Desert Palms vs Mecca

A side-by-side comparison of Desert Palms and Mecca: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Mecca has the higher population (7,071 vs 6,522 in Desert Palms). Desert Palms has the higher median household income ($81,954 vs $45,011 in Mecca). Desert Palms has the higher median home value ($526,500 vs $222,000 in Mecca).

Population, income & housing

	Desert Palms	Mecca
Population	6,522	7,071
Median age	76.2 yrs	33.2 yrs
Median household income	$81,954	$45,011
Median home value	$526,500	$222,000
Median gross rent	$2,175	$900
Housing units	5,093	2,453
Homeownership rate	83.8%	53.0%
Bachelor's degree or higher	48.9%	4.3%
Unemployment rate	8.8%	7.3%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Desert Palms	Mecca
Population	6,755 → 6,522 (-3.4%)	6,635 → 7,071 (+6.6%)
Median household income	$60,221 → $81,954 (+36.1%)	$23,600 → $45,011 (+90.7%)
Median home value	$371,500 → $526,500 (+41.7%)	$158,500 → $222,000 (+40.1%)
Median gross rent	$2,320 → $2,175 (-6.3%)	$590 → $900 (+52.5%)

Desert Palms

Population

6,7556,522

Median household income

$60,221$81,954

Median home value

$371,500$526,500

Median gross rent

$2,320$2,175

Mecca

Population

6,6357,071

Median household income

$23,600$45,011

Median home value

$158,500$222,000

Median gross rent

$590$900

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Desert Palms	Mecca
Under 5	0.2%	2.7%
5 to 17	0.3%	24.6%
18 to 24	0.0%	10.9%
25 to 34	0.2%	15.7%
35 to 44	0.4%	10.5%
45 to 54	1.5%	11.3%
55 to 64	11.0%	12.3%
65 to 74	32.0%	9.1%
75 and over	54.4%	2.8%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Desert Palms	Mecca
White (non-Hispanic)	89.5%	0.0%
Black or African American	2.5%	0.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	1.0%	0.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.0%
Two or more races	0.6%	1.0%
Hispanic or Latino	6.5%	99.0%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Desert Palms	Mecca
No high school diploma	4.5%	63.4%
High school graduate	18.6%	19.3%
Some college or associate's	28.1%	13.0%
Bachelor's degree	29.9%	4.3%
Graduate or professional degree	19.0%	0.0%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Desert Palms	Mecca
Drove alone	57.4%	69.5%
Carpooled	4.6%	24.6%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	0.0%	1.6%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	38.0%	4.2%
Other means	0.0%	0.1%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Desert Palms	Mecca
1-unit, detached	95.0%	38.1%
1-unit, attached	2.9%	5.1%
2 to 4 units	0.5%	10.4%
5 to 19 units	0.0%	20.0%
20 or more units	1.6%	1.8%
Mobile home & other	0.0%	24.6%

Poverty & households

	Desert Palms	Mecca
Poverty rate	9.4%	19.3%
Average household size	1.70	3.25
Mean commute (minutes)	25	26
Median year structure built	1999	1996