HomeCaliforniaRiverside CountyPalm Desert city
Palm Desert city, California: commercial real estate data.
Palm Desert city is a Census city of 51,990 people across 26.78 square miles of land, in Riverside County. Median household income is $77,513, 65.0 percent of occupied homes are owned, and the SBA record carries 130 7(a) approvals to borrowers here worth $73.5 m.
82 sourced place values · tier FULL · 9 sections · underlined figures are computed by MMCG Analytics, not published by the agency
Palm Desert
What Palm Desert is
- Census place typecity
- Land area26.78 sq mi
- Water area0.2 sq mi
- Population per square mile of land1,942
- County holding the largest share of its areaRiverside County, 100.0 percent
US Census Bureau, cartographic boundary file, places, 2024 vintage. US Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates, place level, 2020-2024 5-year.
Palm Desert
How many people live in Palm Desert
- Population51,990
- Median age57.5
- Population under 186,647
- Share under 1812.8 percent
- Population 65 and over19,598
- Share 65 and over37.7 percent
- Households24,690
- Family households13,802
- Share of households that are families55.9 percent
US Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates, place level, 2020-2024 5-year.
Palm Desert
Income and work in Palm Desert
- Median household income$77,513
- Per capita income$57,858
- Civilian labor force22,679
- Employed21,236
- Unemployed1,443
- Unemployment rate6.4 percent
- Adults 25 and over42,226
- Adults 25 and over with a high school diploma or higher93.6 percent
- Adults 25 and over with a bachelor degree or higher40.7 percent
- Adults 25 and over with a graduate degree16.3 percent
US Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates, place level, 2020-2024 5-year.
Palm Desert
Housing in Palm Desert
- Housing units37,028
- Occupied units24,690
- Vacant units12,338
- Vacancy rate33.3 percent
- Owner occupied16,039
- Renter occupied8,651
- Ownership rate65.0 percent
- Median owner-occupied home value$542,000
- Median gross rent, monthly$1,778
- Annual rent as a share of median income27.5 percent
- Single family units25,329
- Share single family68.4 percent
- Units in buildings of two or more8,134
- Share in buildings of two or more22.0 percent
- Mobile homes3,552
- Median year structure built1985
US Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates, place level, 2020-2024 5-year.
Palm Desert
How Palm Desert gets to work
- Workers 16 and over who commute17,507
- Commuting under 15 minutes6,138
- Share commuting under 15 minutes35.1 percent
- Commuting 30 minutes or more3,233 plus or minus 651
- Share commuting 30 minutes or more18.5 percent
- Drove alone69.0 percent
- Carpooled13.3 percent plus or minus 6.1
- Public transport0.7 percent plus or minus 0.6
- Walked1.1 percent plus or minus 0.6
- Worked from home14.9 percent
US Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates, place level, 2020-2024 5-year.
Palm Desert
SBA loans in Palm Desert (7(a))
- Approvals130
- Gross approval$73,507,100
- Average approval$565,439
- Median approval$297,500
- Ninetieth percentile approval$1,643,000
- Largest approval$5,000,000
- Jobs supported1,271
- Jobs per approval9.8
- Loans with a final outcome23
- Paid in full20
- Charged off3
- Charge-off rate over resolved loans13.0 percent
- Median term120 months
- Share on real estate terms of 20 years or more26.2 percent
- Share to franchises15.4 percent
- Distinct lenders43
- Distinct industries by NAICS70
US Small Business Administration, 7(a) FOIA release, FY2020 to FY2026 year to date, as of 2026-06-30.
Palm Desert
SBA loans in Palm Desert (504)
- Approvals99
- Gross approval$62,046,000
- Average approval$626,727
- Median approval$488,000
- Largest approval$3,967,000
- Jobs supported1,024
- Loans with a final outcome39
- Charged off0
- Charge-off rate over resolved loans0.0 percent
- Median term300 months
- Distinct CDCs11
US Small Business Administration, 504 FOIA release, FY2010 to FY2026 year to date, as of 2026-06-30.
Palm Desert
Flood risk in Palm Desert
- Listed NFIP communities1
- Of those, participating1
- NFIP community number060629
- Currently effective map date04/19/17
This community carries no Community Rating System class, so no CRS premium discount applies to it.
FEMA, National Flood Insurance Program Community Status Book, Community Status Book, as retrieved.
Riverside County, not Palm Desert
Riverside County context, not Palm Desert figures
These are Riverside County figures. There is no place level equivalent published for any of them, so they are shown as the county backdrop and never as Palm Desert measurements.
- Establishments in Riverside County46,244
- Employment at those establishments, Riverside County687,526
- Covered employment, Riverside County840,433
- Average annual pay, Riverside County$59,734
- Average weekly wage, Riverside County$1,149
- Housing units permitted, Riverside County9,598
- Of those, single family, Riverside County8,016
- County product, 2024, Riverside County$134,756,586,000
- County product change over the prior year, Riverside County6.1 percent
- Average income of an arriving household, Riverside County$80,685
Every figure in this section is published for Riverside County as a whole and is not a measurement of Palm Desert. It is here because a county backdrop is what a credit committee reads a place against, and it is labelled so that it can never be quoted as the place's own.
US Census Bureau, County Business Patterns, 2023. US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages, 2024 annual averages. US Census Bureau, Building Permits Survey, 2024 annual. US Bureau of Economic Analysis, Regional, table CAGDP2, CAGDP2, through 2024. US Internal Revenue Service, Statistics of Income county migration flows, 2021 to 2022 filing years.
Coverage
What this page does not hold.
Every item below could be filled with a plausible figure. None of them is. On a page a lender may read, a number that cannot be traced is worse than an absence, so the absences are named.
- Parcel level detail, zoning and flood zone at an address are resolved in the platform, not on this page.
SBA figures count approvals to borrowers whose address is in the place. They are not approvals for projects inside the place boundary: the tape records a borrower city and a project county, and those can differ.
Common questions
Palm Desert questions, answered from the record.
How many people live in Palm Desert, California?
51,990, in 24,690 households. Palm Desert city covers 26.78 square miles of land, which is 1,942 people per square mile. Source: US Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates, place level, 2020-2024 5-year.
What county is Palm Desert in?
Riverside County, which holds 100.0 percent of the place by area. Source: US Census Bureau, cartographic boundary file, places, 2024 vintage.
What is the median household income in Palm Desert?
$77,513. The median owner-occupied home is valued at $542,000. Median gross rent is $1,778 per month. Source: US Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates, place level, 2020-2024 5-year.
How much SBA lending goes to Palm Desert businesses?
130 7(a) approvals totalling $73.5 m, across 43 lenders, median approval $297,500, plus 99 504 approvals worth $62.0 m. These count approvals to borrowers whose address is in Palm Desert, not projects sited inside the place boundary, and they are approvals recorded in the release rather than loans disbursed.
Do SBA loans to Palm Desert borrowers get paid back?
Of the 23 loans that have reached a final outcome, 20 were paid in full and 3 charged off, a charge off rate of 13.0 percent. Loans still running are excluded because they have not yet succeeded or failed.
Is Palm Desert in the National Flood Insurance Program?
Yes. Palm Desert appears in the FEMA Community Status Book as community 060629, with no Community Rating System class, so no CRS discount applies. Whether a specific parcel sits in a mapped special flood hazard area is an address level question the platform answers.
Are the county figures on this page Palm Desert figures?
No, and they are labelled so. County Business Patterns, QCEW, the Building Permits Survey, BEA product and IRS migration are published for Riverside County as a whole and there is no place level equivalent. They appear in one clearly marked section as context and are never presented as measurements of Palm Desert.
Is zoning published for Palm Desert?
Not yet. The zoning layer is in build. Nothing on this page presents parcel level zoning.
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