The city enjoys a healthy tourism industry, especially during the cooler winter months in which "snowbird" tourists arrive. The most prominent industry is golfing with more than twenty golf courses, including PGA West, which has hosted prestigious tournaments such as The Skins Game, Bob Hope Chrysler Classic, The Grand Slam of Golf, The Legends of Golf, as well as the PGA Tour Qualifying School.
In addition to standard service industries, La Quinta is the site of the first Wal-Mart Supercenter in California. Moreover many residents work for the tourist industries in hotels, resorts, golf courses, and nearby vegas-style casinos, such as: Spa Resort Casino, Agua Caliente Casino, Spotlight 29, Fantasy Springs and Augustine. There are thousands of jobs related to the sizzling growth in the construction, hotels, landscaping and retail store industries. La Quinta wants to bring in high-paying professional businesses to the city and benefited from neighboring cities' growth (Indio, Palm Desert and Palm Springs). Additionally, the city has a new commercial district called "Old Town La Quinta" with small shops and restaurants
As of the censusof 2000, there were 23,694 people, 8,445 households, and 6,553 families residing in the city. The population density was 288.1/km² (746.2/mi²). There were 11,812 housing units at an average density of 143.6/km² (372.0/mi²). The racial makeup of the city was 78.51% White, 1.42% African American, 0.72% Native American, 1.88% Asian, 0.09% Pacific Islander, 13.85% from other raes, and 3.53% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 32.01% of the population.
In 2006, local demographers and ethnic organizations (the Desert Chapter of the NAACP and the Coachella Valley Hispanic Chamber of Commerce) began to re-estimate the percentages of whites, African Americans and Hispanics in La Quinta, but not yet officially stated in the US census at this time. They concluded results that La Quinta is more diverse: 7-8% are African American, 50% Latino (could well be a majority of residents) and 3-5% Asian American.
La Quinta has developed a culturally diverse community, as large ancestry groups include Armenians, British, French, Germans, Italians, Poles and Jews of multiple nationalities. The La Quinta resort had an "open door" policy not to discriminate on race and ethnicity in the 1940s and 1950s, catered to celebrities whom vacationed in the area didn't encounter ethnic discrimination, like billionaire Walter Annenberg was reportedly at the La Quinta resort.
Hispanics, especially Mexican Americans are the city's largest single ethnic group, after waves of immigration from Mexico settled the area since the 1950's. Mostly Latino neighborhoods are located in older homes of the Cove and old Town sections. La Quinta's sister city is in Tequila, Jalisco in Mexico brought by international ties with that country and the city holds an annual "16th de Septiembre" (Mexican independence day) festive event in September.
La Quinta's permanent population growth has brought more people from other urban areas in California, where home prices are higher come to the city's affordability. They joined newcomers from around the nation and the world, such as Canada (a large percentage of "snowbirds" or part-time residents are Canadian), and the Asian continent (see Asian Americans) brought on a multi-cultural character in the growing city.
There were 8,445 households out of which 38.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 64.6% were married couples living together, 9.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 22.4% were non-families. 17.0% of all households were made up of individuals and 6.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.80 and the average family size was 3.16.
In the city the population was spread out with 29.1% under the age of 18, 6.0% from 18 to 24, 29.0% from 25 to 44, 22.4% from 45 to 64, and 13.4% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females there were 96.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 93.1 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $54,552, and the median income for a family was $56,848. Males had a median income of $40,553 versus $31,627 for females. The per capita income for the city was $27,284. About 5.0% of families and 7.8% of the population were below the poverty line, including 11.1% of those under age 18 and 4.8% of those age 65 or over.
La Quinta is home to large numbers of senior citizens come to buy a home for the winter or year-round to enjoy the amentities provided by the city's golf clubs, tennis courts and recreation halls. Families of young children came to the city in droves for a better place to raise a family, thus the percentage of young people under age 18 is high, nearly 30 percent.
