Portales, New Mexico Portales, New Mexico Roosevelt County Courthouse in Portales Roosevelt County Courthouse in Portales Location of Portales, New Mexico Location of Portales, New Mexico Portales, New Mexico is positioned in the US Portales, New Mexico - Portales, New Mexico State New Mexico Portales is a town/city in and the governmental center of county of Roosevelt County, New Mexico, United States. The populace was 12,280 at the 2010 census.

Portales is positioned near the larger town/city of Clovis as well as Cannon Air Force Base, a primary contributor to the economy of the region.

Eastern New Mexico University opened in Portales in 1934 and has grown to turn into the third biggest university in the state.

Portales is one of the biggest producers of Valencia peanuts in the United States and is the nation's top producer of Certified Organic peanut butter.

Portales is the principal town/city of the Portales Micropolitan Statistical Area, which is part of the larger Clovis-Portales Combined Statistical Area, including Clovis, 19 miles (31 km) away and Cannon Air Force Base, 13 miles (21 km) away.

The city's downtown region is centered around a traditional-style town square, based upon Spanish urban design. The center of the town square includes the 1930s WPA-style Roosevelt County Courthouse, including initial architectural details from the era, as well as the adjoining 1930s Post Office.

Eastern New Mexico University (ENMU) forms a sizeable precinct with its ground and encircling residentiary stock catering largely to students.

Arts and cultural offerings emanate from Eastern New Mexico University, the third biggest state college in New Mexico.

Portales rates in the top 20% of US metros/cities for ethnic range, percentage of college educated grownups, and percentage of citizens who walk or bike to work.

Clovis Man inhabited the Blackwater Draw region north of Portales until 11,000 years ago.

The encircling area of easterly New Mexico is part of what came to be known in the colonial reconstructionamid Spanish rule as the "Llano Estacado", an dry and treeless plateau bounded on the north and west by the Caprock Escarpment stretching south from the Canadian River and east along the Pecos River.

The City of Portales was formally established in 1909 with the arrival of the barns to the southwestern High Plains.

The first Mayor of Portales was Washington Ellsworth Lindsey, who later became a state Governor of New Mexico.

Eastern New Mexico University was established in 1934 as a teacher's college.

The Great Depression brought a several important Works Progress Administration (WPA) assembly projects including the Eastern New Mexico University Administration Building, the downtown Portales Post Office, and the Roosevelt County Courthouse.

Portales is positioned in easterly New Mexico at 34 10 57 N 103 20 19 W (34.182184, -103.338737). According to the United States Enumeration Bureau, the town/city has a total region of 6.8 square miles (18 km2), all of it land.

The greater Portales region (Zip Code 88130) is approximately 20 square miles (52 km2), completely surrounded by range and farm land.

Climate data for Portales, New Mexico (1981 2010) As of the census of 2000, there were 11,131 citizens , 4,188 homeholds, and 2,659 families residing inside the town/city limits of Portales.

By 2007, the number of citizens counted in Portales, including those inside the town/city limits and in the close-by surroundings had grown to nearly 17,000 citizens (University of New Mexico BBER).

Eastern New Mexico University had over 4,300 students and 700 faculty and staff in 2008.

The populace density of the town/city of Portales in 2000 was 1,624.9 citizens per square mile (627.4/km ).

There were 4,188 homeholds in Portales in 2000, out of which 33.6% had kids under the age of 18 living with them, 45.3% were married couples living together, 14.2% had a female homeholder with no husband present, and 36.5% were non-families.

According to a study conducted by Bizjournals.com, of 577 micropolitan areas, Portales ranked 15th in the country and ninth in the United States in overall character of life. The goal of the study was to identify America's most attractive micropolitan areas and points were given to small, well-rounded communities where the economy is strong, traffic is light, the cost of living is moderate, grownups are well-educated, and access to big-city attractions is reasonably close.

Portales, the smallest town/city in the top 25, received a character of life score of 8.96, the 15th highest score in the nation.

Los Alamos was the only other New Mexico town/city to be recognized in the top 20.

The economy of Portales and encircling communities is firmly supported by the peanut and dairy industries, Eastern New Mexico University, value-added food processing, a burgeoning military presence, and agriculture (including cattle ranching, dairy farming, and crop production).

The Portales economy is also connected to Cannon Air Force Base positioned approximately 13 miles (21 km) to the north.

The base operates a leased military housing region in Portales with 150 single-family dwellings.

The same report predicted over 100% expansion in leisure and hospitality services in the Portales region by 2015.

In 2007, Buxton Incorporated conducted a retail locale analysis for Portales and found the retail market potential to be over $180 million, nearly $30 million higher than existing small-town retail trade, indicating demand exceeding supply.

Unemployment in Roosevelt County in 2007 averaged less than 3%, and the cost of living was approximately 83% of the US average, based primarily on the historically low but rising cost of housing in the area.

Portales remained partially insulated from the nationwide economic downturn of 2008-2010 due in part to a balanced economy based on agri-business and staple food product manufacturing (primarily peanut butter and milk), higher education, and a mostly strong small-town retail services market fueled by a burgeoning population of Eastern New Mexico University students and Cannon Air Force Base employees.

Michael Blake, author of Dances with Wolves, attended college at Eastern New Mexico University John Burroughs, Democratic governor of New Mexico, 1959 1961 Ed Foreman, represented Texas and New Mexico in the United States House of Representatives motivational speaker and philanthropist University of New Mexico.

"Water Issues of Eastern New Mexico: Get Your Water Kicks on Route 66" (PDF).

New Mexico Water Resources Research Institute.

Climate Summary for Portales, New Mexico Portales News Tribune.

"New Mexico ethanol plant to double in size".

Eastern New Mexico University-Blackwater Draw Archaeological Site A resource for the Clovis/ Portales/ Curry/ Roosevelt and Cannon Air Force Base Community Municipalities and communities of Roosevelt County, New Mexico, United States State of New Mexico

Categories:
Cities in Roosevelt County, New Mexico - Cities in New Mexico - County seats in New Mexico - Micropolitan areas of New Mexico - Portales, New Mexico