Welcome to Palm Desert ...

The city of Palm Desert is located in Riverside County<1>.

While we don't have a date for the founding of Palm Desert, you might consider that their post office opened  in 1947.

The city was incorporated November 26, 1973.

From the  Census Estimates for 2019, Palm Desert has a population of 53,438 people<2> (see below for details).

Palm Desert is 170 feet [52 m] above sea level.<3>.

Time Zone: Palm Desert lies in the Pacific Time Zone (PST/PDT) and observes daylight saving time

Telephone area codes for Palm Desert: (760) and (442)<4>

The ZIP codes for Palm Desert: 92211, 92255, 92260-92261<5>

Websites for Palm Desert ...

Official Website:   www.cityofpalmdesert.org/

Chamber of Commerce:   www.palmdesert.org/

Population Details ...

Taken from the 2019 Census Estimates, Palm Desert had an population of 53,438 people. This is an increase of 10.31% since the 2010 Census (or an increase of 29.85% since the 2000 Census).

At the time of the 2010 Census, Palm Desert had a population of 48,445 people. This makes Palm Desert the county's 12th most populous community.

The population of Palm Desert represents 0.13% of the population of California (which has 37,253,956 people), making it the state's 174th most populous community.

With a 2010 count of 48,445 people, the population of Palm Desert increased 17.71% from the 2000 Census (with a count of 41,155 people).

More information can be found on the Census Page for Palm Desert.

Communities near Palm Desert ...

We have created a list of 10 communities that are near Palm Desert.

• Indio
  (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Indio
  • Indio is located in Riverside County
  • Population from the 2020 Census: 91,919 people
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Indio <6>
• Cathedral City
  (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cathedral City
  • Cathedral City is located in Riverside County
  • Population from the 2020 Census: 55,678 people
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Cathedral City <6>
• Palm Springs
  (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Palm Springs
  • Palm Springs is located in Riverside County
  • Population from the 2020 Census: 48,929 people
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Palm Springs <6>
• Coachella
  (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Coachella
  • Coachella is located in Riverside County
  • Population from the 2020 Census: 46,564 people
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Coachella <6>
• Desert Hot Springs
  (18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Desert Hot Springs
  • Desert Hot Springs is located in Riverside County
  • Population from the 2020 Census: 29,611 people
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Desert Hot Springs <6>
• Bermuda Dunes
  (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bermuda Dunes
  • Bermuda Dunes is located in Riverside County
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Bermuda Dunes <6>
• La Quinta
  (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for La Quinta
  • La Quinta is located in Riverside County
  • Population from the 2020 Census: 42,271 people
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for La Quinta <6>
• Thousand Palms
  (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Thousand Palms
  • Thousand Palms is located in Riverside County
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Thousand Palms <6>
• Alpine Village
  (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Alpine Village have been provided by the GNIS.<7> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alpine Village
  • Alpine Village is located in Riverside County
• Pinyon Pines
  (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pinyon Pines
  • Pinyon Pines is located in Riverside County

To Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

We have a couple of sections for those tracing their genealogy.

We're compiling a list of cemeteries that are in the area around Palm Desert. Our list includes the location of those cemeteries and we provide an overhead view. See our Cemetery List for Palm Desert.

Using the information from an 1895 Atlas, we've created a list of communities that were in the area of Palm Desert. Our list includes information such as whether the 1895 community had a post office or railroad service. See our List of 1890's Communities around Palm Desert.

We also have a detailed list of newspapers that have been published in the area around Palm Desert. Our list includes 9 papers. See our Newspapers Page for Palm Desert.

TripAdvisor Tourism Pages for Palm Desert ...

Looking for more information about Palm Desert? A wonderful source is the TripAdvisor website. We always start with the TripAdvisor Tourism page, where you can read an overview with links that will help you find lodging, restaurants and attractions.

In addition to the Tourism page for Palm Desert, there are neighboring communities that also have Tourism pages. More information about those communities can be found on our TripAdvisor Page for Palm Desert.

Adding Palm Desert to Our Gazetteer ...

We originally found mention of Palm Desert in both the FIPS-55 and the GNIS. For more information, see the FIPS and GNIS Codes sections on our Miscellaneous Page.

From our notes, the earliest published mention we've found for Palm Desert was in the document titled List of Post Offices from Cameron Blevins and Richard Helbock.<8>

From that list, the Palm Desert post office opened in 1947.

We also found Palm Desert on a map titled Shell Oil Road Map for California (1956).

For more details, see References and Mentions for Palm Desert.

Off-the-Road Links ...

The official website for Palm Desert: www.cityofpalmdesert.org/

The official website for Riverside County: www.co.riverside.ca.us/

The official website for State of California: https://www.ca.gov/