This may not be news for those of us who call Bakersfield home, but Kern was among 35 counties last year that were responsible for fully half of all foreclosures. At least that is what USA Today reports this weekend in a detailed analysis that shows the worst hit areas comprise only 1 percent of the total counties but account for a lion's share of the foreclosures. USA Today says Kern and the others were "the epicenter in a wave of foreclosures that left banks teetering amid the nation's economic problems." Check out the newspaper's terrific interactive county-by-county map here. Most of the hardest hit areas are in California, Florida, Las Vegas and Phoenix. The report says the counties leading the foreclosure boom account for 20 percent of U.S. households yet half of all foreclosures. Of course that's just one of the reasons why our unemployment rate has soared to 13.8 percent and why the average price of housing here continues to plummet.
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