Palm Desert

Sister cities

• Ketchikan
• Haifa
• Wollongong
• Gisborne District
• Gqeberha

History

Palm Desert is in the ancestral homeland of two now-extinct Cahuilla tribes - the Las Palmas band and the San Cayetano band - of the Cahuilla people, who are nowadays organized as a division of the Morongo Band of Mission Indians. The area was first known as the Old MacDonald Ranch before the name changed to Palm Village in the 1920s when date palm groves were planted. After the war, the part of the site south of Highway 111 was developed into "El Paseo," an upscale shopping district modeled after Rodeo Drive. In 1951, the town adopted the name Palm Desert and absorbed Palm Village. On November 26, 1973, Palm Desert was incorporated as the 17th city in Riverside County. At incorporation, the city covered about 8.5 square miles with a population of approximately 14,166. Since then, both population and area have expanded significantly.

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has an area of , of which is land and , or 0.76%, is water. The elevation (at City Hall) is above sea level. The Coachella Valley's climate is influenced by high mountain ranges on three sides and a south-sloping valley floor contribute to its year-round warmth. Its winters are among the warmest in the western U.S. Palm Desert has a hot desert climate: its average annual high temperature is and average annual low is , but summer highs above are common and sometimes exceed , while summer night lows often stay above . Winters are warm, with daytime highs between . Under of annual precipitation is average, with over 348 days of sunshine per year. The mean annual temperature, at , makes Palm Desert one of the warmest places in the country. The hottest temperature ever recorded in Palm Desert was , on July 6, 1905. The surrounding mountains create a thermal belt in the southern foothills of Palm Desert, namely Cahuilla Hills and Bighorn, leading to a micro-climate with significantly warmer night-time temperatures during the winter months. The University of California maintains weather stations located in this thermal belt as part of their ecological project in the Philip L. Boyd Deep Canyon Desert Research Center.

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• Costa's Hummingbird

  Calypte costae (Bourcier, 1839) · Aves
  14,705
• House Finch

  Haemorhous mexicanus (P.L.Statius Müller, 1776) · Aves
  14,604
• Common Raven

  Corvus corax Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  13,722
• Mourning Dove

  Zenaida macroura (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  12,854
• Verdin

  Auriparus flaviceps (Sundevall, 1850) · Aves
  12,660
• Northern Mockingbird

  Mimus polyglottos (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  12,287
• Yellow-rumped Warbler

  Setophaga coronata (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  10,321
• Black Phoebe

  Sayornis nigricans (Swainson, 1827) · Aves
  9,756

Largest nearby schools

• La Quinta High
  High · La Quinta · 2,500 students · 24.8:1 ratio
• Indio High
  High · Indio · 2,143 students · 25.5:1 ratio
• Palm Desert High
  High · Palm Desert · 2,050 students · 24.4:1 ratio
• Shadow Hills High
  High · Indio · 1,751 students · 22.7:1 ratio
• Rancho Mirage High
  High · Rancho Mirage · 1,491 students · 21.9:1 ratio
• Cathedral City High
  High · Cathedral City · 1,395 students · 20.2:1 ratio
• Palm Desert Charter Middle
  Middle · Palm Desert · 1,347 students · 27.5:1 ratio
• Imagine Schools Riverside County
  Elementary · Coachella · 1,312 students · 23.9:1 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 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
• M 3.64 — 2026-08-19
  14 km N of Warner Springs, CA