbers compare with California overall?
The EDD says California’s seasonally adjusted statewide unemployment rate was 5.1% in September. County figures in its table are not seasonally adjusted. The published county comparison is useful because both local counties are from the same statistical table; direct comparisons to the headline statewide figure require the seasonal difference to be disclosed.
What residents can do
- Job seekers can use CalJOBS to search current vacancies, job fairs and training options.
- Residents can review EDD Labor Market Information for metropolitan-area and subcounty datasets where reliable estimates exist.
- Employers and officials should ask whether vacancies match applicants’ skills, wages, transport options and housing costs.
- A future Ridgecrest–Trona workforce study should distinguish local job availability, commuter flows, workforce participation and the effects of population change.
This is a regional interpretation of state data, not a field survey of Ridgecrest or Trona employers. The county figures are a starting point for questions about actual opportunities, not a substitute for interviews or local payroll records. For the broader state context, see California58’s September jobs report.
Primary source: California EDD September 2026 labor-force table, released October 16, 2026. County figures are not seasonally adjusted and are subject to revision; no town-level rate has been inferred from them.
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