Desert Hot Springs vs La Quinta

A side-by-side comparison of Desert Hot Springs and La Quinta: population, income, housing, and more.

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

La Quinta has the higher population (38,299 vs 32,786 in Desert Hot Springs). La Quinta has the higher median household income ($97,628 vs $50,349 in Desert Hot Springs). La Quinta has the higher median home value ($612,800 vs $309,300 in Desert Hot Springs).

Population, income & housing

	Desert Hot Springs	La Quinta
Population	32,786	38,299
Median age	34.4 yrs	52.1 yrs
Median household income	$50,349	$97,628
Median home value	$309,300	$612,800
Median gross rent	$1,339	$1,747
Housing units	12,786	24,669
Homeownership rate	49.9%	74.8%
Bachelor's degree or higher	15.9%	38.9%
Unemployment rate	6.8%	7.1%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Desert Hot Springs	La Quinta
Population	28,585 → 32,786 (+14.7%)	41,076 → 38,299 (-6.8%)
Median household income	$33,046 → $50,349 (+52.4%)	$77,839 → $97,628 (+25.4%)
Median home value	$194,500 → $309,300 (+59.0%)	$398,200 → $612,800 (+53.9%)
Median gross rent	$963 → $1,339 (+39.0%)	$1,449 → $1,747 (+20.6%)

Desert Hot Springs

Population

28,58532,786

Median household income

$33,046$50,349

Median home value

$194,500$309,300

Median gross rent

$963$1,339

La Quinta

Population

41,07638,299

Median household income

$77,839$97,628

Median home value

$398,200$612,800

Median gross rent

$1,449$1,747

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Desert Hot Springs	La Quinta
Under 5	7.1%	4.1%
5 to 17	19.7%	12.9%
18 to 24	11.1%	6.4%
25 to 34	13.0%	10.4%
35 to 44	13.0%	10.0%
45 to 54	10.8%	9.3%
55 to 64	13.0%	15.8%
65 to 74	7.7%	17.6%
75 and over	4.4%	13.4%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Desert Hot Springs	La Quinta
White (non-Hispanic)	23.2%	53.6%
Black or African American	8.2%	1.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.5%	0.3%
Asian	1.6%	4.3%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.5%	0.1%
Some other race	0.3%	0.1%
Two or more races	2.5%	3.4%
Hispanic or Latino	63.1%	37.1%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Desert Hot Springs	La Quinta
No high school diploma	19.0%	8.2%
High school graduate	34.2%	21.4%
Some college or associate's	31.0%	31.5%
Bachelor's degree	10.4%	24.7%
Graduate or professional degree	5.4%	14.2%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Desert Hot Springs	La Quinta
Drove alone	75.4%	73.2%
Carpooled	15.9%	8.4%
Public transit	1.7%	0.4%
Walked	0.7%	1.3%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.4%
Worked from home	5.9%	15.2%
Other means	0.3%	1.2%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Desert Hot Springs	La Quinta
1-unit, detached	66.1%	75.9%
1-unit, attached	2.2%	9.7%
2 to 4 units	12.2%	5.0%
5 to 19 units	9.1%	5.2%
20 or more units	2.6%	1.8%
Mobile home & other	7.8%	2.4%

Poverty & households

	Desert Hot Springs	La Quinta
Poverty rate	19.2%	9.1%
Average household size	2.85	2.43
Mean commute (minutes)	29	26
Median year structure built	1989	1999