Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Rancho Mirage grades D overall, ranked 607th of 841 in California, mostly because of safety. It reports more crime per resident than 78% of U.S. towns, including 31 violent crimes reported to the FBI in 2025. What it does well: it is more walkable than 74% of U.S. towns. 53% of residents are 65 or older in Rancho Mirage, against 16% in California’s towns and 18% across U.S. towns. FEMA rates its natural-hazard risk higher than 98% of U.S. communities, with inland flooding at the top. Among 847 California towns, just 4 have a higher midpoint age than Rancho Mirage.
Where Rancho Mirage beats most towns, and one thing worth knowing.
Where Rancho Mirage’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within California), ordered by how far Rancho Mirage is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 1,298 in 1970, 16,999 in 2020. The archive holds 18 old photos and papers going back to 1996 and 5 maps from 1941 on.
1 place on the National Register of Historic Places.
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Rancho Mirage. Close and well known come first.
Big draw12 mi National ParkJoshua Tree National Park2.9M visitors a year
5 mi Stadium & arenaAcrisure Arena4 mi LandmarkForest Lawn Cemetery
15 mi MountainSan Jacinto Peak
33 mi MountainSan Gorgonio Mountain
35 mi State parkAnza-Borrego Desert State ParkJoshua 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
Who provides power, water and the rest in Rancho Mirage, and how to reach them.
EPA SDWIS (Oct 9, 2026) · HIFLD + EIA-861 2025 · Census 2020 ZCTAs · NCES 2024–25 · registration: vote.gov, updated Nov 18, 2024.
Ordered by what stands out in Rancho Mirage.
Rancho Mirage is a second-home town, draws workers from Cathedral City and beyond and fares better on crime within California than nationally.
The largest public high school is Rancho Mirage High, with 1,401 students. The Palm Springs Unified school district runs its public schools. Of its 3 schools, two are listed below, each with the reason.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rancho Mirage ElementaryLargest public elementary schoolGrades K–5 | Grades K–5 | 349 | – |
| Rancho Mirage HighLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 1,401 | C+ |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within CA on state tests and graduation
14,111 jobs are based in Rancho Mirage, 2.9 for every working resident, so most of the people who work here commute in. 30.5% of workers work from home, against 17.2% across California.
Rancho Mirage: 31% of workers work remotely from home. Only 14% of working residents stay in Rancho Mirage for work; the rest commute out. Since 2013, Rancho Mirage has added 1,264 jobs, to 14,111 in 2023. The middle household income locally is $107,000.
| Rancho Mirage | California towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Work from home | 31% | 14% | 11% |
| Median household income | $107,000 | $95,000 | $80,000 |
| Working residents who work in town | 14% | 6.6% | 8% |
| Below the poverty line | 12% | 10% | 9.6% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Paid flood insurance claims in Rancho Mirage since 1979: 69. Expected losses in Rancho Mirage break down as 75% from inland flooding and 25% from earthquakes. Also worth knowing: households in the town have drawn federal disaster aid in 4 declared disasters, most recently in 2023.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA disaster declarations and aid · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Its 5,012 conserved acres are a larger share of the town than in 92% of California towns.
Trails total 32 miles in 8 parks and preserves. The biggest park or preserve is Blixseth Mountain Park, at 34 acres. For Rancho Mirage, the trail network density is 1.3 miles per square mile.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains National Monument | 8.4 mi | 5,631 |
| 2. Blixseth Mountain Park | — | 34 |
| 3. Rancho Mirage Community Park | — | 10 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
At 33.7 crimes per 1,000 residents a year, it reports more crime than 63% of California’s graded towns. Reported crimes fell from 684 to 334 over the last three FBI years, a drop beyond ordinary year-to-year swings.
The rate of thefts and burglaries for Rancho Mirage comes to 16.6 per 1,000 residents. The level of violent crime for Rancho Mirage comes to 1.7 per 1,000 residents.
| Rancho Mirage | California towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 16.6 per 1,000 residents | 13.3 | 9.9 |
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 1.7 per 1,000 residents | 2.9 | 1.6 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
January nights average 45.2°, milder than in 97% of U.S. towns; July afternoons average 106°.
Rancho Mirage’s January low is 45°F. It almost never snows. Snow is almost unheard of.
| Rancho Mirage | California towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| July high | 106°F | 89°F | 85°F |
| January low | 45°F | 40°F | 22°F |
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Against the 7,566 U.S. towns with household incomes like Rancho Mirage’s, it is less healthy than 70%: its national edge comes with its incomes.
A fifth of adults have been diagnosed with depression in Rancho Mirage. Only 4 of the 847 California towns we compare have a lower share of adults who binge drink than Rancho Mirage. On the CDC’s 32 measures, Rancho Mirage is ahead of California on 18 and behind on 10.
| Rancho Mirage | California towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Binge drink (CDC PLACES) | 9.2% | 16% | 16% |
| High blood pressure (CDC PLACES) | 48% | 31% | 35% |
| Yearly checkup (CDC PLACES) | 83% | 72% | 79% |
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 12% | 17% | 17% |
| What stands out | Rancho Mirage | CA |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults facing housing insecurity | 7.2% | 14.9% |
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 9.6% | 17.9% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 15.8% | 6.4% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Its typical home is the priciest on its borders; Palm Springs is next at $612K. 67.4% of renter households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, against 55.3% across California.
On the market in Rancho Mirage: a median 97 days to sell. The share of households in Rancho Mirage who live in a home they own: 82%. In Rancho Mirage, the midpoint rent is $1,510 a month.
| Rancho Mirage | California towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 82% | 64% | 73% |
| Median rent | $1,510 a month | $1,898 a month | $1,185 a month |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
2 within 15 miles of the center of Rancho Mirage
About 4 of every 100 Rancho Mirage residents are enrolled in college, against 8 across California.
City in California, United States
Rancho Mirage is a city in Riverside County, California, United States. The city is a low-density desert community with resorts, golf courses, and country clubs within the Colorado Desert section of the Sonoran Desert. Nestled along the foothills of the Santa Rosa Mountains in the south, it is located about ten miles southeast of Palm Springs. The city is adjacent to Cathedral City, Palm Desert, and unincorporated Thousand Palms. The population was 16,999 at the 2020 census, down from 17,218 at the 2010 census, though the seasonal population can exceed 20,000. Incorporated in 1973, Rancho Mirage is one of the nine cities of the Coachella Valley. The city has been nicknamed "Playground of th…
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
3 towns share a border with Rancho Mirage.
| Town | CA rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rancho Mirage | #607 | D | D− | C− | C+ | B |
| Cathedral City | #611 | D | D | C+ | C+ | C |
| Palm Desert | #584 | D | D− | C− | B | B |
| Palm Springs | #666 | D | D | D | C+ | B− |
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Rancho Mirage grades D overall, better than 10% of U.S. towns and #607 of 841 in California. It grades B for health, C− for safety and C+ for schools. Hazard risk is its weak spot, with a D−.
Yes. That is 9.3 years of the area's median household income ($89,662 across the Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA metro area). Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades D−.
