Sitting on some of the most mineral-rich water in the western United States, armed with a storied frontier history, a growing arts scene, and real estate prices that still leave room for dreamers, the city of 32,000 on the northern edge of the Coachella Valley is quietly building momentum. The evidence is already in the ground — literally.

A Town Built on Discovery

Long before Desert Hot Springs had a name, the Cahuilla people knew this land intimately. They called the area Sec-he — boiling water — and the natural hot springs were woven into their creation stories and cultural practices for centuries. In the 1820s, Mexican explorer Don José Romero passed through and called it Agua Caliente.

The modern story of Desert Hot Springs begins in 1913, when a 30-year-old adventurer named Cabot Abram Yerxa arrived in the Coachella Valley and homesteaded 160 acres of raw desert. Born on a Lakota Sioux reservation in the Dakota Territory, Yerxa had already chased the Nome Gold Rush in Alaska, developed real estate in Cuba, and served in World War I. The desert was his final frontier.

Using nothing more than a pick and shovel, Yerxa dug wells on opposite sides of a hill and struck something remarkable: two entirely separate aquifers, divided by the Mission Creek Fault — a branch of the San Andreas. On one side, hot mineral water surged up at temperatures exceeding 110 degrees Fahrenheit. On the other, cold, crystal-clear drinking water. He named the spot Miracle Hill, and the name stuck.

In 1941, at the age of 58, Yerxa began building a Hopi-inspired pueblo from reclaimed materials — scrap wood, old telephone poles, abandoned homestead doors, even buckboard wagon parts — to house his collection of Native American art and artifacts. By 1950, the four-story, 5,000-square-foot structure with 35 rooms, 150 windows, and 65 doors opened its doors as Cabot's Old Indian Pueblo Museum.

Today, Cabot's Pueblo Museum operates as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, owned by the City of Desert Hot Springs and managed by the Cabot's Museum Foundation. It is open Tuesday through Saturday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Sundays from noon to 4 p.m. The on-site Trading Post & Gallery, which opened in 2008, features pottery and artwork by local artists.

Miracle Water Meets a Global Movement

The same geological fault line that shaped Yerxa's discovery continues to define Desert Hot Springs today. The Mission Creek Fault splits two underground water systems: the Desert Hot Springs Sub-Basin, where geothermal forces heat mineral water to temperatures as high as 180 degrees Fahrenheit, and the Mission Springs Sub-Basin, which produces cold drinking water so clean it won Best Tasting Municipal Water in the World at the 2020 Berkeley Springs International Water Tasting Competition.

The hot water is sulfur-free and odorless — a rarity among natural hot springs — and rich in calcium, magnesium, potassium, silica, and lithium. The hottest and most mineral-dense water flows from a small six-to-eight-block radius known as Miracle Hill, the same patch of earth where Yerxa first drove his shovel into the ground more than a century ago. Approximately 50 commercial spas and pools draw from this aquifer today.

The timing could not be better for Desert Hot Springs. The global wellness economy reached $6.8 trillion in 2024 and is projected to grow to $9.8 trillion by 2029, according to the Global Wellness Institute. The thermal and mineral springs sector alone grew 11.1 percent year over year in 2024. Wellness real estate is the fastest-growing segment of the entire wellness economy, expanding at 19.5 percent annually.

Desert Hot Springs is sitting on the exact resource the world is spending trillions of dollars to access. Properties like Azure Palm Hot Springs Resort, perched in the heart of town, draw water from wells just a few blocks from Cabot Yerxa's original dig site. Two Bunch Palms, an iconic adults-only retreat with lithium-rich springs flowing from a 600-year-old aquifer, has been a wellness landmark since the 1940s. Miracle Manor and The Good House round out a growing constellation of boutique mineral spring properties that have put Desert Hot Springs on the map for wellness travelers from Los Angeles, the Bay Area, and beyond.

A Canvas Taking Shape

The renaissance is not limited to the spas. Downtown Desert Hot Springs is being reimagined as a walkable, art-forward district anchored by public murals and community investment.

Phase 1 of the city's Art in Public Places program brought 13 large-scale murals to Pierson Boulevard, curated by Casey Zoltan of Known Gallery. The roster includes work by Shepard Fairey, whose piece "Power & Equality" anchors the collection, alongside contributions from artists TRAV, Mr. B Baby, and Yanoe. Local youth participated in several of the installations, connecting the project to the community it serves.

The city's spa revitalization incentive program is breathing new life into legacy properties. The Hudson, formerly the Vista Ventana Motel, is being reimagined as a boutique hotel. Soluna and the Relax Inn are receiving renovations designed to elevate the guest experience while preserving their character. Hope Springs Resort, a 10-room boutique property with a terrace pool and gardens, opened in May 2025. Waterland Resort, a destination property designed for both wellness and recreation, has been approved by the Planning Commission. Currently in the entitlement phase, the team at Life & Times is also pursuing an elemental wellness project on Miracle Hill.

Infrastructure investment is keeping pace. The city completed a new City Hall in 2019 and a new public library in 2021. Fire Station 98, a $9.4 million project, broke ground in 2024. An $11 million grant application is in progress for a transit hub and pedestrian-friendly improvements in the downtown corridor. A partnership with College of the Desert could bring expanded higher education and workforce development opportunities to the city.

The Window Is Open

Here is where it gets interesting for anyone with a business plan, a creative vision, or both.

The median home price in Desert Hot Springs hovers around $373,000 — compared to roughly $623,000 in nearby Palm Springs. Commercial space is available at prices that would make a Joshua Tree or Palm Springs landlord blink. For artists, makers, restaurateurs, gallery owners, and small business operators, Desert Hot Springs offers something increasingly rare in Southern California: room to build something from the ground up without a seven-figure entry fee.

Pioneertown had its ranchers, its musicians, its hospitality pioneers. Joshua Tree drew visual artists, climbers, and seekers. Yucca Valley is attracting chefs, entrepreneurs, and young families looking for a different kind of California life.

Desert Hot Springs has the raw ingredients — world-class natural resources, a supportive city government investing in infrastructure and the arts, proximity to both Palm Springs and Joshua Tree National Park, and a community that is ready. The storefronts along Pierson Boulevard are waiting. The mineral water is flowing. The murals are already on the walls.

The next chapter of this town is not a question of if. It is a question of who writes it.