Can anyone tell me some signficant differences between the two?

Seems like an interesting region..

Saw a small CBS tid-bit on them. Not much to say.

Can anyone tell me some signficant differences between the two?

Seems like an interesting region..
lol.....NO difference at all i must say.

One's in Texas, the other is in New Mexico, lol

Well El Paso is much bigger then Las Cruces. I think LC is only around 160,000 people and El Paso is probably over half a million. Then Cuidad Juarez right across the border is getting big too, I think combined they are over a million people.

Las Cruces is OK I was just there in late June and it has a cool old area called Mesilla with old bars and quaint narrow streets. The buildings are from the late 1800's. It is kind of like a super small southwestern New Orleans.

The rest of LC just looked like sprawling suburban crap to me. Nothing really to note about it. I've never been to El Paso but everyone says it is a shithole. I've heard that Juarez actually has more stuff to do. Santa Fe is the jewel of New Mexico and better then anything in West Texas so if you are going to be in the region and want to go to a cool town I would go there.

The best things about New Mexico are the scenery and all the little tiny quaint towns you pass through while on the road. But as far as urban larger cities Santa Fe is really the only thing it has to offer. I didn't even bother to stop in Albuquerque.

The population of El Paso is now close to 600,000 and Las Cruces is about 100,000. Juarez is at 1.5 mil so the whole region is home to 2.2 mil residents.

A saying in New Mexico: "Las Cruces; so far from heaven, so close to El Paso."

The closest comparison: Las Cruces is to El Paso as Boulder is to Denver. Cruces is a somewhat artsy, somewhat liberal, somewhat well-educated college and tech town that seems to be the mostly forgotten compared to Albuquerque and Santa Fe; El Paso is a largeish, predominantly blue-collar city but the business center for a huge, albiet mostly empty area. Cruces is no Boulder, but then again El Paso is no Denver.

Differences between the cities:

Las Cruces is more Anglo than El Paso; LC's population is 50% Hispanic, compared to El Paso being about 70% Hispanic. English is the default language in Cruces, but you'll still hear some Spanish. In El Paso, Spanish is predomiant; if you're not on the West Side or far North Side, you'll likely hear more Spanish and Spanglish than English. The majority of Hispanics in Cruces are from long-established families, many dating to the land grant days. More El Pasenos are Mexican born. People in both cities are generaly friendly.

The built environment of the cities are much different. El Paso is filled with huge signs and billboards; Cruces has much tougher sign standards, and its sprawl is far easier on the eyes. Architecture in Cruces tends to be more Southwestern, in El Paso, you'll see more generic corporate architecture, and Texas-style brick houses in some areas. Arroyos and draws in Cruces are mostly left in their natural state; in El Paso they're concrete channels. Las Cruces, for the most part, is a much more attractive city than El Paso.

Inversions tend not to affect Cruces, and skies there will be clear there while El Paso is covered in smog.

Las Cruces has what seems like more culture per capita than El Paso. There's the influence of NMSU (about the same size as UTEP), along with many artists and new age types that are drawn to the city because they want to be in New Mexico, but they find Albuquerque too big and Santa Fe too expensive. Pan Am Stadium in Cruces pulls in a lot of big name acts.

Real estate prices are much higher in Cruces than in El Paso. Despite that, a lot of people live in Cruces and commute to El Paso.

Cruces is VERY suburban. Its downtown is dead, and there are only small areas that were built before World War II. Mesilla is great, but it's still lacking in density a few blocks from the Plaza. Much of the vacant land close to the Plaza is owned by established families who don't want to sell. El Paso is more urban, but it's "Texas urban" - a small downtown that is surprisingly busy for its size (mostly shoppers from Mexico; most retail there is low-end), a tiny bit of activity around UTEP, but otherwise suburban and auto-oriented.

In general, the shopping is much better in El Paso. Sunland Park Mall is quite upscale for a city with El Paso's demographics, and the other malls are doing quite well. Mesilla Valley Mall in Cruces is past its prime. The quality of restaurants is better in Cruces, but there's more variety in El Paso. El Paso has all the strip clubs.

Crime is low in both cities. You'll see lots of houses with bars on the windows in El Paso, but rarely in Cruces. Crime in Cruces tends to be strange; there's common turf gang fights over trivial issues, and more animal cruelty than you would expect. Auto theft in El Paso is rampant.

I'd say, if anything, there's more of a cultural divide between Las Cruces and El Paso than between El Paso and Juarez.

never been to either city (never been to new mexico at all in fact), but i did fly over las cruces when flying from las vegas to philly via houston. here are the pictures of las cruces, and some other surrounding pictures of the area, like the rio grande valley and west texas. i copied and pasted all this from another thread where i put all this. you can see all my pictures from the flight (including some grand canyon pictures) here. (http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=243888)


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The Caballo Reservoir on the left, the San Andres Mountains in the middle, and White Sands National Monument in the back. The Rio Grande valley is visible with all the green.

http://img174.echo.cx/img174/7421/dscf17205qz.jpg

For the second picture, I have a closer look at the San Andres Mountains, which formed a pretty straight line, and White Sands National Monument behind it.

http://img174.echo.cx/img174/7089/dscf17219qm.jpg

Las cruces, New Mexico, in these next two pictures. I was able to identify the Interstate 10 and Interstate 25 intersection at the right, as well as US Route 70 as it comes down from the mountains and curls towards downtown. I was also able to identify Amador and Lohman Avenues in downtown, and the New Mexico State football stadium (I don't think you can see it in the picture, since it was pretty much straight down).

http://img174.echo.cx/img174/2892/dscf17223rn.jpg

http://img174.echo.cx/img174/5939/dscf17231qy.jpg

"EAT PECANS". This sign is huge, considering I could clearly read it from 35,000 feet in the air. I zoomed in a little to get a bigger picture. Each letter much be the size of 4 city blocks. Since I saw this as we flew over Las Cruces, it must be just outside of town, somewhat near the Interstate 10 & 25 split.

http://img174.echo.cx/img174/4618/dscf17240ia.jpg

Chaparral, New Mexico. The town ends kind of abruptly at the bottom, and this is the Texas/New Mexico border. Also, you can see US Route 54 at the right.

http://img172.echo.cx/img172/869/dscf17253sn.jpg

I believe this is the Sierra Tinaja Pinta.

http://img172.echo.cx/img172/2222/dscf17260ll.jpg

My skills tell me that this is Dell City, Texas. i can see the salt basin on the right, which is labelld in my road atlas. I couldn't really idenitify County Routes 1437 or 1576.

http://img172.echo.cx/img172/9250/dscf17273po.jpg

More typical El Pueblo del Jardín de Las Cruces.

http://img242.imageshack.us/img242/4633/1lascruces0036lt.jpg

http://img451.imageshack.us/img451/9517/1mesilla0103hi.jpg

http://img451.imageshack.us/img451/662/1mesilla0081oe.jpg

http://img451.imageshack.us/img451/5767/1mesilla0151ta.jpg

http://img451.imageshack.us/img451/9209/1lascruces0515zv.jpg

http://img451.imageshack.us/img451/7551/1lascruces0485zj.jpg

http://img451.imageshack.us/img451/3878/1lascruces0475yp.jpg

http://img93.imageshack.us/img93/3787/1lascruces0216le.jpg

http://img93.imageshack.us/img93/3341/1lascruces0181ma.jpg

http://img93.imageshack.us/img93/4097/1lascruces0177ua.jpg

http://img93.imageshack.us/img93/3305/1lascruces0161yf.jpg

http://img93.imageshack.us/img93/7111/1lascruces0140qf.jpg

http://img93.imageshack.us/img93/6567/1lascruces0298cl.jpg

http://img451.imageshack.us/img451/1497/1lascruces0430ls.jpg

http://img451.imageshack.us/img451/7208/1lascruces0406dk.jpg

http://img451.imageshack.us/img451/5223/1lascruces0363bp.jpg

http://img93.imageshack.us/img93/361/1lascruces0357or.jpg

http://img93.imageshack.us/img93/1510/1lascruces0310vg.jpg

http://img93.imageshack.us/img93/6803/1lascruces0262gu.jpg

http://img93.imageshack.us/img93/4259/1lascruces0249gc.jpg

http://img93.imageshack.us/img93/6742/1lascruces0150wk.jpg

http://img242.imageshack.us/img242/864/1lascruces0121uk.jpg

http://img242.imageshack.us/img242/2072/1lascruces0110pp.jpg

http://img242.imageshack.us/img242/4360/1lascruces0094et.jpg

http://img242.imageshack.us/img242/559/1lascruces0064hz.jpg

http://img242.imageshack.us/img242/8366/1lascruces0529vp.jpg

How much do you think those 2 bedroom 2 bath condos go for cyburbia? I'm looking to get into real estate/developing and want to start by building a four plex of condos townhomes in either Tucson, Phoenix, or Las Cruces.

Depends on the neighborhood and developer upgrades, really.

In the High Range neighborhood, where those condos are located, I'd say anywhere from $130K to $160K. A typical 3 BR 2 bath single family new build will be in the $180K-$250K range, and somewhat less out in areas north of US 70 towards the East Mesa. Prices are now just starting to creep above the national average.

I love las Cruces, and would love to see pictures of Albuquerque