 The population was 32,684 at the 2010 census, up from 27,885 at the 2000 census.It is an unincorporated suburban town just north of Bakersfield across the Kern River, west of the Kern River Oil Field, and east of Highway 99.Previously called Waits and North Side, Oildale was founded in 1909 when Samuel Dickinson subdivided his land.