Desert Palms has higher unemployment (8.3%) than 89% of U.S. towns
Jobs and income earn Desert Palms C+; getting around on foot earns it C−. For 38% of workers, the job is at home, next to 17% for California as a whole. Only 4% work in Desert Palms; the top destination outside it is Palm Desert (6%, 5 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Jobs and commuting in Desert Palms: the gist
A big share show a job far from home
70% of working residents have a main job more than 50 miles away. Part of that is employers that report every worker at one head office, so not all of those trips happen daily. How far ↓
Home offices are common in Desert Palms
38% of Desert Palms workers work from home, against 17% across California. Time on the road ↓
Desert Palms’ workforce skews older
43% of Desert Palms’ working residents are 55 or older. That’s about two in five. The jobs ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey.
Breaking down the Jobs & income grade for Desert Palms
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Desert Palms is better than 42% of U.S. towns, #568 of 847 in California. Job access by car holds Desert Palms’ grade up (ahead of 59% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down. It also does well on household income and the poverty rate.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Desert Palms could be anywhere from C− to B+.
The distance from Desert Palms to work
About 70% show a job over 50 miles away. Some of that is real, and some is employers that report every worker at a head office, so a few long commutes are on paper only.
Straight-line distance from each worker’s home block to their main job’s block. LEHD 2023.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
About 25 minutes to work from Desert Palms
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Desert Palms workers work from home, vs 17% across California. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 645 commuters (the 38% who work from home are left out). Across California: 79% drive alone, 3% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
The kinds of work in Desert Palms
493 jobs are based in Desert Palms.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Desert Palms, 2013 → 2023: 499 → 493. Big swings can come from how a large employer reports its locations, not only from real openings or closings.
Primary jobs covered by unemployment insurance (not the self-employed). Pay is monthly earnings. LEHD 2023.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Desert Palms’s own residents hold wherever they work.
A workday in Desert Palms: who goes, who stays, who comes
On a workday 1,338 residents head out to work, 54 work right here, and 439 people come in from elsewhere.
About 5,700 people are in Desert Palms on a workday afternoon, 14% fewer than live here.
0.35 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute out.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
Out of Desert Palms to work: where people go
Where Desert Palms clocks in
6% of workers
6% of workersLines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
Desert Palms is a driving town
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Desert Palms is more walkable than 20% of U.S. towns, #806 of 847 in California. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: hardly any commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 7.1% across California.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,045 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 0% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 0% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 0.4 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 48% of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 4.5% of Desert Palms households have no vehicle (California 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Desert Palms’ commuters take a bus or train.
2,099th of 3,283: where Desert Palms ranks among U.S. towns of 4,600 to 8,900
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Glendale MO | 6,060 | $171K | 2.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Norwood NJ | 5,817 | $178K | 2.8% | 0.9% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 59 | Las Flores CA | 5,513 | $212K | 4.8% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 64 | Gold River CA | 7,924 | $175K | 2.9% | 2.4% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 109 | La Habra Heights CA | 5,327 | $180K | 4.9% | 2.8% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,097 | Lynchburg TN | 6,920 | $66K | 8.0% | 4.5% | 24% | C+ |
| 2,098 | Hamlin NY | 8,601 | $84K | 11.5% | 6.8% | 5% | C+ |
| 2,099 | Desert Palms CA | 6,579 | $80K | 9.6% | 8.3% | 4% | C+ |
| 2,100 | Connell WA | 5,080 | $78K | 7.9% | 4.0% | 20% | C+ |
| 2,101 | Loudon TN | 6,963 | $54K | 18.5% | 2.4% | 20% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,283 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 14% | D− |
Census ACS 2020–24 (income, poverty, unemployment), Census LEHD (work in town), TownRatings Jobs & income grades. Each town links to its Work & commute page.
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Desert Palms, the top three, the last and three more from California.
Around Desert Palms: the bordering towns
The biggest share goes to Indio (2%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Desert Palms workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Desert Palms | – | C+ | C− | 25 min | $79,792 |
| Indio | 2% | B− | B+ | 23 min | $77,167 |
| Thousand Palms | under 3% | B− | B | 22 min | $77,000 |
| Bermuda Dunes | under 3% | B | B+ | 21 min | $90,818 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Desert Palms’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Two sources, two years. Trips, distances and jobs based here: Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs, where the employer reports them. Income, poverty, unemployment, commute time and how people travel: Census ACS 2020–24 averages.
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Desert Palms: questions
What is the median household income in Desert Palms?
$79,792 (±$19,816) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $99,122 across California and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Desert Palms?
9.6%, against 12.0% across California and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Desert Palms?
25 minutes each way on average, against 29 across California and 26 nationally. 38% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Desert Palms work?
4% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Palm Desert (6%, 5 mi), San Diego (6%, 81 mi), Los Angeles (5%, 122 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Desert Palms walkable?
Desert Palms is more walkable than 20% of U.S. towns (Walkability C−): an EPA walkability index of 6.7 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Desert Palms without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Desert Palms, from the people who make the trip.
More of Desert Palms
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2023, primary jobs. Commute time, working from home and working out of state: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates. Distances are straight lines between home and work; real drives run longer. Walkability index, job access and transit service: U.S. EPA Smart Location Database. The two grades are our own summaries of these figures, not official ratings.