Desert Hot Springs vs Norco

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

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

Desert Hot Springs has the higher population (32,786 vs 25,211 in Norco). Norco has the higher median household income ($125,117 vs $50,349 in Desert Hot Springs). Norco has the higher median home value ($731,900 vs $309,300 in Desert Hot Springs).

Population, income & housing

	Desert Hot Springs	Norco
Population	32,786	25,211
Median age	34.4 yrs	41.0 yrs
Median household income	$50,349	$125,117
Median home value	$309,300	$731,900
Median gross rent	$1,339	$1,893
Housing units	12,786	7,046
Homeownership rate	49.9%	81.8%
Bachelor's degree or higher	15.9%	21.0%
Unemployment rate	6.8%	4.1%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Desert Hot Springs	Norco
Population	28,585 → 32,786 (+14.7%)	26,670 → 25,211 (-5.5%)
Median household income	$33,046 → $50,349 (+52.4%)	$102,817 → $125,117 (+21.7%)
Median home value	$194,500 → $309,300 (+59.0%)	$544,900 → $731,900 (+34.3%)
Median gross rent	$963 → $1,339 (+39.0%)	$1,892 → $1,893 (+0.1%)

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

Norco

Population

26,67025,211

Median household income

$102,817$125,117

Median home value

$544,900$731,900

Median gross rent

$1,892$1,893

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Desert Hot Springs	Norco
Under 5	7.1%	4.3%
5 to 17	19.7%	15.5%
18 to 24	11.1%	7.5%
25 to 34	13.0%	13.7%
35 to 44	13.0%	13.9%
45 to 54	10.8%	14.0%
55 to 64	13.0%	14.7%
65 to 74	7.7%	9.5%
75 and over	4.4%	6.8%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Desert Hot Springs	Norco
White (non-Hispanic)	23.2%	49.4%
Black or African American	8.2%	2.6%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.5%	0.2%
Asian	1.6%	3.8%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.5%	0.1%
Some other race	0.3%	0.2%
Two or more races	2.5%	3.3%
Hispanic or Latino	63.1%	40.3%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Desert Hot Springs	Norco
No high school diploma	19.0%	14.3%
High school graduate	34.2%	30.7%
Some college or associate's	31.0%	34.0%
Bachelor's degree	10.4%	14.9%
Graduate or professional degree	5.4%	6.1%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Desert Hot Springs	Norco
Drove alone	75.4%	74.8%
Carpooled	15.9%	9.4%
Public transit	1.7%	0.3%
Walked	0.7%	1.6%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.2%
Worked from home	5.9%	12.0%
Other means	0.3%	1.6%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Desert Hot Springs	Norco
1-unit, detached	66.1%	94.6%
1-unit, attached	2.2%	1.8%
2 to 4 units	12.2%	0.8%
5 to 19 units	9.1%	0.5%
20 or more units	2.6%	2.2%
Mobile home & other	7.8%	0.1%

Poverty & households

	Desert Hot Springs	Norco
Poverty rate	19.2%	5.7%
Average household size	2.85	3.32
Mean commute (minutes)	29	34
Median year structure built	1989	1974