Bakersfield, CA Development Impact Fees (2026)
A new single-family home in Bakersfield, California pays about $31,234 in total development impact and water/sewer connection fees per unit as of Jun 16, 2026 — about $23,950 in impact/development fees plus $7,284 in water & sewer connection (tap/SDC) fees. Every figure below is normalized per dwelling unit by category, with a link to its official source.
What a single-family home pays in Bakersfield
$31,234 total per unit across 4 fee categories. Fees charged per square foot assume a 2,500 sq ft home.
- Schools$12,925
- Transportation / roads$7,747
- Sewer connection (tap / SDC)$7,284
- Parks & recreation$3,278
At $31,234, Bakersfield is below the California tracked median of $53,182 — relatively affordable to build in.
Full fee schedule — single-family detached
Impact / development fees
| Fee (local term) | Basis | Amount | Source · effective |
|---|---|---|---|
Transportation / roads Transportation Impact Fee (Core Area) — Metropolitan Bakersfield Transportation Impact Fee, Core Area rate for single-family residential. Core Area (the established/developed portion of metro Bakersfield) and Non-Core Area are mutually-exclusive geographic variants; Core used as the primary representative row. The Non-Core (outlying/greenfield) SF rate of $12,870/unit is included as a separate excluded row. VERIFIED verbatim in the 2026-02-23 City Fee Schedule PDF (Development Impact Fees, p4). | per dwelling unit | $7,747 | City of Bakersfield Development Services Department (Building & Planning Divisions) Feb 23, 2026High |
Transportation / roads Transportation Impact Fee (Non-Core Area) — Mutually-exclusive geographic variant of the transportation impact fee (Non-Core Area applies to outlying growth areas). Excluded to avoid double-counting with the Core Area SF row. VERIFIED verbatim ($12,870 Per Unit) in the 2026-02-23 PDF. alternative · not added to total | per dwelling unit | $12,870 | City of Bakersfield Development Services Department (Building & Planning Divisions) Feb 23, 2026High |
Parks & recreation Park Development & Improvement Fee — City of Bakersfield Park Development & Improvement fee (Muni Code Ch. 15.82). Flat $3,278 per independent dwelling unit, applies to all residential unit types (does not apply to units without a kitchen, e.g. some extended care). VERIFIED verbatim in the 2026-02-23 PDF; Ch. 15.82 title confirmed. | per dwelling unit | $3,278 | City of Bakersfield Development Services Department (Building & Planning Divisions) Feb 23, 2026High |
Schools School Facilities Fee (Level 1, residential) - levied by local school district — Per-square-foot residential school facilities fee (CA Level 1/2) levied by the LOCAL SCHOOL DISTRICT, not the City - collected at building permit. The city schedule shows a range of $5.17-$6.85/sf depending on district. Primary amount uses the low end ($5.17/sf). Confidence downgraded to medium: the city schedule publishes the range verbatim, but the actual amount depends on the specific district (Bakersfield City SD, Panama-Buena Vista USD, Kern High SD, etc.) and conditioned square footage - confirm with the Kern County Superintendent of Schools / Building Dept for a specific parcel. VERIFIED the $5.17-$6.85/sf range verbatim in the 2026-02-23 PDF. | per sq ft | $5.17 | City of Bakersfield Development Services Department (Building & Planning Divisions) Feb 23, 2026Medium |
Schools School Facilities Fee (residential, high end of district range) — High end of the published residential school-fee range; same fee as the primary school row but at the upper district rate. Excluded from total to avoid double-counting (the primary school row uses the low-end rate). Confidence downgraded to medium for the same district/sqft-dependency reason. VERIFIED verbatim in the 2026-02-23 PDF. alternative · not added to total | per sq ft | $6.85 | City of Bakersfield Development Services Department (Building & Planning Divisions) Feb 23, 2026Medium |
Water & sewer connection fees
| Fee (local term) | Basis | Amount | Source · effective |
|---|---|---|---|
Sewer connection (tap / SDC) Sewer Connection Fee - Single Family — City of Bakersfield sewer connection/capacity charge for a single-family dwelling, paid to Public Works. Applies within the city sewer service area; some edge areas (e.g., East Niles CSD) are served by a separate district with its own fees. VERIFIED verbatim ($ 7,284.00 Per Unit) in the 2026-02-23 PDF. | per dwelling unit | $7,284 | City of Bakersfield Development Services Department (Building & Planning Divisions) Feb 23, 2026High |
Multifamily (per unit) impact fees in Bakersfield
About $11,631 per unit ($7,018 impact + $4,613 water/sewer connection).
Impact / development fees
| Fee (local term) | Basis | Amount | Source · effective |
|---|---|---|---|
Transportation / roads Transportation Impact Fee (Core Area) — Multifamily (multiple family) transportation impact fee, Core Area. Non-Core multifamily rate is $6,213/unit (separate excluded row). VERIFIED verbatim in the 2026-02-23 PDF. | per dwelling unit | $3,740 | City of Bakersfield Development Services Department (Building & Planning Divisions) Feb 23, 2026High |
Transportation / roads Transportation Impact Fee (Non-Core Area) — Mutually-exclusive Non-Core geographic variant of the multifamily transportation impact fee. Excluded to avoid double-counting with the Core Area MF row. VERIFIED verbatim ($ 6,213 Per Unit) in the 2026-02-23 PDF. alternative · not added to total | per dwelling unit | $6,213 | City of Bakersfield Development Services Department (Building & Planning Divisions) Feb 23, 2026High |
Parks & recreation Park Development & Improvement Fee — Flat per-residential-unit park fee applies equally to each multifamily dwelling unit (schedule states 'all independent dwelling units'). Not excluded: distinct land use, not a duplicate of the SF row. VERIFIED verbatim in the 2026-02-23 PDF. | per dwelling unit | $3,278 | City of Bakersfield Development Services Department (Building & Planning Divisions) Feb 23, 2026High |
Water & sewer connection fees
| Fee (local term) | Basis | Amount | Source · effective |
|---|---|---|---|
Sewer connection (tap / SDC) Sewer Connection Fee - Multiple Family (<=14 fixture units) — Multifamily sewer connection fee for dwellings with 14 or fewer fixture units. The alternate multifamily tier (2 or more bathrooms) is $5,218/unit and is a mutually-exclusive variant included as a separate excluded row. VERIFIED verbatim in the 2026-02-23 PDF. | per dwelling unit | $4,613 | City of Bakersfield Development Services Department (Building & Planning Divisions) Feb 23, 2026High |
Sewer connection (tap / SDC) Sewer Connection Fee - Multiple Family (2+ bathrooms) — Mutually-exclusive multifamily sewer connection variant (units with 2+ bathrooms). Excluded to avoid double-counting with the <=14 fixture-unit MF row. VERIFIED verbatim in the 2026-02-23 PDF. alternative · not added to total | per dwelling unit | $5,218 | City of Bakersfield Development Services Department (Building & Planning Divisions) Feb 23, 2026High |
Coverage & caveats
FOUND (City of Bakersfield, official Fee Schedule dated 2026-02-23, all figures re-confirmed verbatim against the source PDF): (1) Transportation Impact Fee - SF $7,747 (Core) / $12,870 (Non-Core), MF $3,740 (Core) / $6,213 (Non-Core) per unit; (2) Park Development & Improvement Fee - $3,278 per residential unit (flat, all dwelling types); (3) Sewer connection/capacity fee - SF $7,284/unit, MF $4,613/unit (<=14 fixture units) or $5,218/unit (2+ bathrooms); (4) School Facilities Fee - $5.17-$6.85/sf residential, levied by and remitted to the LOCAL SCHOOL DISTRICT (Bakersfield City SD, Panama-Buena Vista USD, Kern High SD, etc.), not the City. DOES NOT EXIST / NOT FOUND as a city development fee: There is NO separate city WATER connection/capacity/SDC impact fee in Bakersfield's development-fee schedule. Confirmed against the Master Fee Schedule (source 2): the city 'Water Resources Fees' (F-91) cover only fire hydrant distribution/installation inspection and hydrant flow/testing (CalWater and outside-CalWater service areas), not residential connection capacity. Domestic water is supplied chiefly by California Water Service (CalWater) and the City Water Resources utility via separate regulated utility charges. No separately enumerated FIRE, POLICE, GENERAL/CAPITAL FACILITIES, LIBRARY, OPEN SPACE, AFFORDABLE HOUSING, or standalone DRAINAGE impact fee appears in the city's adopted development-fee schedule - residential impact fees are limited to Transportation, Park, Sewer, and the pass-through School fee. (Drainage is handled via 'planned drainage area' districts formed per-project, not a flat per-unit fee.)
Caveats
(a) Transportation fee varies by Core vs Non-Core geography and by average daily trips for non-residential uses; contact Public Works (661/326-3724). (b) School fee varies by district and home size; multiply per-sf figure by conditioned square footage and confirm with the Kern County Superintendent of Schools / Building Dept. (c) Mello-Roos/CFD special taxes and maintenance-district assessments are separate and out of scope. (d) Some unincorporated/edge areas are served by separate sanitary or water districts (e.g., East Niles CSD). (e) The schedule header states 'Fees May Change at any Time'.
Verify
confirmed 11 of 11 rows; dropped 0. All amounts and sourceQuotes matched verbatim in the re-downloaded 2026-02-23 City Fee Schedule PDF (Park $3,278; School $5.17-$6.85/sf; Sewer SF $7,284 / MF $4,613 / MF-2bath $5,218; Transportation SF $7,747 Core / $12,870 Non-Core, MF $3,740 Core / $6,213 Non-Core). excludeFromTotal corrections: none - all four exclusion flags were already correct (Non-Core transportation SF & MF, the 2+ bathroom sewer MF tier, and the high-end $6.85/sf school rate are correctly excluded as mutually-exclusive variants; the MF Park $3,278 row is correctly NOT excluded as it is a distinct land use). Confidence downgrades: both School rows lowered high->medium because the published per-sf figure is a district-dependent range and the actual fee is levied/set by the local school district, not fixed by the City. Source ordinance pages (sourceIndex 3 & 4, bakersfield.municipal.codes) are behind a Cloudflare challenge and could not be fetched directly, but a web search corroborated that Ch. 15.84 (Transportation Impact Fee) and Ch. 15.82 (Fee for Park Development and Improvement) exist with the exact cited titles and that Ch. 15.84 governs the Metropolitan Bakersfield Transportation Impact Fee; no fee amount depends on those URLs (all fee rows cite sourceIndex 0, the verified PDF). Population 410,647 retained (recent estimates put the city near 417k-419k as of 2024-25); not load-bearing for fees.
All residential figures are taken verbatim from the City of Bakersfield official combined Fee Schedule dated February 23, 2026 (Development Impact Fees section, page 4), the most current adopted schedule. Independently re-verified 2026-06-17 by re-downloading the PDF and matching each amount and quote against the source text. Transportation fees are charged per the Metropolitan Bakersfield Transportation Impact Fee program (Muni Code Ch. 15.84) and differ by geographic zone (Core vs Non-Core); the Core Area rate is used as the representative primary row for both SF and MF, with Non-Core variants excluded from total. Park fee is a flat $3,278 per residential unit (Muni Code Ch. 15.82), applying equally to each SF and MF unit. Sewer is a city connection/capacity charge paid to Public Works; multifamily has two mutually-exclusive tiers (one excluded). School fee is a per-square-foot levy collected at permit but imposed by and remitted to the local school district (Level 1/2 under CA law), published as a $5.17-$6.85/sf range that varies by district (confidence medium). A representative ~2,000-2,500 sf single-family home: Transportation (Core) $7,747 + Park $3,278 + Sewer $7,284 + School (per sf x conditioned area) per the local district rate, before any commercial/utility charges; in the Non-Core Area the transportation component rises to $12,870.
Sources
5 official sources · 9 high-confidence figures.
- 1City of Bakersfield Fee Schedule (Planning & Zoning, Development Impact Fees, Building & Public Works) - dated February 23, 2026City of Bakersfield Development Services Department (Building & Planning Divisions) · fee schedule · effective Feb 23, 2026 · retrieved Jun 16, 2026
- 2Applications & Fees - City of Bakersfield Planning Division (links to current Fee Schedule)City of Bakersfield · municipal webpage · retrieved Jun 16, 2026
- 3City of Bakersfield Proposed Master Fee Schedule for 2025-26 (City Service Centers)City of Bakersfield Finance Department · fee schedule · effective Jul 1, 2025 · retrieved Jun 16, 2026
- 4Bakersfield Municipal Code Ch. 15.84 Transportation Impact FeeCity of Bakersfield (hosted Municipal Code) · ordinance · retrieved Jun 16, 2026
- 5Bakersfield Municipal Code Ch. 15.82 Fee for Park Development and ImprovementCity of Bakersfield (hosted Municipal Code) · ordinance · retrieved Jun 16, 2026
Bakersfield impact fees — FAQ
- How much are development impact fees in Bakersfield, CA for a single-family home?
- As of 2026-06-16, total development fees for a single-family detached home in Bakersfield are about $31,234 per unit — roughly $23,950 in impact/development fees plus $7,284 in water/sewer connection fees. Figures are normalized from official sources; verify with the jurisdiction before relying on them.
- What are the impact fees per multifamily unit in Bakersfield, CA?
- Total development fees for a multifamily unit in Bakersfield are about $11,631 per unit as of 2026-06-16.
- Are impact fees in Bakersfield the same as building permit fees?
- No. Impact fees (and water/sewer connection fees) fund off-site capital — roads, parks, schools, utilities — and are charged per new dwelling unit. Building permit and plan-review fees are separate and are not included here.
- How often do Bakersfield's impact fees change?
- Most jurisdictions adopt fees by ordinance and escalate them annually (often by a construction cost index), with occasional mid-year updates. Always confirm the current adopted schedule with the jurisdiction. ImpactFeeAtlas last verified Bakersfield on 2026-06-16.
Compare impact fees in nearby California jurisdictions
Cities with a similar fee burden
Jurisdictions in other states with total single-family fees close to Bakersfield’s $31,234 per home.