Fellows 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 Kern County,

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. Fellows is located west-northwest of Taft, at an elevation of . The population was 106 at the 2010 census, down from 153 at the 2000 census. Fellows is surrounded on all sides by the enormous Midway-Sunset Oil Field, the third-largest oil field in the United States, and the oil and gas industry accounts for much of the area's economic activity.

Geography

Fellows is located at . 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

Fellows developed as an oil boomtown after the 1909 discovery of the Midway Gusher. The first post office at Fellows opened in 1910. The name Fellows honors Charles A. Fellows, a Sunset Western Railroad contractor. The 1969 film ''The Lottery'', based on the

short story A short story is a piece of prose fiction. It can typically be read in a single sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the old ...

by Shirley Jackson, was shot at Fellows. It featured a small town much like thousands of others across America holding an apparently ordinary, mundane civic event that had a cold-blooded, horrifying ending to an unfortunate victim come from out-of-nowhere. The film was ranked as one of the two bestselling educational films ever and has been widely shown in educational settings across America as an indictment against unthinking adherence to tradition and general inhumanity.

Demographics

Fellows first appeared as 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 ...

in the 2000 U.S. Census.

2020

The 2020 United States census reported that Fellows had a population of 52. The population density was . The racial makeup of Fellows was 46 (88%)

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 (6%) Native American, and 3 (6%) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race was 1 person (2%). The whole population lived in households. There were 23 households, out of which 8 (35%) had children under the age of 18 living in them, 9 (39%) were married-couple households, 3 (13%) were cohabiting couple households, 9 (39%) had a female householder with no partner present, and 2 (9%) had a male householder with no partner present. 8 households (35%) were one person, and 6 (26%) were one person aged 65 or older. The average household size was 2.26. There were 15 families (65% of all households). The age distribution was 9 people (17%) under the age of 18, 7 people (13%) aged 18 to 24, 2 people (4%) aged 25 to 44, 20 people (38%) aged 45 to 64, and 14 people (27%) who were 65years of age or older. The median age was 57.5years. There were 26 males and 26 females. There were 24 housing units at an average density of , of which 23 (96%) were occupied. Of these, 16 (70%) were owner-occupied, and 7 (30%) were occupied by renters.

2010

At the 2010 census Fellows had a population of 106. The population density was . The racial makeup of Fellows was 94 (88.7%) White, 1 (0.9%) African American, 5 (4.7%) Native American, 0 (0.0%) Asian, 0 (0.0%) Pacific Islander, 2 (1.9%) from other races, and 4 (3.8%) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 11 people (10.4%). The whole population lived in households, no one lived in non-institutionalized group quarters and no one was institutionalized. There were 37 households, 17 (45.9%) had children under the age of 18 living in them, 25 (67.6%) were opposite-sex married couples living together, 6 (16.2%) had a female householder with no husband present, 1 (2.7%) had a male householder with no wife present. There were 1 (2.7%) unmarried opposite-sex partnerships, and 0 (0%) same-sex married couples or partnerships. 4 households (10.8%) were one person and 1 (2.7%) had someone living alone who was 65 or older. The average household size was 2.86. There were 32 families (86.5% of households); the average family size was 3.06. The age distribution was 29 people (27.4%) under the age of 18, 8 people (7.5%) aged 18 to 24, 19 people (17.9%) aged 25 to 44, 38 people (35.8%) aged 45 to 64, and 12 people (11.3%) who were 65 or older. The median age was 40.0 years. For every 100 females, there were 116.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 102.6 males. There were 40 housing units at an average density of 60.9 per square mile, of the occupied units 33 (89.2%) were owner-occupied and 4 (10.8%) were rented. The homeowner vacancy rate was 2.9%; the rental vacancy rate was 0%. 91 people (85.8% of the population) lived in owner-occupied housing units and 15 people (14.2%) lived in rental housing units.

References