Coachella vs Palm Desert

A side-by-side comparison of Coachella and Palm Desert: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Palm Desert has the higher population (51,551 vs 42,594 in Coachella). Palm Desert has the higher median household income ($79,508 vs $67,558 in Coachella). Palm Desert has the higher median home value ($491,600 vs $341,300 in Coachella).

Population, income & housing

	Coachella	Palm Desert
Population	42,594	51,551
Median age	33.4 yrs	56.7 yrs
Median household income	$67,558	$79,508
Median home value	$341,300	$491,600
Median gross rent	$1,115	$1,717
Housing units	12,543	36,584
Homeownership rate	65.9%	64.4%
Bachelor's degree or higher	5.6%	39.9%
Unemployment rate	10.4%	6.1%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Coachella	Palm Desert
Population	45,181 → 42,594 (-5.7%)	52,575 → 51,551 (-1.9%)
Median household income	$34,224 → $67,558 (+97.4%)	$59,977 → $79,508 (+32.6%)
Median home value	$219,400 → $341,300 (+55.6%)	$350,400 → $491,600 (+40.3%)
Median gross rent	$879 → $1,115 (+26.8%)	$1,319 → $1,717 (+30.2%)

Coachella

Population

45,18142,594

Median household income

$34,224$67,558

Median home value

$219,400$341,300

Median gross rent

$879$1,115

Palm Desert

Population

52,57551,551

Median household income

$59,977$79,508

Median home value

$350,400$491,600

Median gross rent

$1,319$1,717

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Coachella	Palm Desert
Under 5	5.5%	2.8%
5 to 17	20.4%	10.5%
18 to 24	10.9%	6.1%
25 to 34	16.2%	9.9%
35 to 44	15.4%	9.8%
45 to 54	12.5%	9.1%
55 to 64	10.0%	14.5%
65 to 74	6.0%	17.0%
75 and over	3.0%	20.3%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Coachella	Palm Desert
White (non-Hispanic)	1.4%	64.3%
Black or African American	0.2%	2.1%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.1%
Asian	0.1%	4.1%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.1%
Some other race	0.8%	0.2%
Two or more races	0.6%	3.0%
Hispanic or Latino	96.8%	26.0%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Coachella	Palm Desert
No high school diploma	43.1%	7.3%
High school graduate	36.3%	17.6%
Some college or associate's	15.1%	35.3%
Bachelor's degree	4.0%	24.3%
Graduate or professional degree	1.5%	15.6%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Coachella	Palm Desert
Drove alone	80.0%	69.6%
Carpooled	13.6%	12.8%
Public transit	0.9%	0.7%
Walked	2.6%	1.1%
Bicycle	0.2%	0.2%
Worked from home	2.1%	14.1%
Other means	0.7%	1.5%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Coachella	Palm Desert
1-unit, detached	72.2%	38.2%
1-unit, attached	2.6%	29.8%
2 to 4 units	8.8%	7.2%
5 to 19 units	11.4%	7.8%
20 or more units	2.2%	7.8%
Mobile home & other	2.9%	9.3%

Poverty & households

	Coachella	Palm Desert
Poverty rate	10.6%	11.3%
Average household size	3.45	2.11
Mean commute (minutes)	23	22
Median year structure built	1998	1985