Kern County Fair Market Rent

What these rents mean for Kern County

HUD's FY 2026 Fair Market Rent schedule sets the Kern County California 1-bedroom at $1,140, with a studio at $1,132, 2-bedroom at $1,483, 3-bedroom at $2,062, and 4-bedroom at $2,488. These figures represent the 40th percentile of gross rents — meaning 60% of standard-quality rental units in this HUD area cost more. The Kern County FMR area applies to all ZIP codes inside the county boundary, and California's housing authorities use it as the baseline when setting Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher payment standards (typically 90%–110% of FMR).

Compared to the rest of the country, a 1-bedroom here is 19% above the US average of $959 and 31% lower than the California state average of $1,647. Year-over-year, the 1-bedroom FMR moved from $1,064 in FY 2025 to $1,140 in FY 2026 — a change of +7.1%, which outpaces typical consumer inflation.

For budgeting, the traditional 30% affordability rule says rent should not exceed 30% of gross household income. At the FY 2026 1-bedroom FMR of $1,140, that implies a household income of $45,600 per year (about $3,800/month) to stay affordable — a 2-bedroom at $1,483 pushes that threshold even higher. With a population of 906,883 and a county median household income of $67,660, the arithmetic here directly shapes which wage earners can rent without being cost-burdened. Rent-burdened households (paying more than 30% of income) and severely burdened households (above 50%) face a sharply higher risk of housing instability, and this county's numbers set the benchmark for assessing that risk.