Palm Desert is a larger medium-sized city located in the state of California. With a population of 53,147 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.

A relatively large number of people in Palm Desert telecommute to their jobs. Overall, about 14.88% of the workforce works from home. While this may seem like a small number, as a fraction of the total workforce it ranks among the highest in the country. 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.

The citizens of Palm Desert are among the most well-educated in the nation: 40.69% of adults in Palm Desert have a bachelor's degree or even advanced degree, whereas the average US city has 21.84% holding at least a bachelor's degree.

The per capita income in Palm Desert in 2022 was $57,858, which is upper middle income relative to California, and wealthy relative to the rest of the US. This equates to an annual income of $231,432 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 26.73% of the city’s residents. Important ancestries of people in Palm Desert include German, Irish, English, Italian, and French.

Foreign born people are also an important part of Palm Desert's cultural character, accounting for 17.52% of the city’s population.

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