Armona is a

census-designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a Place (United States Census Bureau), concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counte ...

(CDP) in

Kings County Kings County or King's County may refer to: Places Canada *Kings County, New Brunswick *Kings County, Nova Scotia * Kings County, Prince Edward Island ** King's County (electoral district), abolished in 1892 Ireland * County Offaly, formerly call ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, United States. Armona is located west-southwest of

Hanford Hanford may refer to: Places *Hanford (constituency), a constituency in Tuen Mun, People's Republic of China *Hanford, Dorset, a village and parish in England *Hanford, Staffordshire, England *Hanford, California, United States *Hanford, Iowa, ...

, at an elevation of . It is part of the

– Corcoran Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 4,274 at the 2020 census. Armona's motto is "Small and Proud".

Geography

Armona is located in northern Kings County at .

California State Route 198 State Route 198 (SR 198) is an east–west state highway in the U.S. state of California that runs from U.S. Route 101 (US 101) south of King City to Sequoia National Park. It connects the California Central Coast to the mid– Centra ...

runs through the community, leading east into Hanford, the

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...

, and west to Lemoore. According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...

, the CDP has a total area of , all of it land.

History

The name "Armona" was applied to a railroad station in the 1880s. It was subsequently transferred to the present location on the

Southern Pacific Railroad The Southern Pacific (or Espee from the railroad initials) was an American Railroad classes#Class I, Class I Rail transport, railroad network that existed from 1865 to 1996 and operated largely in the Western United States. The system was oper ...

in 1891. Reportedly, the name was coined by transposing the first two letters of the name "Ramona". The first school in the Armona vicinity was the Giddings School built in 1880. The Giddings School District was renamed Armona in 1907. A new brick school house was constructed in the early 1920s. As that structure did not comply with California's earthquake standards (the

Field Act The Field Act is a California state law that mandates earthquake-resistant construction for public school buildings. The Field Act was one of the first pieces of legislation in the United States to mandate earthquake-resistant construction, and ha ...

), it was replaced in 1953 with what is now the Armona Elementary School. The Armona post office was established in 1887.

Demographics

The 2020 United States census reported that Armona had a population of 4,274. The population density was . The racial makeup of Armona was 30.2%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 3.1%

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

, 1.8% Native American, 2.2% Asian, 0.0%

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...

, 40.9% from other races, and 21.8% from two or more races.

Hispanic or Latino ''Hispanic'' and '' Latino'' are ethnonyms used to refer collectively to the inhabitants of the United States who are of Spanish or Latin American ancestry (). While many use the terms interchangeably, for example, the United States Census Bureau ...

of any race were 74.3% of the population. The whole population lived in households. There were 1,241 households, out of which 45.2% included children under the age of 18, 51.7% were married-couple households, 6.9% were

cohabiting Cohabitation is an arrangement where people who are not legally married live together as a couple. They are often involved in a romantic or sexually intimate relationship on a long-term or permanent basis. Such arrangements have become incr ...

couple households, 26.6% had a female householder with no partner present, and 14.7% had a male householder with no partner present. 16.4% of households were one person, and 6.7% were one person aged 65 or older. The average household size was 3.44. There were 983

families Family (from ) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictability, structure, and safety as ...

(79.2% of all households). The age distribution was 30.3% under the age of 18, 10.3% aged 18 to 24, 26.6% aged 25 to 44, 22.1% aged 45 to 64, and 10.7% who were 65years of age or older. The median age was 31.2years. For every 100 females, there were 94.1 males. There were 1,279 housing units at an average density of , of which 1,241 (97.0%) were occupied. Of these, 61.2% were owner-occupied, and 38.8% were occupied by renters.

Economy

In 2023, the US Census Bureau estimated that the median income for a household in the CDP was $60,100, and the median income for a family was $60,991. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...

for the CDP was $19,293. About 12.2% of families and 11.7% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...

, including 15.2% of those under age 18 and 4.3% of those age 65 or over. It was estimated that 10.5% of people were unemployed.

Transportation

Bus

Kings Area Regional Transit Kings Area Regional Transit (KART, previously Kings Area Rural Transit) is the primary bus service serving residents and visitors to the cities of Avenal, Hanford, and Lemoore in Kings County, California. KART is the branded service operated by ...

(KART) operates regularly scheduled fixed route bus service, vanpool service for commuters and Dial-A-Ride (demand response) services throughout Kings County as well as to Fresn

Major highway

California State Route 198, Highway 198

Rail

Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak (; ), is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates intercity rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...

does not have a station in Armona but does provide passenger service to

, which is east of Armona. Freight service is available from the

San Joaquin Valley Railroad The San Joaquin Valley Railroad is a short line railroad, among several in the Western Region Division of parent company, Genesee & Wyoming Inc. It operates over about of owned or leased track primarily on several lines in California's Centr ...

, which passes through Armona.

Education

Public schools in the community are operated by the Armona Union Elementary School District. They include: *Armona Elementary School *Parkview Middle School The district also sponsors the Crossroads Charter Academy, a K-12 independent study charter school. There is one K-12 private school, Armona Union Academy, which is operated by the

Seventh-day Adventist Church The Seventh-day Adventist Church (SDA) is an Adventist Protestant Christian denomination which is distinguished by its observance of Saturday, the seventh day of the week in the Christian (Gregorian) and the Hebrew calendar, as the Sa ...

. Armona is in the

Hanford Joint Union High School District The Hanford Joint Union High School District (HJUHSD) serves the northwestern portion of Kings County, California. The schools are located in Hanford, the county seat. HJUHSD in Hanford consists of a total of 3,522 students from Hanford Hig ...

. Nearby community colleges include

West Hills College Lemoore Lemoore College, previously West Hills College Lemoore, is a public community college in Lemoore, California. It was built in 2002 and serves students in the San Joaquin Valley. In addition, classes are offered at Lemoore Naval Air Station. Le ...

and the Hanford center of

College of the Sequoias College of the Sequoias (COS) is a public two-year community college in Visalia, California. The college is named for the Giant Sequoia trees native to the nearby Sierra Nevada mountain range. History College of the Sequoias was originally es ...

Government

In the

California State Legislature The California State Legislature is the bicameral state legislature of the U.S. state of California, consisting of the California State Assembly (lower house with 80 members) and the California State Senate (upper house with 40 members). ...

, Armona is in , and in . In the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Artic ...

, Armona is in California's 22nd District and is represented by Republican

David Valadao David Goncalves Valadao ( ; born April 14, 1977) is an American politician and dairy farmer serving as the U.S. representative for California's 22nd congressional district since 2023. His district comprises part of the San Joaquin Valley. A m ...

. Armona is represented on the Kings County Board of Supervisors by Rusty Robinson.

Notable people

Lyn Lary played shortstop for six different teams in his twelve-year career in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

including with the

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Am ...

Notable sites

The

United Methodist Church The United Methodist Church (UMC) is a worldwide mainline Protestant Christian denomination, denomination based in the United States, and a major part of Methodism. In the 19th century, its main predecessor, the Methodist Episcopal Church, was ...

was constructed in 1910.

References

External links

Armona Union Elementary School DistrictArmona Union Academy
{{authority control Census-designated places in Kings County, California Census-designated places in California