Las Cruces, New Mexico

Las Cruces (/lɑːsˈkruːsɪs/; Spanish: [las 'kruses]; lit. 'the crosses') is the second-most populous city in the U.S. state of New Mexico and the seat of Doña Ana County. As of the 2020 census, its population was 111,385, making Las Cruces the most populous city in both Doña Ana County and southern New Mexico. The Las Cruces metropolitan area had an estimated population of 213,849 in 2017. It is the principal city of the Las Cruces metropolitan statistical area, which encompasses all of Doña Ana County. The city is also part of the El Paso–Las Cruces combined statistical area, a larger trading and marketing region. The combined statistical area has a population of 1,088,420, making it the 56th-largest in the United States.

Las Cruces is the economic and geographic center of the Mesilla Valley, the agricultural region on the floodplain of the Rio Grande, which extends from Hatch to the west side of El Paso, Texas. Las Cruces is the home of New Mexico State University (NMSU), New Mexico's only land-grant university. The city's major employer is the federal government on nearby White Sands Test Facility and White Sands Missile Range. The Organ Mountains, 10 miles (16 km) to the east, are dominant in the city's landscape, along with the Doña Ana Mountains, Robledo Mountains, and Picacho Peak. Las Cruces lies 225 mi (362 km) south of Albuquerque, 42 mi (68 km) northwest of El Paso, Texas, and 41 mi (66 km) north of the Mexican border at Sunland Park.

Spaceport America, which has corporate offices in Las Cruces, operates from 55 mi (89 km) to the north; it has completed several successful crewed, suborbital flights. The city is also the headquarters for Virgin Galactic, the world's first company to offer suborbital spaceflights.