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Place dossier plate
SheetCA-PALM-SPRINGS-CA · Palm Springs, CA 44,998 pop · income 52nd pct
Instrument codes from this place’s ACS population and household income, BEA state COL, FBI safety, national income percentile, photo-finish peer city, home-value band, and matched Census-tract book - not a moving recommendation.
Income neighbourhood around Palm Springs
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Palm Springs on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
El Centro · lowest
56,093
El Centro · lowest
56,093 median HH income
25.1% of the leader · rank #1
Bolivar Penin… · near
71,970
Bolivar Penin… · near
71,970 median HH income
32.2% of the leader · rank #2
Browns Mills · near
71,975
Browns Mills · near
71,975 median HH income
32.2% of the leader · rank #3
Woodlyn · near
71,978
Woodlyn · near
71,978 median HH income
32.2% of the leader · rank #4
Palm Springs · this city
71,979
Palm Springs · this city
71,979 median HH income
32.2% of the leader · rank #5
Holland · near
71,979
Holland · near
71,979 median HH income
32.2% of the leader · rank #6
Danville · highest
223,206
Danville · highest
223,206 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #7
What this shows Neighbourhood peers only - not a full nationwide city board. Open a near peer when the gap is small; open the poles when the spread is wide.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by population, income, and FBI crime rate
Out-of-state nearest neighbors for Palm Springs on ACS population and median household income
, plus FBI UCR reporting rate when the extract covers this place. Link sets are deduped so each column is a distinct comparison path, not a forecast that peers share a labor market or climate.
Similar population
Nearest out-of-state cities by ACS population. This city: 44,998.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Palm Springs - the verdict
Nationally, Palm Springs sits in the 52nd percentile for household income and the 8th percentile for safety among US cities with a population of 1,000 or more. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
52nd
percentile, household income
88th
percentile, home value
88th
percentile, median rent
8th
percentile, safety
📝 How we sourced this
Population, income, and housing-cost figures come from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 5-year estimates (B-series tables). Crime data uses FBI UCR; climate uses NOAA Climate Normals; school counts come from NCES Common Core of Data; permits use the Census Building Permits Survey (BPS). See our methodology page for the full ETL pipeline and OMB / FIPS join keys.
Data Snapshot: Palm Springs, CA
Census ACS 2023 estimates count 44,998 residents in Palm Springs, a small city within California. Households in Palm Springs report a median income of $71,979 per year, above the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 8.2%. Palm Springs's housing stock carries a median value of $567,300, and the median resident age is 57.8 years. Educational attainment runs 45.1% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 46.6% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
In 2024, 114 residential building permits were authorized in Palm Springs (Construction Slowdown), down 45% from five years earlier, per Census BPS data. Palm Springs's reported crime rate runs above the national norm: FBI UCR reporting places total crime at 3816.7 incidents per 100,000 residents, above the national average (voluntary agency reporting, reflects reporting activity, not a definitive danger score). The annual average temperature per NOAA climate normals runs 75.1°F with 5.1 inches of precipitation per year.
California carries a cost-of-living premium: on BEA's 100-equals-national-average cost index, California scores 110.7 (Well Above Average), per the 2024 Regional Price Parities release. HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in this state is $2,053 per month. EIA 2023 residential energy data puts California's average monthly utility costs around $275 (state average). Workers in Palm Springs report an average commute of 17.5 minutes, with 62.0% driving alone and 24.9% working from home. FEMA's National Risk Index rates natural-hazard exposure at 88.7 out of 100 (Very High).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Palm Springs's data
How this reading path is ordered
This is not a composite city score. It is a city-specific route through the available public records, ordered for this profile so the page starts with questions the joined data can actually answer. The route here runs from schools and households to climate and hazard context to population change to reported crime to comparison shortlist to work and mobility to housing and income; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Palm Springs, city-specific coverage includes local building permits, annual population history, commute-mode shares, matched public-school count, FBI reported-crime rates.
No matched row is reported here for within-city Census tract profiles; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
Question 1
What does the education layer cover for Palm Springs?
The NCES join finds 8 public schools within the city match. 45.1% of adults age 25+ hold a bachelor's degree or higher in the ACS estimate. These measures answer different questions: the school count describes local institutions, while adult attainment describes residents and cannot be used as a school-quality rating.
The city has a broader matched school footprint, but count alone does not describe performance, capacity, program availability, or attendance boundaries. This profile deliberately avoids converting it into an unsupported family-friendliness score.
What physical conditions frame life in Palm Springs?
NOAA normals put the annual mean temperature at 75.1°F, with 5.1 inches of precipitation. FEMA's state-averaged National Risk Index score for California is 88.7 out of 100. Climate normals describe long-run weather; the FEMA score on PlainCities is a state average of county NRI inputs and combines hazards, exposure, vulnerability, and resilience.
The two sources should not be blended into one comfort or safety score. Use the climate values for baseline conditions and the risk index as a prompt to inspect specific hazards, insurance, and local emergency guidance for a particular address.
Is Palm Springs growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Recent estimates point upward. Growth can increase housing demand and service needs, but the permit record must move in the same direction before calling it a supply response; the two series measure different things.
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +673 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +1.5% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 114 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
Which cities make useful reference points for Palm Springs?
Within California, the closest population matches are Morgan Hill (45,152 residents, $159,758 income); Rohnert Park (44,461 residents, $96,635 income); Oakley (44,311 residents, $132,067 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Shakopee, MN (45,002 residents); Lake Ridge, VA (45,007 residents); Clermont, FL (44,984 residents). A third, income-matched reference set of 6 out-of-state cities sits in the income neighbourhood chart near the Place Dossier plate. These are mechanical peer sets, not claims that the places share a labor market, climate, culture, or metro context.
Use the in-state set to hold state policy and broad price conditions more nearly constant. Use the nationwide size set to ask whether cities with a similar resident count produce different housing, income, or commute outcomes. The income set is a third lens, deliberately separate from population matching. The nationwide peer panel below adds a fourth FBI UCR reporting-rate lens, not personal risk.
These joined records add useful context, but they do not need another full-size panel. Each remains a separate measure with its own geography and source boundary.
Reported crime
What can the FBI record say about safety in Palm Springs?
Treat this as a reporting-rate comparison, not a prediction of personal risk or a neighborhood-level safety grade. Tourism, daytime population, reporting practices, and variation inside the city are not adjusted away. The state rank and same-state peer table are the narrower comparisons available on this page.
The joined FBI UCR record reports 3816.7 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, above the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 67% higher in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
Property rate
3213.2
Violent rate
603.4
Total reported rate
3816.7
FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, incidents per 100,000. Voluntary agency reporting; not a danger score.
What does the journey to work look like in Palm Springs?
Mode share answers how workers usually travel; it does not measure congestion, reliability, distance to a particular job, or the quality of transit service. Remote work has a visible role in the local pattern. That can reduce commute exposure for some workers, but it says nothing about job availability or broadband quality; read it alongside income and housing rather than as a stand-alone lifestyle score.
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 62.0%. The reported mean trip to work is 17.5 minutes.
Public transit
1.4%
Work from home
24.9%
Drive alone
62.0%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 19,079 workers age 16+.
How far does income reach against housing in Palm Springs?
The home-value-to-income reference is comparatively stretched: the ACS median home value is 7.9 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 8.2%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
This is a citywide price-to-income reference, not a mortgage-affordability test; it does not include interest rates, taxes, insurance, household size, or an individual buyer's down payment. Housing value is high relative to the citywide income median. That flags a question for comparison, not a verdict: tenure, household composition, financing costs, and the age of the ACS estimate can all change what a resident actually pays.
Household income
$71,979
Home value
$567,300
Value / income
7.9×
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
Above median income · poverty 8.2% (Above-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
110.7 (US=100)
Highest-decile cost · BEA RPP 2024, California average
F
City profile score · Palm Springs, CA
37/100
5 published dimensions · ACS/FBI 2023
Comparative score against U.S. cities with population of 1,000 or more on Census ACS medians
(income, poverty, bachelor's share, cost of living) and FBI UCR violent-crime rates when
published. Higher means a stronger standing on those published figures, not a livability
rating, not a recommendation to move, buy, or pick a "best" city. Missing inputs drop out
and redistribute weight.
How it is calculated.
Bachelor's+ share A-
45.1%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income C-
$71,979
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate D
8.2%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Violent crime F
603 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Cost of living F
110.7 index
BEA state Regional Price Parities index (100 ≈ national average); lower is stronger on this axis. Same value for every city in the state.
Palm Springs profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Bachelor's+ share: 80/100 (A-) · 45.1%
Household income: 51/100 (C-) · $71,979
Poverty rate: 47/100 (D) · 8.2%
Violent crime: 10/100 (F) · 603 /100k
Cost of living: 6/100 (F) · 110.7 index
Where Palm Springs sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Palm Springs's median home value and FBI crime rate plotted with similar-size and
same-state peers (padded with large cities when the peer set is thin). The second
read: pricey does not always mean safer, check which quadrant this city lands in.
Census ACS median home value vs FBI UCR crime rate - Palm Springs highlighted among 10 peers.Read the chart values
Palm Springs, CA (this city): home $567,300, crime 3,817/100k
Shakopee, MN : home $361,400, crime 1,275/100k
Sherman, TX : home $219,300, crime 2,266/100k
Riverton, UT : home $543,900, crime 968/100k
Morgan Hill, CA : home $1,127,600, crime 1,704/100k
Rohnert Park, CA : home $634,900, crime 1,521/100k
Oakley, CA : home $632,800, crime 1,113/100k
El Centro, CA : home $291,100, crime 1,596/100k
Lompoc, CA : home $433,800, crime 1,957/100k
Danville, CA : home $1,583,300, crime 647/100k
How does Palm Springs compare to other US cities?
Palm Springs measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income52% higher than other cities
Home value88% pricier than other cities
Median rent88% pricier than other cities
Safety8% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
Zoom in to just California and the picture shifts: Palm Springs ranks #408 of 441 California cities by lowest crime rate, a different read than the national percentile above.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Palm Springs against every qualifying US city; each in-state rank narrows that to California only. Full formula and direction notes: methodology.
California-relative analysis
Median Gross Rent places Palm Springs near the bottom of California's cities
Among the 1,458 California cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Palm Springs ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Palm Springs only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#890 of 1,338
33rd percentile in California
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 1,458
0th percentile in California
Median Home Value
#625 of 1,343
53rd percentile in California
Poverty Rate
#595 of 1,450
58th percentile in California
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#338 of 1,458
77th percentile in California
How in-state ranks are ordered
Ranked by raw value (highest first); a higher rank is not automatically "better" for every measure, see each metric's own context above. This is a comparison within California only, not a livability score. See the methodology for the source and calculation.
Gauge source note
52nd percentile nationally for median household income · 8th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Palm Springs's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Palm Springs's percentile rank on 3 favorable-direction measures (income, affordability, safety) vs. every tracked US city -- higher on every axis is more favorable. Not a composite quality score, just the arithmetic mean of the axes shown.
How Palm Springs's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$567,30012th percentilemore affordable than 12% of 15,600 US cities
Show national distribution
Each bar is a $25K-wide band; taller bars hold more US cities. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count, share, and where it sits relative to this entry.
Source U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year Estimates · 2023
Palm Springs's home-value-to-income ratio: 7.9×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
pressured
> 5.0×
National rank
#14,971 of 15,516
More affordable than 4% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#3,187 of 3,317
Small cities (10,000–49,999)
At 7.9×, Palm Springs sits in the pressured band:
national rank #14,971 of 15,516 and #3,187 of 3,317small cities (10,000–49,999).
Housing value is high relative to the citywide income median, a comparison flag, not a verdict on any household.
How this ratio is calculated
Ratio = Census ACS 2023 median home value ÷ median household income for cities with both fields and population ≥ 1,000.
Rank 1 = lowest ratio (most compact). Bands match the fleet affordability thresholds used on guides (<3.0 / 3.0–5.0 / >5.0).
This is not a mortgage payment estimate and does not include rates, taxes, insurance, or down payment.
Income distribution context
$71,979Palm Springs, CA median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Palm Springs, CA median household income (Census ACS 5-year) with U.S. national quintile shares for context. Diagonal = equality; the curve is national, not computed for Palm Springs, CA.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)45.1%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)8.2%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)46.6%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
44,998
Median Income
$71,979
Median Home Value
$567,300
Median Age
57.8
Poverty Rate
8.2%
Labor force participation
46.6%
Bachelor's Degree+
45.1%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
3816.7
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
603.4
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
3213.2
per 100,000 residents
Crime reporting caveat
Reflects incidents reported to the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting program — agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies by jurisdiction and year, so this reflects reporting activity, not a definitive danger score. Not adjusted for tourism, commuter, or daytime population.
Climate
Avg Temperature
75.1°F
Annual Precipitation
5.1"
Annual Snowfall
0.0"
Schools
Total Schools
8
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Palm Springs's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
44,642 residents
2021
45,002 residents
2022
45,106 residents
2023
45,273 residents
2024
45,415 residents
2025
45,315 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📉 Construction Slowdown
Total Permits (2024)
114
housing units authorized
Single-Family
94
detached homes
Multifamily
20
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
2.5
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
208
200
8
$63.9M
2020
132
117
15
$43.7M
2021
288
288
0
$91.6M
2022
263
187
76
$84.9M
2023
123
85
38
$35.5M
2024
114
94
20
$36.1M
Permit volume decreased 45% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Average Commute Time
17.5 minutes
Drive Alone
62.0%
Carpool
7.2%
Public Transit
1.4%
Walk
2.6%
Work from Home
24.9%
Other
1.9%
Based on 19,079 workers 16 and over.
Monthly Utility Costs
California statewide monthly utility average (EIA 2023): $275
EIA 2023 residential energy data puts average monthly utilities across California at $275 (electricity about $150 , water and sewer about $70 ).
These are California statewide averages, not a meter reading for Palm Springs. Actual bills vary by home size, usage, and local rates. Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023.
Living Costs & Risk
California's BEA cost-of-living index is 110.7 (Well Above Average; US average = 100, RPP 2024). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in the county around Palm Springs is $2,053/mo. FEMA's National Risk Index, averaged to California statewide on PlainCities, rates natural-hazard exposure at 88.7 / 100 (Very High).
Cost/risk geography note
Cost of living is a California statewide BEA average; rent is a county-level HUD Fair Market Rent for the county Palm Springs sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Palm Springs compares to similar-size California cities
Same-state peer method
Closest same-state population matches, not geographic neighbors. Population + median household income come from Census Bureau ACS 5-year B01001 and B19013.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year 2023, FBI UCR, NOAA Climate Normals, NCES CCD, Census BPS 2024, Census ACS B08301/B08136, U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023, BEA Regional Price Parities 2024, HUD Fair Market Rents 2026, FEMA National Risk Index.