Las Cruces, NM Metro Area

The Las Cruces, NM metro area is one county in New Mexico: Doña Ana County. About 229,091 people lived there on July 1, 2025 (Census estimate), 4.3% more than in April 2020.

Doña Ana County, centralLas Cruces
Doña Ana County in New Mexico
Population, July 2025
229,091 4.3% more than in April 2020
Type
Metropolitan statistical area
County
Doña Ana County
Land area
3,808 sq mi (9,863 km²)
Time zone
Mountain TimeUTC-07:00 in January; UTC-06:00 in July
State
New Mexico
Combined statistical area
El Paso-Las Cruces, TX-NM
CBSA code
29740

The county in the Las Cruces, NM metro area

CountyRolePopulation, July 2025
Doña Ana CountyCentral229,091

A central county holds the area’s core, an urban area of at least 50,000 people. This area has no outlying counties: no neighboring county sends enough commuters to join it. A county belongs to one metro or micro area at most, and it counts whole, countryside included.

Principal city

  1. Las Cruces114,197 people

OMB names the area after its largest principal cities. A principal city is the area’s largest city, plus any other city that is very large or a big job center, and smaller ones with at least as many jobs as working residents (2020 Census and commuting figures). People counts are American Community Survey 2020–2024 5-year estimates.

Part of the El Paso-Las Cruces, TX-NM combined statistical area

OMB joins neighboring metro and micro areas into a combined statistical area when enough people commute between them. The other area in this one is

  1. El Paso, TX Metro Area881,291 people

Bordering metro and micro areas, nearest first

Areas with a county on this area’s edge. Distances are straight lines between the areas’ largest cities.

  1. El Paso, TX Metro Area39 mi southeast
  2. Deming, NM Micro Area56 mi west
  3. Alamogordo, NM Micro Area62 mi northeast

Before using this answer on a form

A metro or micro area is a statistical area that OMB draws for federal statistics. It is not a city, a local government or a mailing address, and it is not a measure of urban and rural: whole counties count, rural parts included. Programs that use metro areas, such as housing income limits or wage rates, can use their own version of these lists; check the program’s own list for an address.

Find the metro area where you are now, find your county, or see every metro and micro area by population.

See this area on Census.gov ↗