Rosamond, California
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Rosamond is an
unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...
in
Kern County Kern County is a county (United States), county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 909,235. Its county seat is Bakersfield, California, Bakersfield. Kern County compris ...
,
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 ...
, US, near the
Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
county line. Rosamond is part of
Greater Los Angeles Greater Los Angeles is the most populous metropolitan area in the U.S. state of California, encompassing five counties in Southern California extending from Ventura County in the west to San Bernardino County and Riverside County in the eas ...
and is located in the
Mojave Desert The Mojave Desert (; ; ) is a desert in the rain shadow of the southern Sierra Nevada mountains and Transverse Ranges in the Southwestern United States. Named for the Indigenous peoples of the Americas, indigenous Mohave people, it is located pr ...
just north of
Lancaster Lancaster may refer to: Lands and titles *The County Palatine of Lancaster, a synonym for Lancashire *Duchy of Lancaster, one of only two British royal duchies *Duke of Lancaster *Earl of Lancaster *House of Lancaster, a British royal dynasty ...
and
Palmdale Palmdale is a city in northern Los Angeles County, California, United States. The city lies in the Antelope Valley of Southern California. The San Gabriel Mountains separate Palmdale from the Los Angeles Basin to the south. On August 24, 1962 ...
, the two largest cities in the
Antelope Valley The Antelope Valley is a valley primarily located in northern Los Angeles County, California, United States and the southeast portion of Kern County, California, Kern County, and constitutes the western tip of the Mojave Desert. It is situated ...
. As of the 2020 Census, Rosamond's population was 21,071. For statistical purposes, the United States Census Bureau has defined Rosamond 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 ...
(CDP). Rosamond is a suburban
bedroom community A commuter town is a populated area that is primarily residential rather than commercial or industrial. Routine travel from home to work and back is called commuting, which is where the term comes from. A commuter town may be called by many o ...
with many residents employed by nearby
Edwards Air Force Base Edwards Air Force Base (AFB) is a United States Air Force installation in California. Most of the base sits in Kern County, California, Kern County, but its eastern end is in San Bernardino County, California, San Bernardino County and a souther ...
or commuting to
Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
, Lancaster, and Palmdale for work. The town is about 15 minutes north of the Lancaster Metrolink station providing direct access to
Los Angeles Union Station Los Angeles Union Station is the main railroad station in Los Angeles, California, and the largest passenger rail terminal in the Western United States. It opened in May 1939 as the Los Angeles Union Passenger Terminal, replacing La Grande Sta ...
in just two hours. It has few grocery stores such as Grocery Outlet, Albertsons and Dollar General.


History

Rosamond was established in 1877 as a townsite owned by 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 ...
; it was named for the daughter of one of the
railroad Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...
's officials. The first local industries were mining and
cattle Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, bovid ungulates widely kept as livestock. They are prominent modern members of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus '' Bos''. Mature female cattle are calle ...
. During the 1890s,
gold Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...
was discovered in the area, quickly drawing miners and prospectors. After the initial boom, gold mining gradually declined, though it had a second, smaller boom during the 1930s. In 1933,
Muroc Army Air Field Edwards Air Force Base (AFB) is a United States Air Force installation in California. Most of the base sits in Kern County, California, Kern County, but its eastern end is in San Bernardino County, California, San Bernardino County and a souther ...
was established some miles away; it was later renamed
Edwards Air Force Base Edwards Air Force Base (AFB) is a United States Air Force installation in California. Most of the base sits in Kern County, California, Kern County, but its eastern end is in San Bernardino County, California, San Bernardino County and a souther ...
in honor of fallen test pilot Glenn Edwards. The Rosamond post office opened in 1885, closed in 1887, and re-opened in 1888.


1932 Ford V-8 endurance test

In July 1932, racing driver Eddie Pullen and his team demonstrated the endurance of the newly developed Ford V-8 engine, by driving a Ford V-8, model 18, in 33 days, in the Mojave desert near Rosamond. The average speed was over course of of difficult desert terrain, where temperatures were as high as . Fuel consumption averaged .


Geography

Rosamond sits in the northern end of the
Antelope Valley The Antelope Valley is a valley primarily located in northern Los Angeles County, California, United States and the southeast portion of Kern County, California, Kern County, and constitutes the western tip of the Mojave Desert. It is situated ...
, the westernmost valley of the
Mojave Desert The Mojave Desert (; ; ) is a desert in the rain shadow of the southern Sierra Nevada mountains and Transverse Ranges in the Southwestern United States. Named for the Indigenous peoples of the Americas, indigenous Mohave people, it is located pr ...
. Because the elevation is above sea level, the area, like the other parts of the Mojave Desert region, is referred to as ''the High Desert''. Some cities and communities within the trading area of Rosamond include Lancaster, Palmdale, Hi Vista, Roosevelt, Redman, Lake Los Angeles, Quartz Hill, and Mojave. Residents of these desert cities and unincorporated communities share
Sierra Highway Sierra Highway or El Camino Sierra is a historic route in California, United States, that connects Los Angeles with the Eastern Sierra and Lake Tahoe. The trail formed in the 19th century before it was rebuilt as highways in the early 20th centu ...
, Angeles Forest Highway,
Angeles Crest Highway The Angeles Crest Highway is a two-lane highway over the San Gabriel Mountains, in Los Angeles County, California. It runs through the San Gabriel Mountains National Monument and the Angeles National Forest. With the exception of a section in ...
( State Route 2), and the
Antelope Valley Freeway State Route 14 (SR 14) is a north–south state highway in the U.S. state of California that connects Los Angeles to the northern Mojave Desert. The southern portion of the highway is signed as the Antelope Valley Freeway. Its southern te ...
( State Route 14) for commutes to the
San Fernando Valley The San Fernando Valley, known locally as the Valley, is an urbanized valley in Los Angeles County, Los Angeles County, California. Situated to the north of the Los Angeles Basin, it comprises a large portion of Los Angeles, the Municipal corpo ...
and
Los Angeles Basin The Los Angeles Basin is a sedimentary Structural basin, basin located in Southern California, in a region known as the Peninsular Ranges. The basin is also connected to an wikt:anomalous, anomalous group of east–west trending chains of mountai ...
in order to get to work. Willow Springs lies west of Rosamond and was a watering hole for stagecoach travelers for generations, though its springs have since dried up.
Willow Springs Raceway Willow Springs International Motorsports Park (commonly referred to as Willow Springs) is located in Willow Springs, Kern County, California, Willow Springs near Rosamond, California, Rosamond, California, about north of Los Angeles. It is the ...
is nearby, which hosts a variety of motor racing events, attracting people from all over Southern California and beyond. 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 , of which, of it is land and of it (0.41%) is water. The Census Bureau definition of the area may not precisely correspond to the local understanding of the historical area of the community.


Demographics


2020

The 2020 United States census reported that Rosamond had a population of 20,961. The population density was . The racial makeup of Rosamond was 48.1%
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 ...
, 10.5%
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 ...
, 1.9% Native American, 3.3% Asian, 0.3%
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 ...
, 19.7% from other races, and 16.2% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 43.1% of the population. The census reported that 99.9% of the population lived in households, 0.1% lived in non-institutionalized group quarters, and no one was institutionalized. There were 7,111 households, out of which 39.2% included children under the age of 18, 47.6% were married-couple households, 8.6% 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, 23.2% had a female householder with no partner present, and 20.6% had a male householder with no partner present. 22.5% of households were one person, and 7.9% were one person aged 65 or older. The average household size was 2.95. There were 5,066
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 ...
(71.2% of all households). The age distribution was 28.0% under the age of 18, 8.7% aged 18 to 24, 29.0% aged 25 to 44, 24.0% aged 45 to 64, and 10.3% who were 65years of age or older. The median age was 33.2years. For every 100 females, there were 99.2 males. There were 7,608 housing units at an average density of , of which 7,111 (93.5%) were occupied. Of these, 67.7% were owner-occupied, and 32.3% were occupied by renters. In 2023, the US Census Bureau estimated that 11.9% of the population were foreign-born. Of all people aged 5 or older, 68.8% spoke only English at home, 26.9% spoke
Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...
, 2.1% spoke other
Indo-European languages The Indo-European languages are a language family native to the northern Indian subcontinent, most of Europe, and the Iranian plateau with additional native branches found in regions such as Sri Lanka, the Maldives, parts of Central Asia (e. ...
, 2.0% spoke Asian or Pacific Islander languages, and 0.2% spoke other languages. Of those aged 25 or older, 85.7% were high school graduates and 17.2% had a bachelor's degree. The median household income in 2023 was $77,773, and 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 ...
was $30,592. About 13.7% of families and 17.4% of the population were below the poverty line.


2010

At the 2010 census Rosamond had a population of 18,150. The population density was . The racial makeup of Rosamond was 11,294 (62.2%) White, 1,476 (8.1%) African American, 221 (1.2%) Native American, 658 (3.6%) Asian, 66 (0.4%) Pacific Islander, 3,258 (18.0%) from other races, and 1,177 (6.5%) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 6,230 persons (34.3%) The census reported that 18,145 people (100% of the population) lived in households, 5 (0%) lived in non-institutionalized group quarters, and no one was institutionalized. There were 6,197 households, 2,603 (42.0%) had children under the age of 18 living in them, 3,254 (52.5%) were opposite-sex married couples living together, 843 (13.6%) had a female householder with no husband present, 390 (6.3%) had a male householder with no wife present. There were 432 (7.0%) unmarried opposite-sex partnerships, and 40 (0.6%) same-sex married couples or partnerships. 1,317 households (21.3%) were one person and 342 (5.5%) had someone living alone who was 65 or older. The average household size was 2.93. There were 4,487 families (72.4% of households); the average family size was 3.43. The age distribution was 5,290 people (29.1%) under the age of 18, 1,956 people (10.8%) aged 18 to 24, 4,708 people (25.9%) aged 25 to 44, 4,716 people (26.0%) aged 45 to 64, and 1,480 people (8.2%) who were 65 or older. The median age was 32.0 years. For every 100 females, there were 100.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 100.2 males. There were 6,968 housing units at an average density of 133.1 per square mile, of the occupied units 4,202 (67.8%) were owner-occupied and 1,995 (32.2%) were rented. The homeowner vacancy rate was 4.5%; the rental vacancy rate was 12.7%. 12,388 people (68.3% of the population) lived in owner-occupied housing units and 5,757 people (31.7%) lived in rental housing units.


Education

There are five schools in Rosamond: Rosamond Elementary School, West Park Elementary School, Tropico Middle School, Rosamond High School and Rare Earth High School (alternative education).


Transportation

Rosamond sits along the
California State Route 14 State Route 14 (SR 14) is a north–south state highway in the U.S. state of California that connects Los Angeles to the northern Mojave Desert. The southern portion of the highway is signed as the Antelope Valley Freeway. Its southern te ...
, also known as the Antelope Highway, providing direct access to Los Angeles to the south and Mojave to the north. Bus service from Rosamond to
Bakersfield Bakersfield is a city in and the county seat of Kern County, California, United States. The city covers about near the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley, which is located in the Central Valley region. Bakersfield's population as of the ...
and
Lancaster Lancaster may refer to: Lands and titles *The County Palatine of Lancaster, a synonym for Lancashire *Duchy of Lancaster, one of only two British royal duchies *Duke of Lancaster *Earl of Lancaster *House of Lancaster, a British royal dynasty ...
is provided by Kern Transit. The nearest Metrolink station is located about 15 minutes south in
Lancaster Lancaster may refer to: Lands and titles *The County Palatine of Lancaster, a synonym for Lancashire *Duchy of Lancaster, one of only two British royal duchies *Duke of Lancaster *Earl of Lancaster *House of Lancaster, a British royal dynasty ...
. Expansion of the Metrolink train north to Rosamond had been discussed in a 2012 Kern County Council of Governments report.


Notable people

* Kay Ryan, poet and writer * John Quade, actor


See also

* Tejon Ranch Radar Cross Section Facility


References

{{authority control Census-designated places in Kern County, California Populated places in the Mojave Desert Populated places established in 1877 Antelope Valley Census-designated places in California 1877 establishments in California