By Haddon Libby
On November 19th, Coachella Valley Economic Partnership (CVEP) had its annual Summit. Amongst presenters was David Robinson, CVEPs Director of Analytic Services. The information that he presented provided a good look at how the Coachella Valley has changed over the last few decades.
If we go back thirty years, Coachella Valley had 265,000 residents. At the end of 2024, the Valley had 455,000 residents (+71% growth rate). Population growth has slowed over the last twenty years to 26% or 1.3% annually. For comparison, the population of the United States has growth by 15%, California (+11%), Los Angeles (+3%) and the Inland Empire (+57%) over that period of time.
Over the last 20 years, those who are 20 and younger have shrunk from 30% to 20% of the region’s population. Meanwhile, our 55+ community has grown from 28% to nearly 40%. The smallest age group in our community is from 20-24 years of age (6%).
This is best shown by a look at the median income of households. Over twenty years, income has grown from $46,000 to $70,000 (+50%). Over the same time frame, income for Riverside County has grown by 75% to $86,000. When we look at this on a per capita (person) basis, income has grown from $20,000 to $36,000 in the Coachella Valley meaning that a family of four would have seen household income grow from $80,000 to $144,000.
When we adjust these numbers for the impact of inflation, most families are doing worse today than 20 years ago. The most notable change has been in the most affluent city in our community – Indian Wells. Where the median household income was $123,000 in 2024, income is one-third today. Rancho Mirage families at $108,000 earn 8% less after income is adjusted for inflation. La Quinta earns $100,000 (7% less), Palm Desert, $82,000 (-12%), Cathedral City $65,000 (-14%), Palm Springs $75,000 (+7%), Indio $68,000 (+1%), Coachella $52,000 (+7%), and Desert Hot Springs $50,000 (-1%). This tells us that most incomes have not kept up with inflation. While people are generally making more, the cost of everything has more than offset wage increases.
Jobs in the Coachella Valley have more than doubled from 71,000 thirty years ago to 181,000 jobs at the end of 2024. Job growth has been in Retail and Travel related occupations – two of the lowest paying jobs in the region (the other is Agriculture). Where 37% of jobs were in these two fields in 2004, they now represent 53% of jobs.
Healthcare is only other job type with significant growth, up by 25% to 10% of all jobs. This suggests that the growth in the medical field has not kept up with the growth of the underlying population. Most who have used doctors in recent years have noticed a significant increase in the time needed to secure an appointment.
Jobs have fallen the most in agriculture. Twenty years ago, one in ten jobs were in agriculture where just one in 50 are now in the field.
The best paying job category in the region is Utilities where the average wage is $118,000 annually. Healthcare is the next best paying profession at $77,000, followed by Engineering ($71,700), Finance/Real Estate ($70,900), Government ($70,600), Education ($70,600) and Construction ($64,000). The lowest paying professions are in Travel ($37,600), Agriculture ($42,000) and Retail ($44, 000). While a doctor may be paid more than someone in the Utilities industry, average doctor and nurse categories together reduces the average.
While Coachella Valley has seen solid job growth over the last twenty years, the strength has been in the lowest paying professions.
The challenge for our governmental leaders is to attract more of the higher paying jobs as this leads to a stronger and more robust economy.
To view analytics and more from CVEP, please visit www.cvep.com.
Haddon Libby is the Founder and Chief Investment Officer of Winslow Drake Investment Management. For more information on our services, please visit www.WinslowDrake.com.
