The Pros and Cons of Living in Borrego Springs, California (From a Local Who Lives It)

If you’re thinking about moving to Borrego Springs, California, or just curious what life is like here, this post is for you.

In 2024, I was a newcomer to the community. I’ve now lived in this desert town long enough to know it’s not all sunsets and wildflowers, but there is a magic to this place that draws you in.

Here’s a look at the pros and cons from someone who experiences life here day in and day out.

When I tell people I live in Borrego Springs, there’s usually a moment of silence. Sometimes it’s confusion. Sometimes it’s concern. Occasionally, it’s envy. My favorite response is the one that comes with a smile and, “That’s so cool.” Because to me, it is cool to live here. 

Before moving here, I spent 10 years dreaming about living in this small little town in the desert. Here are some of the reasons I was drawn to this remote part of Southern California.

Compared to San Diego and other major cities in Southern California, housing in Borrego Springs is quite affordable. Rentals are limited, so most folks purchase a home or condo if they decide to move here. 

According to Realtor.com, the median home price is around $385,000 (as of the date of this post). We bought our 1,200 square-foot home for a little more than that, but it came with everything that was on our wish list, including space for our RV and an in-ground pool and hot tub.

Borrego Springs is an unincorporated city with a population of around 3,000 year-round residents. It’s a small, tight-knit community where people know their neighbors, are friendly, and help each other out. Many businesses are small, independent, and locally-owned.

You won’t find big box stores, high-rises, or even stop lights in Borrego Springs. Residents don’t have mailboxes (a small post office serves as the mail hub), but you likely won’t mind because it gives you a chance to run into your neighbors and have a quick chat. And although it can get a bit busy in the tourist season, there is typically very little traffic, noise, or crime.

The small-town vibe is real here, and my husband and I are enjoying it. We’re typically quiet and keep to ourselves but it’s also been really nice getting to know some of the wonderful folks here in Borrego Springs.

The town sits within the boundaries of Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, the largest state park in California at 650,000 acres. The desert landscape is a beautiful mix of contrast. There are rocky, sometimes maze-like slot canyons, palm oases, sand dunes, and vast open vistas dotted with ocotillo, cholla, agave, and other desert varieties. 

My husband and I love it all, and continually marvel at the landscape that seems to change day by day, and week by week. There’s always something new and different to see if you look close enough.

Clear skies, sunshine, and pleasant temperatures make wintertime in Borrego Springs wonderful. Daytime highs are typically in the 60s and low 70s. Cool enough for a sweater, sweatshirt, or vest. Warm enough that a t-shirt, and perhaps even shorts, will do. 

The one thing that I really enjoy about Borrego winters is looking out my living room window and seeing snow-capped peaks in the surrounding mountains.

And if we’re really lucky, like we were this past year due to rainfall, the wildflowers will start making an early appearance on the desert floor.

Over 130 large metal art sculptures, created by Southern California artist Ricardo Breceda, are spread across the Galleta Meadows Estate, which consists of many separate plots of land in Borrego Springs.

The land was purchased by the now-deceased Dennis Avery (heir to the Avery label fortune), who commissioned the art work. Although the land is privately owned, Galleta Meadows is open to the public and the sculptures draw locals and tourists alike.

One of our favorite activities is riding either our golf cart or e-bikes to see the highly popular serpent, which isn’t far from our home.

It’s always fascinating to see just how many people are drawn to it. They come from far and wide, too… the last folks we talked to there were from Canada.

Borrego Springs was designated an International Dark Sky Community in 2009 and that means there is some exceptional stargazing here.

The mountains block light pollution and there are also strict outdoor lighting ordinances in place, both of which make it possible for year-round celestial viewing.

There are moments when the sky looks so amazing, we just stare and stare at it, and we can do it all right from our own backyard, which is pretty cool. When living in Borrego Springs, you can regularly see:

• The Milky Way: Visible as a bright, dense band across the sky, particularly from April through September.
• Planets: Bright, observable planets include Jupiter, Saturn, Venus, and Mars.
• Constellations & Deep Sky Objects: Seasonal constellations like Scorpius, Cygnus, and Orion, plus the Andromeda Galaxy and various nebulae.
• Meteor Showers: Prime viewing of annual showers such as the Perseids (August), Geminids (December), and Lyrids (April).
• Atmospheric Phenomena: Clear views of the moon and, occasionally, rare astronomical events.

This is also a great place to see the SpaceX satellite arrays orbiting overhead, and the Falcon 9 rocket launches from Vandenberg Space Force Base.

The Cons of Living in Borrego Springs, California

I think Borrego Springs is pretty awesome but there’s a reason folks think long and hard before moving here if they’re interested. Here are a few.

You will have to get accustomed to the summertime heat if you decide to live here. Daily highs between June and September will frequently be over 100 degrees or more, with some extreme days of around 115 degrees. By July, you’re seeing fewer people outside and you start to plan errands around sunrise or sunset.

Fortunately, it’s a dry heat, but it’s still quite intense. The first time the temperature soared above 115 degrees, we definitely felt it. We could feel the heat in our lungs every time we took a breath and could almost hear the air sizzle around us. We were so glad we bought a home with a pool. It really made all the difference (although it does attract spiders, snakes, mice and my absolute least favorite… scorpions).

Borrego Springs has a few grocery stores and a handful of small businesses, but for big-box shopping, you’re looking at about a 90-minute drive to Indio or Coachella, El Centro, Poway, or Temecula. The same goes for healthcare. We have a couple of small clinics and a pharmacy in town, but anything more involved requires some travel.

When we first moved here, our weekends were swallowed by long drives for shopping and errands. At first, we didn’t mind and each trip even felt a little like an adventure. But it didn’t take long for the pace to become exhausting, and we realized we needed to be smarter about how we managed it.

Now, we plan ahead. We’re rely more heavily on Amazon and Home Depot deliveries, do a big grocery run once a month, and grab essentials here in town in between.

We’ve learned to ask ourselves: is it really worth spending the time and gas to go out of town for something, or does paying a little more locally make more sense?

Most of the time, accepting higher prices in Borrego actually saves us because by the time we factor in gas, travel time, and a whole day gone, we often come out ahead.

Speaking of those higher prices—gas and groceries are more expensive here, which is to be expected because it’s rural.

You can get gas locally at one of two stations, but you’ll typically spend a dollar or so more a gallon than outside of Borrego. We typically drive out to the Salton Sea, which is about 30 minutes away, to get gas at Red Earth Casino, which typically has much lower prices.

The real sticker shock when we moved to Borrego Springs, though, was the groceries. The two grocery stores in town have much higher prices than what I expected, with some items two or three times what I was used to paying when we didn’t live here.

Fortunately, there is a Dollar General in town where you can pick up some food items on the cheap. We go there for our day-to-day shopping, and then head out of town for bigger grocery shopping trips. We’d love to support our local grocery stores but our budget just can’t handle it.

Flash flooding is a real threat here, which my husband and I knew because we had spent years camping in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park. Any sign of heavy rain in the forecast and we would steer clear of the area. We didn’t realize, though, that we would be required to purchase flood insurance. That detail hadn’t really dawned on us.

Borrego Springs is also located in a highly active seismic region. The Coyote Creek and San Jacinto faults pass through the area, and the San Andreas fault lies just east along the Salton Sea. 

There have already been a handful of small tremors in our first year here. The biggest earthquake I’ve experienced in Borrego Springs happened while I was at the post office checking our mail (my husband was out of town at the time).

A few of us locals were standing in line to pick up packages when the building suddenly began to shake all around us. We froze in place, eyes wide, and the postmaster rushed out from the back to make sure everyone was okay. We were. But it definitely got our attention.

We’re slowly starting to find out who to go to locally for things like minor home repairs, landscaping work, and pool-related repairs.

Getting anyone to come in from out of town is difficult, and can be expensive even if you do find someone willing to drive out here. It’s definitely something to consider because the homes in Borrego Springs are typically older. Ours, for example, was built in 1996.

Electricity is primarily supplied by SDG&E (San Diego Gas & Electric). As you might imagine, when the heat hits its peak and the air conditioners start cranking, it really drives up the cost. SDG&E also ups its rates in the summertime due to demand.

Solar panels, already on the home and paid off, were a must for us. They have really helped offset the cost of electricity and our home also seems to be well-insulated, which helps as well. We were nervously watching our SDGE bill the first year and were pleasantly surprised that we actually ended up paying a little less than we were used to paying.

One thing to know about living in Borrego Springs, though, is that you’ll experience power outages from time to time. SDG&E regularly shuts down parts of the grid here to work on maintenance and improvements.

We’ve found ways to manage it (we have a generator, for example), but for some residents, it’s a real challenge. That’s especially true in the summer, when the heat makes outages more than just an inconvenience.

Is Borrego Springs Right for You?

No list can capture the sound of the wind at dusk, the way the light hits the sculptures at Galleta Meadows at different times of day, or the quiet of an early morning when you’re the only one on the road. You have to experience it for yourself to know if it speaks to you.

Even then, Borrego Springs isn’t for everyone. The desert heat, rural isolation, and limited amenities can be dealbreakers for those used to a life that moves a little more easily.

But if you’re someone who appreciates wide-open landscapes, space to breathe, and the slow rhythm of small-town life, you may find yourself loving it here, just like I have.