Palm Springs' housing market is inseparable from its architecture. The city is a global landmark for mid-century modern design, and its historic neighborhoods contain a remarkable concentration of restored Alexander, Krisel, and Wexler homes, many with pools, mountain views, and carefully preserved period details. These architecturally significant properties form a distinct, highly sought segment of the market. Beyond them, the city offers a range of other housing: Spanish and ranch-style homes, gated communities, condominiums, and resort-style developments, along with rental and vacation-oriented properties tied to the tourism economy. The emphasis on design, indoor-outdoor living, and desert landscaping defines the local housing character, with pools and mountain backdrops as common features across much of the city.

Palm Springs' neighborhoods are among the most architecturally significant in the country. Vista Las Palmas, Twin Palms, and Deepwell Estates form the core of the city's mid-century modern legacy, with cohesive streetscapes of butterfly roofs and breeze-block walls built largely in the 1950s and 1960s. Old Las Palmas and the Movie Colony area reflect the city's earlier celebrity era, with larger estates and historic homes. Racquet Club Estates is one of the largest Alexander-built mid-century neighborhoods. The downtown area along Palm Canyon Drive provides a walkable commercial and hotel district, while gated communities and newer developments spread across the city's southern and eastern edges. This layering—from historic celebrity estates to design-forward mid-century tracts—defines Palm Springs' residential geography.

Palm Springs offers a resort lifestyle shaped by sunshine, design, and the outdoors. Life centers on the city's pools, golf courses, and patios, with an active culture of hiking, tennis, and cycling against a dramatic mountain backdrop. The architecture and design scene—celebrated through Modernism Week and ongoing preservation—is woven into daily life, while downtown's Palm Canyon Drive provides restaurants, galleries, and vintage shopping. The broader Coachella Valley adds major festivals, events, and resort amenities, and the Aerial Tramway offers a quick escape to alpine forest. The city attracts a mix of retirees, second-home owners, and a growing creative and professional community, all drawn to a relaxed, sun-drenched pace that remains among the most distinctive in California.

Palm Springs is served by the Palm Springs Unified School District, which operates schools across the western Coachella Valley, including campuses in Palm Springs, Cathedral City, Rancho Mirage, Desert Hot Springs, and surrounding areas. Schools serving the city include Palm Springs High School and a network of elementary and middle schools assigned by attendance zone. The district offers a range of academic, arts, and athletic programs. Because the district covers a broad geographic area, families relocating to Palm Springs typically verify the specific schools tied to an address. Private and charter schools in the Coachella Valley, along with College of the Desert in nearby Palm Desert, add further educational options.

Palm Springs International Airport lies just east of downtown, giving the city unusually direct air access for a community of its size and reinforcing its resort economy. Interstate 10 runs along the northern edge of the valley, connecting Palm Springs west toward Los Angeles and east toward Arizona, while Highway 111 serves as the valley's local corridor. SunLine Transit Agency operates bus service across the Coachella Valley, including routes through Palm Springs. Within the city, the street grid and the walkable downtown make many destinations reachable on foot or by bicycle, particularly in the central neighborhoods. For most residents, personal vehicles are the primary means of travel, with the freeway and airport providing the principal links to the broader region.

The Palm Springs Aerial Tramway is the city's signature recreation experience, rising from Chino Canyon to the alpine terrain of Mount San Jacinto State Park, where trails and snow access await in season. The city's many golf courses, tennis facilities, and pools support a resort lifestyle, while the surrounding mountains offer hiking, climbing, and dramatic desert scenery. Downtown's Palm Canyon Drive and the city's design and architecture scene—celebrated through Modernism Week—provide cultural recreation, and the Coachella Valley adds festivals, events, and additional resorts. The combination of desert-floor warmth and high-mountain escape, all within minutes of town, gives Palm Springs a recreational range that few small cities can match.