Palm Desert vs San Jacinto

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

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

San Jacinto has the higher population (54,756 vs 51,551 in Palm Desert). Palm Desert has the higher median household income ($79,508 vs $78,281 in San Jacinto). Palm Desert has the higher median home value ($491,600 vs $391,600 in San Jacinto).

Population, income & housing

	Palm Desert	San Jacinto
Population	51,551	54,756
Median age	56.7 yrs	32.4 yrs
Median household income	$79,508	$78,281
Median home value	$491,600	$391,600
Median gross rent	$1,717	$1,633
Housing units	36,584	15,826
Homeownership rate	64.4%	73.0%
Bachelor's degree or higher	39.9%	13.9%
Unemployment rate	6.1%	8.8%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Palm Desert	San Jacinto
Population	52,575 → 51,551 (-1.9%)	47,989 → 54,756 (+14.1%)
Median household income	$59,977 → $79,508 (+32.6%)	$52,009 → $78,281 (+50.5%)
Median home value	$350,400 → $491,600 (+40.3%)	$241,000 → $391,600 (+62.5%)
Median gross rent	$1,319 → $1,717 (+30.2%)	$1,224 → $1,633 (+33.4%)

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

San Jacinto

Population

47,98954,756

Median household income

$52,009$78,281

Median home value

$241,000$391,600

Median gross rent

$1,224$1,633

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Palm Desert	San Jacinto
Under 5	2.8%	7.0%
5 to 17	10.5%	21.0%
18 to 24	6.1%	9.9%
25 to 34	9.9%	16.1%
35 to 44	9.8%	13.5%
45 to 54	9.1%	11.5%
55 to 64	14.5%	9.5%
65 to 74	17.0%	7.2%
75 and over	20.3%	4.3%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Palm Desert	San Jacinto
White (non-Hispanic)	64.3%	21.7%
Black or African American	2.1%	5.4%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.1%
Asian	4.1%	3.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.1%	0.6%
Some other race	0.2%	0.5%
Two or more races	3.0%	4.2%
Hispanic or Latino	26.0%	64.4%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Palm Desert	San Jacinto
No high school diploma	7.3%	22.6%
High school graduate	17.6%	29.6%
Some college or associate's	35.3%	34.0%
Bachelor's degree	24.3%	8.9%
Graduate or professional degree	15.6%	5.0%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Palm Desert	San Jacinto
Drove alone	69.6%	76.3%
Carpooled	12.8%	11.5%
Public transit	0.7%	0.6%
Walked	1.1%	1.3%
Bicycle	0.2%	0.1%
Worked from home	14.1%	8.6%
Other means	1.5%	1.5%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Palm Desert	San Jacinto
1-unit, detached	38.2%	73.7%
1-unit, attached	29.8%	3.1%
2 to 4 units	7.2%	4.7%
5 to 19 units	7.8%	1.8%
20 or more units	7.8%	2.0%
Mobile home & other	9.3%	14.8%

Poverty & households

	Palm Desert	San Jacinto
Poverty rate	11.3%	16.5%
Average household size	2.11	3.66
Mean commute (minutes)	22	42
Median year structure built	1985	2000