Avenal is a city in Kings County, California, set in the San Joaquin Valley about 35 miles southwest of the county seat of Hanford, at an elevation of roughly 800 feet. The city's name comes from the Spanish word for "oat field," a nod to the grain-growing landscape that surrounds it. As of the 2020 census, Avenal had a population of about 13,700, making it the fourth-largest city in Kings County by area and a significant community within the Hanford-Corcoran metropolitan area. Avenal is unusual among Central Valley towns for the role its residents played in shaping its largest employer. In the early 1980s, the community actively lobbied for a state prison to be built within its borders, an extraordinary step at a time when most towns resisted correctional facilities. Avenal State Prison opened in 1987 as the first all-new prison constructed in California in two decades, and it remains a central economic anchor, employing a large local workforce and contributing heavily to the city's population and economy. The city is also defined by its position along Interstate 5, the state's principal north-south corridor, and by the oil fields and ranch land of the Kettleman Hills that rise to the west. The Avenal Sand Drags, a state-of-the-art 300-foot sand drag racing facility, has made the city a destination in motorsports circles, drawing competitors and spectators from across the region for events each spring and fall. Avenal functions as a family-oriented, working-class community where most residents rent and many households are connected to agriculture, the prison, or the energy industry. It offers an affordable, small-city alternative in the rural west side of Kings County, with the convenience of direct Interstate 5 access and the distinct character of the valley's agricultural and industrial heartland.