Palm Desert is a larger medium-sized city located in the state of California. With a population of 51,583 people and 18 associated neighborhoods, Palm Desert is the 182nd largest community in California.

Housing costs in Palm Desert are among some of the highest in the nation, although real estate prices here don't compare to real estate prices in the most expensive communities in California.

Of important note, Palm Desert is also a city of artists. Palm Desert has more artists, designers and people working in media than 90% of the communities in America. This concentration of artists helps shape Palm Desert’s character.

Telecommuters are a relatively large percentage of the workforce: 13.43% of people work from home. While this number may seem small overall, as a fraction of the total workforce it is high relative to the nation. These workers are often telecommuters who work in knowledge-based, white-collar professions. For example, Silicon Valley has large numbers of people who telecommute. Other at-home workers may be self-employed people who operate small businesses out of their homes.

Another notable thing is that Palm Desert is an extremely popular vacation destination. A significant portion of the population is seasonal. During the vacation season, the city experiences a large influx of people who take up residence in second homes they own in the area. As the vacation season ends, the population drops again, leaving behind a substantially quieter and smaller city.

The education level of Palm Desert citizens is very high relative to the national average among all cities (21.84%): 39.93% of adults in Palm Desert have a bachelor's degree or even advanced degree.

The per capita income in Palm Desert in 2022 was $55,369, which is upper middle income relative to California, and wealthy relative to the rest of the US. This equates to an annual income of $221,476 for a family of four. However, Palm Desert contains both very wealthy and poor people as well.

Palm Desert is an extremely ethnically-diverse city. The people who call Palm Desert home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Palm Desert residents report their race to be White, followed by Asian. Palm Desert also has a sizeable Hispanic population (people of Hispanic origin can be of any race). People of Hispanic or Latino origin account for 23.99% of the city’s residents. Important ancestries of people in Palm Desert include English, German, Irish, Italian, and Scottish.

Foreign born people are also an important part of Palm Desert's cultural character, accounting for 16.75% of the city’s population.

The most common language spoken in Palm Desert is English. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and Tagalog.