Palm Desert vs Palm Springs

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

Palm Desert and Palm Springs 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 44,998 in Palm Springs). Palm Desert has the higher median household income ($79,508 vs $71,979 in Palm Springs). Palm Springs has the higher median home value ($567,300 vs $491,600 in Palm Desert).

Population, income & housing

	Palm Desert	Palm Springs
Population	51,551	44,998
Median age	56.7 yrs	57.8 yrs
Median household income	$79,508	$71,979
Median home value	$491,600	$567,300
Median gross rent	$1,717	$1,473
Housing units	36,584	36,959
Homeownership rate	64.4%	65.0%
Bachelor's degree or higher	39.9%	45.1%
Unemployment rate	6.1%	8.2%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Palm Desert	Palm Springs
Population	52,575 → 51,551 (-1.9%)	47,897 → 44,998 (-6.1%)
Median household income	$59,977 → $79,508 (+32.6%)	$53,441 → $71,979 (+34.7%)
Median home value	$350,400 → $491,600 (+40.3%)	$389,800 → $567,300 (+45.5%)
Median gross rent	$1,319 → $1,717 (+30.2%)	$1,114 → $1,473 (+32.2%)

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

Palm Springs

Population

47,89744,998

Median household income

$53,441$71,979

Median home value

$389,800$567,300

Median gross rent

$1,114$1,473

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Palm Desert	Palm Springs
Under 5	2.8%	2.3%
5 to 17	10.5%	6.2%
18 to 24	6.1%	5.4%
25 to 34	9.9%	9.0%
35 to 44	9.8%	7.5%
45 to 54	9.1%	13.8%
55 to 64	14.5%	22.0%
65 to 74	17.0%	19.5%
75 and over	20.3%	14.3%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Palm Desert	Palm Springs
White (non-Hispanic)	64.3%	62.5%
Black or African American	2.1%	5.2%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.6%
Asian	4.1%	4.5%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.1%	0.2%
Some other race	0.2%	0.2%
Two or more races	3.0%	2.5%
Hispanic or Latino	26.0%	24.3%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Palm Desert	Palm Springs
No high school diploma	7.3%	6.9%
High school graduate	17.6%	16.7%
Some college or associate's	35.3%	31.3%
Bachelor's degree	24.3%	25.7%
Graduate or professional degree	15.6%	19.5%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Palm Desert	Palm Springs
Drove alone	69.6%	62.0%
Carpooled	12.8%	7.2%
Public transit	0.7%	1.4%
Walked	1.1%	2.6%
Bicycle	0.2%	0.5%
Worked from home	14.1%	24.9%
Other means	1.5%	1.5%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Palm Desert	Palm Springs
1-unit, detached	38.2%	39.2%
1-unit, attached	29.8%	13.8%
2 to 4 units	7.2%	11.5%
5 to 19 units	7.8%	19.7%
20 or more units	7.8%	10.2%
Mobile home & other	9.3%	5.6%

Poverty & households

	Palm Desert	Palm Springs
Poverty rate	11.3%	13.7%
Average household size	2.11	1.82
Mean commute (minutes)	22	23
Median year structure built	1985	1978