Desert PalmsCA
Home to 6,579 people, this town lies in California.
Is Desert Palms a good place to live?
More weak spots than strong ones. Where it falls short is cost of living (D−): the typical home is worth about $567K, 6.3 years of the Riverside metro’s $90K median household income. With a D overall, Desert Palms is better than 7% of U.S. towns and ranks 667th of 841 in California. Its strongest is schools: its schools outperform 56% of the state's. Desert Palms’ midsummer high is 107°F, against 89°F in California’s towns and 85°F across U.S. towns. FEMA rates its natural-hazard risk higher than 92% of U.S. communities, with inland flooding at the top. Most errands need a car: it is less walkable than four fifths of U.S. towns. Desert Palms’ density of trails is 6.0 miles per square mile, where California’s towns sit at 1.0 and U.S. towns at 0.4.
Figures: schools, state test and graduation results · home values, Zillow · incomes, Census ACS, 2020–24 · FEMA National Risk Index · NOAA normals, 1991–2020 · OpenStreetMap.
96% of working residents leave Desert Palms for work
Where Desert Palms’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
How Desert Palms grades
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within California), ordered by how far Desert Palms is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Joshua Tree National Park and 17 more within 40 miles
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Desert Palms. Close and well known come first.
Big draw8 mi National ParkJoshua Tree National Park2.9M visitors a year
2 mi Stadium & arenaAcrisure Arena9 mi LandmarkForest Lawn Cemetery
22 mi MountainSan Jacinto Peak
37 mi MountainSan Gorgonio Mountain
36 mi State parkAnza-Borrego Desert State ParkPhoto credits
Joshua Tree National Park: Sergiy Galyonkin, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Acrisure Arena: TheAHL, CC BY 2.0 · San Jacinto Peak: Wattewyl, CC BY 3.0 · San Gorgonio Mountain: Doc Searls, CC BY-SA 2.0 · Anza-Borrego Desert State Park: No machine-readable author provided. Miskatonic assumed (based on copyright clai, CC BY 2.5
Moving to Desert Palms: who provides what
Desert Palms is unincorporated, so Riverside County and regional agencies provide most services.
EPA SDWIS (Oct 9, 2026) · HIFLD + EIA-861 2025 · Census 2020 ZCTAs · NCES 2024–25 · registration: vote.gov, updated Nov 18, 2024.
The data
Ordered by what stands out in Desert Palms.
Desert Palms is a second-home town, has more 90° days than nearly all U.S. towns and has an unusually large share working from home.
The median age in Desert Palms is higher than in most of California or the rest of the country
18.2% of homes are seasonal or vacation homes, against 2.4% statewide, which helps explain the older median age.
The share of adults 25 and older in Desert Palms who hold a bachelor’s degree or more: 46%. People 65 and older are 84% of residents (16% statewide); adults 35 to 64 are 15% of residents (39% statewide).
| Desert Palms | California towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median age | 77.1 years | 39 years | 40.5 years |
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 46% | 29% | 29% |
Ages · share of residents
Education · adults 25 and older
Women and men · all residents
55% women, 45% men
About 81 men for every 100 women (the survey’s margin: ±1.5 points). Across California, 50.1% of residents are women. Median age: women 76.3, men 77.7.
| Desert Palms | CA | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 0.2% | 11.4% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 0.3% | 10.5% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 0% | 9.1% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 0.4% | 14.8% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 0.4% | 13.9% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 1.9% | 12.5% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 12.5% | 12.1% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 27% | 9.2% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 57.3% | 6.5% | 7% |
| No diploma | 4.2% | 15.3% | 10.4% |
| High school | 18.8% | 20.5% | 26% |
| Some college | 22.6% | 19.3% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 8.1% | 7.9% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 28.8% | 22.7% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 17.5% | 14.4% | 14.1% |
U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates
In Desert Palms, 0.3% of the land is conserved
Among 788 California towns, just 7 have a higher density of trails than Desert Palms. 16 miles of trail.
| Desert Palms | California towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miles of trail per square mile | 6.0 miles per square mile | 1.0 | 0.4 |
| Conserved land | 0.3% | 4.3% | 4.3% |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
The biggest natural risk in Desert Palms is inland flooding, at a very high overall level
Of the losses FEMA expects in Desert Palms, 54% come from inland flooding and 45% from earthquakes.
FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Desert Palms has 0.4 jobs per working resident, so most workers leave town for work
38.3% of workers work from home, against 17.2% across California.
3.9% of working residents work locally in Desert Palms. Half commute less than 79 miles. The top destinations are Palm Desert (6%), San Diego (6%) and Los Angeles (5%).
| Desert Palms | California towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Working residents who work in town | 3.9% | 6.6% | 8% |
| Average trip to work | 25 minutes | 28 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Median household income | $80,000 | $95,000 | $80,000 |
Where working residents work
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
In Desert Palms, a typical July afternoon runs hotter than in the typical California or U.S. town
The Indio Fire Stn weather station, 7 miles away, records that about 184 days a year reach 90°, more than in 100% of U.S. towns. January nights average 44.6°, milder than in 97% of U.S. towns; July afternoons average 106.8°.
Winters in Desert Palms are warm and summers scorching, with very little rain. Desert Palms’ January low comes in at 45°F. Snow is almost unheard of.
| Desert Palms | California towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| July high | 107°F | 89°F | 85°F |
| January low | 45°F | 40°F | 22°F |
Typical low → high °F
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Health in Desert Palms trails 53% of U.S. towns
Desert Palms: 7.4% of adults worry about having enough food. CDC measures, 32 in all: Desert Palms beats California on 17 and trails on 9. No town among the 847 in California we compare has a higher share of adults who have high blood pressure than Desert Palms. Two figures for adults locally: 9.9% report frequent mental distress, 4.7% binge drink.
| Desert Palms | California towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Diabetes (CDC PLACES) | 18% | 12% | 12% |
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 9.9% | 17% | 17% |
| Binge drink (CDC PLACES) | 4.7% | 16% | 16% |
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 26% | 35% | 36% |
| What stands out | Desert Palms | CA |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults facing housing insecurity | 4.1% | 14.9% |
| Fewer binge drinkers | 4.7% | 15.3% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 21.8% | 6.4% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Homes in Desert Palms sell for about $512K
On the market in Desert Palms: a median 80 days to sell. Among households locally, 86% live in a home they own. Desert Palms’ typical rent stands at $1,957 a month.
| Desert Palms | California towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 86% | 64% | 73% |
| Median rent | $1,957 a month | $1,895 a month | $1,185 a month |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Everything we know about Desert Palms
Colleges nearby
2 within 15 miles of the center of Desert Palms
About 2 of every 100 Desert Palms residents are enrolled in college, against 8 across California.
About Desert Palms
Census-designated place in California, United States
Desert Palms is a census-designated place in the Coachella Valley of eastern Riverside County, southern California. As of the 2020 census, Desert Palms had a population of 6,686. A gated 55+ senior living community, Sun City Palm Desert, comprises the majority of the included area.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
- Area
- 2.7 sq mi
- Elevation
- 112 ft
Desert Palms’s neighbors
3 towns share a border with Desert Palms.
All 3 graded towns on its borders grade higher than its D; Indio (D) is closest.
| Town | CA rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Desert Palms | #667 | D | D− | — | B | B− |
| Indio | #577 | D | D | C+ | B | C |
| Thousand Palms | #536 | C− | C+ | — | C+ | C− |
| Bermuda Dunes | #433 | C | D | — | B | B |
Desert Palms, Thousand Palms and Bermuda Dunes report no FBI crime data of their own. Compare Desert Palms with a neighbor →
Questions about Desert Palms
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Is Desert Palms, CA a good place to live?
Desert Palms grades D overall, better than 7% of U.S. towns and #667 of 841 in California. It grades B− for health and B for schools. Cost of living is its weak spot, with a D−.
Is Desert Palms, CA expensive?
Yes. The typical home is worth about $567,000, 25% below the California typical home. Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades D−.