Oxnard () is a city in Ventura County in the U.S. state of California, United States. On California's Central Coast, it is the most populous city in Ventura County and the 22nd-most-populous city in California. Incorporated in 1903, Oxnard lies approximately 60 miles (northwest of downtown Los Angeles.
It is at the western edge of the fertile Oxnard Plain, adjacent to agricultural fields with strawberries, lima beans and other vegetable crops. Oxnard is also a major transportation hub in Southern California, with Amtrak, Union Pacific, Metrolink, Greyhound, and Intercalifornias stopping there. It also has a small regional airport, Oxnard Airport (The town also has significant connections to the nearby oil fields Oxnard Oil Field and the West Montalvo Oil Field. The high density of oil, industry, and agricultural activities around the city, has led to several environmental issues.
Oxnard's population was 202,063 in 2020, and is largely Latino. It is the most populous city in the OxnardThousand OaksVentura, CA Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Before the arrival of Europeans, the area was inhabited by Chumash Native Americans. The first European to encounter the area was explorer Joo Rodrigues Cabrilho, who claimed it for Spain in 1542. During the mission period, Mission San Buenaventura, established in 1782, used the area for raising cattle.
Ranching began to take hold among Californio settlers, who lost their regional influence when California became a US state in 1850. At about the same time, the area was settled by American farmers, who cultivated barley and lima beans.
Henry T. Oxnard, founder of Moorhead, Minnesota-based American Crystal Sugar Company who operated a successful sugar beet factory with his three brothers (James, and Robert) in Chino, California, was enticed to build a $2 million factory on the plain inland from Port Hueneme. Shortly after the 1897 beet campaign, a new town emerged, now commemorated on the National Register of Historic Places as the Henry T. Oxnard Historic District. Oxnard intended to name the settlement after the Greek word for "sugar", zachari, but frustrated by bureaucracy, named it after himself. Given the potential growth of Oxnard, in the spring of 1898, a railroad station was built to service the plant, attracting a population of Chinese, Japanese, and Mexican laborers and enough commerce to merit the designation of a town. The Oxnard brothers, who never lived in their namesake city, sold the Chino and the giant red-brick Oxnard factory in 1899 for nearly $4 million. The Oxnard factory, with its landmark twin smokestacks, operated from August 19, 1899, until October 26, 1959. Factory operations were interrupted in the Oxnard Strike of 1903.
Oxnard was incorporated as a California city on June 30, 1903, and the public library was opened in 1907. Before and during World War II, the naval bases of Point Mugu and Port Hueneme were established in the area to take advantage of the only major navigable port on California's coast between the Port of Los Angeles and San Francisco Bay, and the bases in turn encouraged the development of the defense-based aerospace and communications industries.
In the mid-20th century, Oxnard grew and developed the areas outside the downtown area, including homes, industry, retail, and a new harbor named Channel Islands Harbor. Martin V. (Smith (became an influential developer. Smith's first enterprise in 1941 was the Colonial House Restaurant (1988) and then the Wagon Wheel Junction in 1947 (2011). He was also involved in the development of the high-rise towers at the Topa Financial Plaza, the Channel Islands Harbor, Casa Sirena Resort, the Esplanade Shopping Mall, Fisherman's Wharf, the Carriage Square Shopping Center, the Maritime Museum, and many other hotel, restaurant and retail projects. In the late 1970s, as the demographic shifted towards becoming a majority-Latino city, the Ku Klux Klan, which historically had a weak presence in Ventura County, unsuccessfully tried to form a chapter in Oxnard.
In June 2004, the Oxnard Police Department and the Ventura County Sheriff imposed a gang injunction over a 6.6-square-mile (area of the central district of the city, to restrict gang activity. The injunction was upheld in the Ventura County Superior Court and made a permanent law in 2005. A similar injunction was imposed in September 2006 over a 4.26-square-mile (area of the south side of the city. Prohibited activities include associating with other known gang members, witness intimidation, possessing firearms or using gang gestures. Since then, court decisions have made adding people to the civil orders more stringent, stemming from lawsuits in Los Angeles and Orange counties. Judges determined that it was unconstitutional for people to be added to a gang injunction without a due process hearing. As a result of budget cuts due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Oxnard police stopped maintaining and enforcing the injunction in 2020.
Oxnard is located on the Oxnard Plain, an area with fertile soil. With its beaches, dunes, wetlands, creeks, and the Santa Clara River, the area contains several critical biological communities. Native plant communities include: coastal sage scrub, California Annual Grassland, and Coastal Dune Scrub species; however, most native plants have been eliminated from within the city limits to make way for agriculture and urban and industrial development. Also native to the region is the endangered Ventura Marsh Milkvetch, and the last self-sustaining population is in Oxnard in the center of an approved housing development.
The Santa Clara River separates Oxnard and Ventura. Tributaries to this river include Sespe Creek, Piru Creek, and Castaic Creek.
Oxnard is on a tectonically active plate since most of Coastal California is near the boundaries between the Pacific and North American Plates. The San Andreas Fault, which demarcates this boundary, is about 40 miles away.
One active fault that transverses Oxnard is the Oak Ridge Fault, which straddles the Santa Clara River Valley westward from the Santa Susana Mountains, crosses the Oxnard Plain through Oxnard, and extends into the Santa Barbara Channel. The coastline is subject to inundation by a tsunami up to 23 feet in height.
The fault has significantly contributed to seismic activity in the Oxnard region and beyond. The January 17, 1994, 6.7 Mw Northridge earthquake is believed to have occurred in the Santa Clarita extension of the Oak Ridge Fault. Landslides and ridge-top shattering resulting from the Northridge earthquake were observed above Moorpark, a city 19.6mi (east of Oxnard.
Oxnard is the location of the National Weather Service forecast office that serves the Los Angeles area. The city is situated in a Mediterranean (subtropical) climate zone, experiencing mild and relatively wet winters, and warm, dry summers, in a climate called the warm-summer Mediterranean climate. Onshore breezes keep the communities of Oxnard cooler in summer and warmer in winter than those further inland. The average mean temperature is 61F (The average minimum temperature is 52F (and the average maximum temperature is 69F (Generally, the weather is mild and dry, with around 300 days of sunshine annually. The average annual precipitation is 15.62in (area contains several critical biological communities. Native plant communities include coastal sage scrub, California Annual Grassland, and Coastal Dune Scrub species; most native plants have been eliminated from within the city limits to make way for development. Also native to the region is the endangered Ventura Marsh Milkvetch, with the last self-sustaining population in Oxnard being at the center of a housing development.
The balance of wildlife in Oxnard is similar to most places in southern California, with small mammals being common in urbanized areas, like squirrels, raccoons, and skunks. Coyotes prey on these smaller mammals. Small birds and mammals can be food for stray, feral, and pet dogs and cats.
Oxnard has more coastal power plants than any other city in California, with three fossil-fuel power plants providing energy for cities in both Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties. The California Environmental Protection Agency (has identified Oxnard as a city excessively burdened by multiple sources of pollution. Two of the power plants use ocean water cooling. The Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (has categorized much of Oxnard in the top 10 percent of ZIP codes most negatively impacted by pollution in the state. In May 2015, the Oxnard City Council unanimously voted to extend the city moratorium on power plant construction. This moratorium extension occurred due to NRG/Southern California Edison's proposal, also called the Puente Power Project, to construct a new fossil-fuel power plant. The following day, an NRG representative stated their case to replace the old power generation plant at Mandalay Beach with a new, hi-tech, much cleaner, and more efficient plant.
Pesticides are used in the agricultural fields surrounding Oxnard, as the area is one of the nation's leading strawberry producers, with agriculture being one of the top contributors to Oxnard's economy. Strawberries depend on large applications of fumigants containing pesticides. The Center for Health Journalism reported four ZIP codes with the highest pesticide use in the state clustered around Oxnard.
The historical architectural styles of Oxnard ranch family homes are Victorian era, Italian style, and Carpenter Gothic. In the Henry T. Oxnard Historic District, there are five Prairie School and eight Tudor Revival homes. The district includes Mission/Spanish Revival, Bungalow/craftsman, Colonial Revival, and other architecture.
Oxnard is a combination of neighborhoods and urban development focused on the downtown, coastline, and harbor areas. The city's main land uses are industrial, residential, commercial, and open space. One and two-story buildings characterize the city. The two tallest buildings in the county are in the northern part of the city at Topa Financial Plaza. The fourteen-floor high-rise was built in 1973, and the 21-floor high-rise was built in 1986. The city is surrounded by agricultural land and the Pacific Ocean, as well as the Santa Clara River. The city's primary development lies along Highway 101 and the other main roads.
The Henry T. Oxnard Historic District is a 70-acre (historic district that was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in Oxnard. Covering approximately F and G Sts., between Palm and 5th Sts., in the city, the district includes 139 contributing buildings and includes homes mostly built before 1925. It contains abundant Craftsman architecturelCraftsmanand Revival architecture.
Ormond Beach is a beach along the Oxnard coast. The beach, which stretches for two miles, adjoins the Ormond Wetlands, some farmland, and power plant remains. It covers the area in between Points Hueneme and Mugu and is a well-known birding area. The beach historically contained marshes, salt flats, sloughs, and lagoons, but surrounding agriculture and industry have drained, filled, and degraded the beach and wetlands. A dune-transition zone-marsh system is still along much of the beach.
The 2010 United States Census reported that Oxnard had a population of 197,899. The population density was 7,358 inhabitants per square mile (The racial makeup of Oxnard included 95,346 (White, 5,771 (African American, 2,953 (Native American, 14,550 (Asian, 658 (Pacific Islander, 69,527 (from other races, and 9,094 (from two or more races. In addition, 145,551 people (were Hispanic or Latino of any race. Non-Hispanic Whites were 14.9% of the population in 2010, compared to 42.6% in 1980.
The Census reported that 196,465 people (of the population) lived in households, 932 (lived in non-institutionalized group quarters, and 502 (were institutionalized.
There were 49,797 households, out of which 25,794 (had children under the age of 18 living in them, 28,319 (were opposite-sex married couples living together, 7,634 (had a female householder with no husband present, 4,043 (had a male householder with no wife present. There were 3,316 (unmarried opposite-sex partnerships and 395 (same-sex married couples or partnerships. 7,090 households (were individuals, and 2,665 (had someone who was 65 or older living alone. The average household size was 3.95. There were 39,996 families (of all households); the average family size was 4.20.
The population was spread out, with 59,018 people (under the age of 18, 23,913 people (aged 18 to 24, 57,966 people (aged 25 to 44, 40,584 people (aged 45 to 64, and 16,418 people (who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 29.9 years. For every 100 females, there were 103.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 102.4 males.
There were 52,772 housing units at an average density of 1,962 unitsper square mile (units/km2), of which 27,760 (were owner-occupied, and 22,037 (were occupied by renters. The homeowner vacancy rate was 1.8%; the rental vacancy rate was 3.7%. 107,482 people (of the population) lived in owner-occupied housing units, and 88,983 (lived in rental housing units.
As of the census of 2000, there were 170,358 people, 43,576 households, and 34,947 families residing in the city. The population density was 6,729.7 inhabitants per square mile (There were 45,166 housing units at an average density of 1,784.2 unitsper square mile (units/km2). The racial makeup of the city was 42.1% White, 3.8% African American, 1.3% Native American, 7.4% Asian, 0.4% Pacific Islander, 40.4% from other races, and 4.7% from two or more races. Two-thirds of the population (was Hispanic or Latino of any race.
There were 43,576 households, of which 46.1% had children under 18 living with them, 59.4% were married couples living together, 14.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 19.8% were non-families. 14.6% of all households comprised individuals, and 5.6% had someone who was 65 or older living alone. The average household size was 3.85 and the average family size was 4.16
In the city, the population was spread out, with 31.8% under 18, 11.8% from 18 to 24, 31.0% from 25 to 44, 17.3% from 45 to 64, and 8.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 29 years. For every 100 females, there were 104.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 104.0 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $48,603, and the median income for a family was $49,150. Males had a median income of $30,643 versus $25,381 for females. The per capita income for the city was $15,288. About 11.4% of families and 15.1% of the population were below the poverty line, including 18.4% of those under age 18 and 8.8% of those age 65 or over.
The economy of Oxnard includes defense, international trade, agriculture, manufacturing, and tourism. Oxnard is a manufacturing center in the Greater Los Angeles Area. The Port of Hueneme is the only deep-harbor commercial port between Los Angeles and San Francisco and moves trade within the Pacific Rim economies. Companies utilizing the Port include Del Monte Foods, Chiquita, BMW, Land Rover, and Jaguar. Other industries include finance, transportation, the high tech industry, and energy, particularly petroleum. Two large active oil fields underlie the city and adjacent areas: the Oxnard Oil Field, east of the city along 5th Street, and the West Montalvo Oil Field along the coast to the west of town. Tenby Inc.'s Oxnard Refinery, on 5th Street east of Del Norte Avenue, processes oil from both fields.
According to the city's 2024/25 Budget, the top employers in the city are:
Some of the major companies headquartered in Oxnard are Haas Automation, Seminis, Raypak, Drum Workshop, Borla Performance, Boss Audio, Seed Beauty, and Robbins Auto Tops Procter & Gamble and Sysco maintain their West Coast operations in Oxnard.
In October 2020, city officials announced that once a large swath of agricultural land is fully developed into a business park by late 2021, it is estimated that up to 8,700 jobs will be created in the area. An Amazon fulfillment center opened in 2022 that serves Ventura, Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo counties.
"The areas studied showed a high percentage of Group I soils, primarily located on the relatively flat Oxnard Plain. The Oxnard Plain, because of these high-quality agricultural soils, coupled with a favorable climate, is considered one of the most fertile areas in the world."
In 1995, SOAR (Open Space and Agricultural Resources) was initiated by farmers, ranchers, and citizens of Ventura County to keep land in the Oxnard Plain from development.
The Oxnard Plain is well known for its strawberries. According to the USDA, Oxnard is California's largest strawberry producer, supplying about one-third of the State's annual strawberry volume. From the end of September through the end of October, strawberries are planted and harvesting occurs from mid-December through mid-July in Oxnard. The peak harvesting season in California runs from April through June when up to 10 million pint baskets of strawberries are shipped daily. The state of California supplies over 85 percent of U.S. strawberries, with the U.S. supplying a quarter of total world production of strawberries.
The annual California Strawberry Festival features vendors as well as food items based on the fruit such as strawberry nachos, strawberry pizza, strawberry funnel cake, strawberry sundaes, and strawberry champagne.
Pests that attack this crop are economically impactful in this town. Much of the research and effort is expended here and in Watsonville and Salinas. Economically significant insects include the Greenhouse Whitefly (vaporariorum).
In 2018, 80% of the voters approved a cannabis tax. The city council adopted a "go slow" approach upon the legalization of recreational cannabis in California. Companies must be licensed by the local agency and the state to grow, test, or sell cannabis and the city may authorize none or only some of these activities. Local governments may not prohibit adults who comply with state laws from growing, using, or transporting marijuana for personal use. After an initial ban, businesses focusing on manufacturing, testing, and distributing cannabis were allowed to apply for a permit to operate in July 2019. An initial process in May 2020 to select retail proposals was challenged by unsuccessful applicants. After revising the city ordinance, the council decided in September 2020 to allow ten retail licences to be issued. A social equity component to maximize the ability for communities of color to benefit from the new industry as owners and investors and managers and employees as allowed by state law was not included. The city requires dispensaries to be a minimum of 600 feet (from schools or daycare centers. A special-use permit was approved for a retail store in an Oxnard Shores neighborhood shopping center in February 2022 amidst organized opposition from the neighborhood. The first dispensary in the city opened in the downtown area in December 2022.
Oxnard cultural institutions include the Carnegie Art Museum, founded in 1907 as the Oxnard Public Library by philanthropist Andrew Carnegie; the Chandler Vintage Museum of Transportation and Wildlife, founded by the late Los Angeles Times publisher Otis Chandler, and the Channel Islands Maritime Museum. The Henry T. Oxnard Historic District is adjacent to the commercial downtown area and dates back to the founding of the city.
Heritage Square in downtown is a collection of restored Victorian and Craftsman houses that Oxnard's pioneer ranching families once owned. Heritage Square is home to the Petit Playhouse and the Elite Theatre Company. The Oxnard Performing Arts and Convention Center[100][101] is home to the New West Symphony.[102] The Gottfried Maulhardt/Albert Pfeiler Farm site is an historic farm park.[103]
Oxnard also has the Oxnard Independent Film Festival[104] and the annual Channel Islands Tall Ships Festival.[105] The Herzog Winery is based in Oxnard[106] along with other wine tasting rooms.[107] During late July, the annual Salsa Festival is held in downtown Oxnard, featuring a salsa tasting tent, local bands, a large dance floor, local vendors, as well as many salsa based food vendors.[108]
The Dallas Cowboys currently hold their pre-season training camp at River Ridge Field in Oxnard.[109] They also trained in Oxnard in 2001, 200406, 200810 and 201216 (Cowboys trained at California Lutheran University in nearby Thousand Oaks in 196389). The New Orleans Saints trained in Oxnard in 2011.[110] The Los Angeles Raiders trained at River Ridge in the 1980s and 90s.[111]
On February 4, 2016, the Los Angeles Rams (NFL team) selected Oxnard to be the site of their official team activities and minicamp. On February 19, 2016, the city of Oxnard and the Rams reached a tentative agreement to host official team activities and minicamps at River Ridge Playing Fields. On February 23, 2016, the Oxnard City Council voted unanimously 50 to allow the Los Angeles Rams to use the River Ridge Playing Fields facility from April 18 to June 17 and the locker room space from March 28 until June 24.
River Ridge Golf Course has two 18-hole courses flanked by housing developments.[112]
Oxnard lies within the 26th congressional district, which is represented by Democrat Julia Brownley.
The city of Oxnard is served by 54 public school campuses, which educate more than 53,000 students in grades K12.
The city of Oxnard and surrounding communities are served by four different school districts that oversee education for students grades K8. They are:
On February 12, 2008, a shooting involving students occurred at E.O. Green Junior High School in Oxnard. Larry King was shot in one of the classrooms, from which he was taken to St. John's Hospital and later died.[113]
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles administers three private K8 schools in Oxnard and one Roman Catholic High School.
All public high schools in Oxnard are operated by the Oxnard Union High School District (which provides high school education to 20,000 students at ten campuses in three cities (Camarillo and Port Hueneme) as well as the unincorporated areas of El Rio, Somis, Silver Strand, and Hollywood Beach. OUHSD campuses in and around Oxnard include Channel Islands High School, Hueneme High School, Oxnard High School, Pacifica High School, Oxnard Middle College High School, and Rio Mesa High School, as well as Oxnard Adult School.[114] Additionally, construction of a new high school has been begun, Del Sol High School.[115]
Santa Clara High School is a private Roman Catholic high school administered by the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.
Oxnard is served on the collegiate level by Oxnard College and nearby California State University Channel Islands. Additionally, California Lutheran University, California State University, Northridge, University of Phoenix, University of California, Santa Barbara, National University, and Azusa Pacific University have satellite campuses in Oxnard.
The city operates a free public library system with three locations: the Downtown Main Library, the Colonia Branch Library, and the South Oxnard Branch Library.[116] Some library sites include a Homework Center and an adjacent daycare center.
Oxnard collects and processes trash, recyclables, and green waste for its citizens and businesses.[117] The city also has a large treatment plant for the collection of wastewater through the sanitary sewer.[118] An anaerobic digester breaks down solids as waste moves through the plant.[119]
The Ventura Freeway (101) is the major highway running through Oxnard, connecting Ventura and Santa Barbara to the northwest, and Los Angeles to the southeast. The Pacific Coast Highway (Route 1) heads down the coast south to Malibu. Highway 34 (Street) connects downtown Oxnard with Camarillo by running east parallel with the Southern Pacific Coast Line, which carries Coast Starlight, Pacific Surfliner and Ventura County Line passenger trains. State Route 232 (Avenue) heads northeast, providing connections to California State Route 118 to Saticoy and the junction with California State Route 126 which goes to Santa Paula, Fillmore and Santa Clarita.
The Port of Hueneme is located south of Oxnard in the city of Port Hueneme and is jointly operated by the United States Navy and the Oxnard Harbor District. The port is the only deep water port between the Port of Long Beach and the Port of San Francisco, as well as the only military deep water port between San Diego Bay and Puget Sound.
The Port of Hueneme is a shipping and receiving point for a wide variety of resources with destinations in the larger population centers of the Los Angeles Basin. Resources include automobiles, pineapple, and bananas. Agricultural products such as onions, strawberries, and flowers are shipped.[120]
The United States Navy maintains a facility at Port Hueneme in support of the naval air station at Point Mugu to the south, with which it comprises Naval Base Ventura County. Port Hueneme is the West Coast home of the Naval Construction Force, the "Seabees", as well as a link in the coastal radar system.
Channel Islands Harbor provides recreational boating and commercial fishing moorings. It shares the nickname "Gateway to the Channel Islands" with Ventura Harbor seven miles (to the north because operations that sail to the islands out of the harbors. Both harbors are vital fishing industry harbors.
Oxnard Airport is a general aviation airport within the city that is owned and operated by the County of Ventura. While commercial service was offered in the past, no airlines currently provide service.
The Oxnard Transit Center serves as a major transit hub for the city and the west county.[121]
A smaller transfer center at the Centerpoint Mall on C Street for Gold Coast Transit serves South Oxnard and Port Hueneme routes. VCTC also operates the Oxnard-CSUCI route to California State University, Channel Islands and Oxnard College from this transfer center.[125]
Oxnard is mentioned in the season 3 episode of The Big Bang Theory entitled "The Jiminy Conjecture". Sheldon and Howard bet on what kind of cricket they hear in the hallway from Sheldon's apartment. They take the cricket to Professor Crawley (Black), a Caltech entomologist. While consulting Professor Crawley, he informs them that since he lost his funding, he has to move in with his daughter in Oxnard.[126][127]
Oxnard is also the name of Anderson .Paak's third studio album.[128]
The city of Oxnard is featured in the season 1 Nickelodeon sitcom Sam & Cat in Episode 22 titled, "#Lumpatious". The episode involves the titular characters attempting to get the word "lumpatious" added to the in-universe "Oxnard English Dictionary". However, the characters believe that the only way to get the word added to the dictionary is to meet with the people who run the dictionary called "the word keepers", who convene in the headquarters of the dictionary located in Oxnard, and convince them to add the word to the dictionary.[129]