Wheeler Ridge is an unincorporated community

Unincorporated area

In law, an unincorporated area is a region of land that is not a part of any municipality.To "incorporate" in this context means to form a municipal corporation, a city, town, or village with its own government. An unincorporated community is usually not subject to or taxed by a municipal government...

 in Kern County

Kern County, California

Spreading across the southern end of the California Central Valley, Kern County is the fifth-largest county by population in California. Its economy is heavily linked to agriculture and to petroleum extraction, and there is a strong aviation and space presence. Politically, it has generally...

, California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

. It is located 4.25 miles (6.8 km) south-southeast of Mettler

Mettler, California

Mettler, or Mettler Station, is a heavily Hispanic, low-income unincorporated area and census-designated place in Kern County, California. The population was 136 at the 2010 census, down from 157 at the 2000 census...

, at an elevation of 955 feet (291 m).

A post office operated at Wheeler Ridge from 1923 to 1972.

Prior to the development of the Grapevine

Grapevine, California

Grapevine is an unincorporated community in Kern County, California. At an elevation of 1499 feet , the community is located at the foot of a road grade known as The Grapevine through the Grapevine Canyon to Tejon Pass in the Tehachapi Mountains at the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley along...

 settlement down the road, Wheeler Ridge had the last services before the climb up Tejon Pass

Tejon Pass

The Tejon Pass is a mountain pass at the southwest end of the Tehachapi Mountains linking Southern to Central California.-Geography:The apex of the pass is near the northwesternmost corner of Los Angeles County, north of Gorman...

 along old U.S. Route 99. Currently it is the point where State Route 99 ends and merges with Interstate 5. Before the 1964 state highway renumbering

1964 state highway renumbering (California)

In 1963 and 1964, the California Division of Highways implemented a major renumbering of its state highways. The majority of sign routes — those marked for the public — kept their numbers; the main changes were to the legislative routes, which had their numbers changed to match the sign routes...

, US 99 passed through.

Today, there has been modest development in the Wheeler Ridge area, most notably the IKEA

IKEA

IKEA is a privately held, international home products company that designs and sells ready-to-assemble furniture such as beds and desks, appliances and home accessories. The company is the world's largest furniture retailer...

 Distribution Center at the foot of the pass.

On April 16, 2005, a magnitude 5.2 earthquake struck near Wheeler Ridge, but it was considerably north of the San Andreas Fault

San Andreas Fault

The San Andreas Fault is a continental strike-slip fault that runs a length of roughly through California in the United States. The fault's motion is right-lateral strike-slip...

, which formed the gap in the Tejon Pass.

Street addresses in Wheeler Ridge are addressed as "Arvin, California

Arvin, California

Arvin is a city in Kern County, in the United States. Arvin is located southeast of Bakersfield, at an elevation of 449 feet . As of the 2010 census, the population was 19,304, up from 12,956 at the 2000 census....

." The ZIP Code is 93284, and the community is inside area code 661

Area code 661

North American area code 661 covers the majority of California's Kern County, as well as part of Los Angeles County, Santa Barbara County, and Tulare County...

.