Palm Desert High

Palm Desert High, a big high school in Palm Desert, California, run under Desert Sands Unified, hosts 2,079 students, covering grades 9 through 12. By comparison, California's public schools average about 838 students each, so Palm Desert High sits 148% larger than that benchmark.

Within Desert Sands Unified, which oversees 34 schools and 25,613 students, Palm Desert High is one campus in the system.

Demographically, Palm Desert High logs that the largest single group is Hispanic at 48%, but no single group is in the majority; the rest breaks down as 35% White, 8% Asian, 5% multiracial. That mix tracks the wider county fairly closely.

On the resource side, Palm Desert High records 80 full-time-equivalent teachers, putting the student-to-teacher ratio at about 26.0:1. Statewide, the average ratio sits near 18.2:1, putting Palm Desert High higher than the state norm the norm. Around 60% of the student body qualifies for free or reduced-price meals, often used as a Title I proxy. By comparison, Riverside County runs at roughly 74%, so the school's eligibility rate is somewhat below the surrounding baseline.

On a demographically-adjusted basis, Palm Desert High performs roughly as the BeatsExpectations model predicts for a school with this FRL share. The predicted value is around 43.6%, the actual is 55.5%, a residual of +11.9 points.

In the area at large, census data for Riverside County shows the typical household earns roughly $93,074 per year, 26% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and census figures put the poverty rate at about 8%. Across Riverside County's 543 public schools (combined enrollment of about 424,872 students), Palm Desert High is one campus in the mix.

Nearest neighbor: Palm Desert Charter Middle, around 0.7 miles off. Counting just inside five miles, 8 other public schools cluster around Palm Desert High. Among the 8 schools in that immediate cluster with test data (this one included), Palm Desert High ranks 4th on composite proficiency, above the local average of 45.7%.

Palm Desert High operates from a metropolitan location.

Over the past 7-year window. Looking back 7 years, enrollment at Palm Desert High has edged up 5%, going from 1,972 students in 2018 to 2,079 in 2025. The White share of enrollment ticked down from 42% to 35% over that span.

On this page, recent activity here tends to focus on sports schedules, lunch menu changes, and school spirit week. Posting is open to anyone connected to the school.