Desert Hot Springs

History

The only people residing in areas north of Palm Springs before the 20th century were the Cahuilla Indians in the village of Seven Palms. Cabot Yerxa arrived in 1913 and soon discovered the hot water aquifer on Miracle Hill. Due to the Mission Creek Branch of the San Andreas Fault bisecting the area, one side is a cold water aquifer, the other has a hot water aquifer. His large Pueblo Revival Style architecture structure, hand built over 20 years, is now one of the oldest adobe-style buildings in Riverside County and houses Cabot's Pueblo Museum, designated a state historical site after his death in 1965. Cabot's Trading Post & Gallery opened there in February 2008. The town was founded by L. W. Coffee on July 12, 1941. The original town site was centered at the intersection of Palm Drive and Pierson Boulevard and was only one square mile. Coffee chose the name Desert Hot Springs because of the area's natural hot springs. Desert Hot Springs became a tourist destination in the 1950s because of its small spa hotels and boutique hotels. The city is popular with "snowbirds." The bankruptcy was resolved in 2004 by selling municipal bonds when it faced a legal judgment of almost $6 million. Desert Hot Springs experienced periods of significant growth in the 1980s and 1990s when most of the vacant lots were filled with new houses and duplex apartments. The city's population doubled in the 1980s and increased by 5,000 in the 2000 census. Desert Hot Springs was the first city in Southern California to legalize medical marijuana cultivation and has since been overwhelmed by marijuana developers and growers. It was featured in a CNBC special as California's first city to permit the commercial cultivation of marijuana in 2014.

Geography

Before the development of the city began in the 1930s, Desert Hot Springs was a treeless place in California's Colorado Desert. Desert Hot Springs has a desert climate (Köppen climate classification BWh) similar to the rest of the Coachella Valley, with less than six inches of precipitation per year. Summers are very hot with days frequently exceeding in July and August while night-time lows tend to stay between . The winters are mild with days typically seeing temperatures between and corresponding night-time lows between . Heat waves during the summer months involving temperatures higher than are not unusual. Summer winds and the higher elevation keep Desert Hot Springs on average 5–7 degrees cooler than other communities in Coachella Valley. |date=July 2011 }} The Mission Creek Fault, a branch of the San Andreas, separates two aquifers. On one side, the Desert Hot Springs Sub-Basin contains an aquifer with hot water. This aquifer supports the area's spas and resorts. Mission Springs Sub-basin, on the other side of the fault, the Miracle Creek sub-basin has cold water. This aquifer provides fresh water to the city and has received awards for exceptional taste.

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• House Finch

  Haemorhous mexicanus (P.L.Statius Müller, 1776) · Aves
  11,393
• Common Raven

  Corvus corax Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  9,994
• White-crowned Sparrow

  Zonotrichia leucophrys (J.R.Forster, 1772) · Aves
  8,883
• Lesser Goldfinch

  Spinus psaltria (Say, 1822) · Aves
  8,202
• Anna's Hummingbird

  Calypte anna (R.Lesson, 1829) · Aves
  8,074
• Costa's Hummingbird

  Calypte costae (Bourcier, 1839) · Aves
  8,007
• Yellow-rumped Warbler

  Setophaga coronata (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  7,621
• Bewick's Wren

  Thryomanes bewickii (Audubon, 1827) · Aves
  7,333

Largest nearby schools

• Desert Hot Springs High
  High · Desert Hot Springs · 1,742 students · 19.4:1 ratio
• Palm Springs High
  High · Palm Springs · 1,584 students · 23:1 ratio
• Desert Springs Middle
  Middle · Desert Hot Springs · 803 students · 23.6:1 ratio
• Bella Vista Elementary
  Elementary · Desert Hot Springs · 755 students · 21.6:1 ratio
• Painted Hills Middle
  Middle · Desert Hot Springs · 741 students · 22.5:1 ratio
• Two Bunch Palms Elementary
  Elementary · Desert Hot Springs · 711 students · 22.2:1 ratio
• Raymond Cree Middle
  Middle · Palm Springs · 708 students · 20.8:1 ratio
• Rio Vista Elementary
  Elementary · Cathedral City · 690 students · 20.9:1 ratio

Most recent

• M 3.08 — 2026-10-01
  20 km ESE of Anza, CA
• M 2.63 — 2026-09-23
  9 km WNW of Anza, CA
• M 2.67 — 2026-09-08
  39 km NE of Big Bear City, CA
• M 3.2 — 2026-09-02
  6 km SE of Ontario, CA
• M 2.91 — 2026-08-31
  22 km SSW of La Quinta, CA
• M 3.06 — 2026-08-25
  12 km WSW of Salton City, CA