Desert Center vs Mesa Verde

A side-by-side comparison of Desert Center and Mesa Verde: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Mesa Verde has the higher population (1,025 vs 167 in Desert Center). Desert Center has the higher median household income ($72,857 vs $48,523 in Mesa Verde). Desert Center has the higher median home value ($221,200 vs $102,700 in Mesa Verde).

Population, income & housing

	Desert Center	Mesa Verde
Population	167	1,025
Median age	49.2 yrs	26.0 yrs
Median household income	$72,857	$48,523
Median home value	$221,200	$102,700
Median gross rent	$1,192	$1,074
Housing units	201	324
Homeownership rate	67.2%	63.4%
Bachelor's degree or higher	15.0%	0.7%
Unemployment rate	15.0%	5.4%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Desert Center	Mesa Verde
Population	216 → 167 (-22.7%)	913 → 1,025 (+12.3%)
Median household income	$32,292 → $72,857 (+125.6%)	$42,500 → $48,523 (+14.2%)
Median home value	$113,400 → $221,200 (+95.1%)	$70,600 → $102,700 (+45.5%)
Median gross rent	—	$983 → $1,074 (+9.3%)

Desert Center

Population

216167

Median household income

$32,292$72,857

Median home value

$113,400$221,200

Mesa Verde

Population

9131,025

Median household income

$42,500$48,523

Median home value

$70,600$102,700

Median gross rent

$983$1,074

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Desert Center	Mesa Verde
Under 5	4.8%	15.4%
5 to 17	4.2%	19.4%
18 to 24	3.0%	10.9%
25 to 34	19.8%	14.8%
35 to 44	13.2%	13.2%
45 to 54	12.0%	15.4%
55 to 64	20.4%	4.6%
65 to 74	11.4%	2.1%
75 and over	11.4%	4.1%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Desert Center	Mesa Verde
White (non-Hispanic)	50.3%	17.0%
Black or African American	7.2%	2.3%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	1.8%	0.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.0%
Two or more races	3.6%	2.3%
Hispanic or Latino	37.1%	78.3%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Desert Center	Mesa Verde
No high school diploma	1.4%	28.1%
High school graduate	59.9%	56.3%
Some college or associate's	23.8%	14.9%
Bachelor's degree	9.5%	0.7%
Graduate or professional degree	5.4%	0.0%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Desert Center	Mesa Verde
Drove alone	58.8%	78.9%
Carpooled	5.9%	18.5%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	29.4%	0.0%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	5.9%	2.6%
Other means	0.0%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Desert Center	Mesa Verde
1-unit, detached	39.8%	34.3%
1-unit, attached	0.0%	0.0%
2 to 4 units	0.0%	0.0%
5 to 19 units	0.0%	0.0%
20 or more units	0.0%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	60.2%	65.7%

Poverty & households

	Desert Center	Mesa Verde
Poverty rate	29.9%	22.6%
Average household size	2.58	3.57
Mean commute (minutes)	12	23
Median year structure built	1987	1976