GarnetCA
A town of 7,382.
Is Garnet a good place to live?
Garnet earns a D, 626th among California's 841 graded towns, mostly because of health. Residents are less healthy than 90% of U.S. towns on CDC estimates. What it does well: it is more walkable than 59% of U.S. towns. Garnet’s July high is 105°F, above both the California town median (89°F) and the median of U.S. towns (85°F). FEMA rates its natural-hazard risk higher than 93% of U.S. communities, with earthquakes at the top.
98% of working residents leave Garnet for work
Where Garnet’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
How Garnet grades
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within California), ordered by how far Garnet is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Joshua Tree National Park and 19 more within 40 miles
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Garnet. Close and well known come first.
Big draw4 mi National ParkJoshua Tree National Park2.9M visitors a year
13 mi Stadium & arenaAcrisure Arena
14 mi MountainSan Jacinto Peak
23 mi MountainSan Gorgonio Mountain7 mi LandmarkForest Lawn Cemetery
36 mi LakeBig Bear LakePhoto 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 · Big Bear Lake: H.G. Judd, CC BY-SA 3.0
Moving to Garnet: who provides what
Garnet 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 Garnet.
Garnet has more 90° days than nearly all U.S. towns, has homes that are cheap against local pay and sends most of its workers to Palm Springs and beyond.
A larger share of adults have obesity in Garnet than in most of California or the rest of the country
42% of Garnet adults have obesity. Garnet beats the California average on 1 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 23. 15% of Garnet adults have diabetes.
| Garnet | California towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fair or poor health (CDC PLACES) | 33% | 22% | 19% |
| Food insecurity (CDC PLACES) | 33% | 16% | 14% |
| No health insurance, 18–64 (CDC PLACES) | 21% | 9% | 8.1% |
| Get no exercise (CDC PLACES) | 36% | 24% | 25% |
| What stands out | Garnet | CA |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults who have had cancer | 5.2% | 6.4% |
| More uninsured adults | 20.7% | 10.6% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
On state tests, Garnet’s schools trail 57% of California districts
Its public schools are run by the Palm Springs Unified school district. Its one school is below.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bubbling Wells ElementaryLargest public elementary schoolGrades K–5 | Grades K–5 | 581 | – |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within CA on state tests and graduation
Earthquakes leads a very high hazard risk in Garnet
One flood insurance claim has been paid in Garnet since 2019.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Conserved land covers 11.5% of Garnet
10 miles of trail in 0 parks and preserves. The trail density in Garnet is 1.3 miles per square mile.
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Most working residents commute out of Garnet
Garnet has 433 jobs for its 2,551 working residents: even if every job went to a resident, most would still commute out.
Most working residents leave Garnet for work: only 2% work in town. Since 2013, Garnet has added 214 jobs, to 433 in 2023. Garnet’s average trip to work is 29 minutes.
| Garnet | California towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Working residents who work in town | 1.9% | 6.6% | 8% |
| Average trip to work | 29 minutes | 28 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Median household income | $73,000 | $95,000 | $80,000 |
| Below the poverty line | 11% | 10% | 9.6% |
Where working residents work
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
In Garnet, expect mild winters and hot summers
The Palm Springs weather station, 6 miles away, records that about 183 days a year reach 90°, more than in 100% of U.S. towns. January nights average 43.3°, milder than in 96% of U.S. towns; July afternoons average 105.4°.
Garnet has warm winters and scorching summers, with very little rain. Snow is almost unheard of.
Typical low → high °F
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
The median home in Garnet sells for about $535K
At 3 years of the Riverside metro’s $90K median household income, the typical home costs less against local pay than in 97% of California towns; that ratio is one input to its C for cost of living. 76.1% of renter households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, against 55.3% across California.
Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Everything we know about Garnet
Colleges nearby
2 within 15 miles of the center of Garnet
About 10 of every 100 Garnet residents are enrolled in college, against 8 across California.
About Garnet
Census-designated place in California, United States
Garnet is a census-designated place in Riverside County, California. Garnet sits at an elevation of 797 feet (243 m). The 2020 United States census reported Garnet's population as 7,118.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
- Area
- 7.9 sq mi
- Elevation
- 797 ft
- Area code
- 760
Garnet’s neighbors
2 towns share a border with Garnet.
| Town | CA rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Garnet | #626 | D | C | — | C+ | D |
| Desert Hot Springs | #739 | D− | C− | C | C+ | D |
| Cathedral City | #611 | D | D | C+ | C+ | C |
Garnet reports no FBI crime data of its own. Compare Garnet with a neighbor →
Questions about Garnet
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Is Garnet, CA a good place to live?
Garnet grades D overall, better than 9% of U.S. towns and #626 of 841 in California. It grades D for health and C+ for schools. Hazard risk is its weak spot, with a D−.
Is Garnet, CA expensive?
The typical home is worth about $268,000, 65% 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 C.