Bombay Beach vs Desert Shores

A side-by-side comparison of Bombay Beach and Desert Shores: population, income, housing, and more.

Bombay Beach and Desert Shores are places in California. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Desert Shores has the higher population (457 vs 313 in Bombay Beach). Desert Shores has the higher median household income ($37,083 vs $25,968 in Bombay Beach). Desert Shores has the higher median home value ($169,400 vs $94,300 in Bombay Beach).

Population, income & housing

	Bombay Beach	Desert Shores
Population	313	457
Median age	54.1 yrs	52.7 yrs
Median household income	$25,968	$37,083
Median home value	$94,300	$169,400
Housing units	282	241
Homeownership rate	87.1%	100.0%
Bachelor's degree or higher	10.3%	0.5%
Unemployment rate	11.6%	2.1%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Bombay Beach	Desert Shores
Population	297 → 313 (+5.4%)	574 → 457 (-20.4%)
Median household income	$21,154 → $25,968 (+22.8%)	$21,009 → $37,083 (+76.5%)
Median home value	$43,700 → $94,300 (+115.8%)	$48,700 → $169,400 (+247.8%)

Bombay Beach

Population

297313

Median household income

$21,154$25,968

Median home value

$43,700$94,300

Desert Shores

Population

574457

Median household income

$21,009$37,083

Median home value

$48,700$169,400

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Bombay Beach	Desert Shores
Under 5	8.3%	11.6%
5 to 17	8.3%	1.1%
18 to 24	0.0%	3.3%
25 to 34	23.6%	19.7%
35 to 44	0.0%	2.4%
45 to 54	17.3%	12.5%
55 to 64	12.5%	21.0%
65 to 74	24.0%	6.8%
75 and over	6.1%	21.7%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Bombay Beach	Desert Shores
White (non-Hispanic)	53.7%	23.2%
Black or African American	26.5%	0.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	0.0%	0.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.0%
Two or more races	19.8%	0.0%
Hispanic or Latino	0.0%	76.8%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Bombay Beach	Desert Shores
No high school diploma	20.7%	46.9%
High school graduate	47.1%	45.8%
Some college or associate's	21.8%	6.8%
Bachelor's degree	10.3%	0.0%
Graduate or professional degree	0.0%	0.5%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Bombay Beach	Desert Shores
Drove alone	65.5%	95.2%
Carpooled	0.0%	4.8%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	21.8%	0.0%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	12.6%	0.0%
Other means	0.0%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Bombay Beach	Desert Shores
1-unit, detached	65.2%	66.4%
1-unit, attached	0.0%	0.0%
2 to 4 units	0.0%	0.0%
5 to 19 units	3.9%	0.0%
20 or more units	0.0%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	30.9%	33.6%

Poverty & households

	Bombay Beach	Desert Shores
Poverty rate	61.3%	9.4%
Average household size	2.24	2.57
Mean commute (minutes)	—	25
Median year structure built	1962	1985