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The Las Cruces NM MSA covers Doņa Ana County, the second most populated county in New Mexico. Las Cruces, the county seat, is the largest city in the county and is the second largest city in the state. The population of the county grew 28.9% between 1990 and 2000. The city’s population grew 19.5% during that decade. Latest population estimates (July, 2003) indicate that Doņa Ana County has grown to 182,165 and the City of Las Cruces has grown to 76,990. Contiguous CDPs and population within the Extra Territorial Zone bring the “Greater Las Cruces” population to more than 125,000.
The Las Cruces labor force is growing and affordable. Total employment has grown at an average annual rate of 2.2% over the past ten years and 3.0% over the past five years.
Because of the dire lack of jobs in the outlying areas of Las Cruces, workers are accustomed to commuting a minimum of about 35 - 45 minutes from rural to urban areas for work, school, shopping and recreation. The distances covered range from 35 miles to 110 miles. Since the commuting drive is conducted primarily on Interstate -10, the commuting times decrease. As a result, it is not unusual to find workers from several of these rural New Mexico communities commuting to Las Cruces daily. This area of attraction translates to a total labor force in excess of 430,000 with an overall unemployment rate of 7.4%.
Click here to view area road map.
Outlying areas include parts of Grant, Luna, Sierra, Otero, and El Paso counties, and all of Doņa Ana County.
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City
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Approx. Distance to Las Cruces
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Approx. Drive Time to Las Cruces
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El Paso (West & NE)
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(40 & 45) Miles
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30 – 45 minutes
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Alamogordo
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65 Miles
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45 minutes – 1 hour
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Deming
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60 Miles
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45 minutes – 1 hour
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Sunland Park
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45 Miles
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45 minutes
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Silver City
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110 Miles
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1.5 – 2 hours
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T or C
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72 Miles
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1 hour – 1hour, 15 minutes
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Anthony
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25 Miles
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20 minutes
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Las Cruces consistently ranks as one the best small metropolitan areas in the nation to do business. One of the reasons for the continual high rankings in these studies is the local labor force affordability. On average the wage rates in Las Cruces are more than 17% below U.S. national averages.
As noted in the table above, overall manufacturing wages in the BorderPlex are up to 48% lower than the national average. Skilled production and administrative support wages are up to 15% lower than the national average. Other wage rate comparisons can be found on the Business Costs and the Sample Pro-formas tabs.
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