Las Cruces, New Mexico

AT A GLANCE LAS CRUCES, NEWMEXICO WHAT: A city of 102,000 WHERE: In Doña Ana County, in the southern part of the state WEBSITE: www.las-cruces.org L as Cruces, New Mexico is located in the state’s Mesilla Valley, roughly 45 miles north of El Paso, Texas and Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, and 285 miles south of Santa Fe, the state capital. Las Cruces is the county seat of Doña Ana County, and serves as the center of commerce and culture for the southern New Mexico region. With approximately 102,000 residents, Las Cruces is a thriving community that has grown to be the second most populous city in the state. Prior to the community’s founding, several Indigenous cultures lived in the area, drawn to the Rio Grande and the resources it provided. Present-day southern New Mexico was the site of several conflicts between Native Americans and Spanish conquistadors from the 1500s to AS CRUCES, New Mexico MOUNTAINS OF OPPORTUNITY