page_title: Portales, New Mexico
section_title: Living
hierarchical_section_title: Portales, New Mexico / Living
caption_attribution_description: English: Spirit wall downtown Portales, New Mexico promoting the mascot of Portales High School, the Ram.MORE PHOTOS
context_page_description: Portales is a city in and the county seat of Roosevelt County, New Mexico, United States. The population was 12,280 at the 2010 census. Portales is located near the larger city of Clovis, as well as Cannon Air Force Base, a major contributor to the economy of the region.
  Eastern New Mexico University opened in Portales in 1934 as Eastern New Mexico Junior College, and has since grown to become the third-largest university in the state. The area is one of the largest producers of Valencia peanuts in the United States and is the nation's top producer of certified organic peanut butter. Portales is home to about 40 dairies and a major US dairy solids plant, together producing and exporting hundreds of millions of dollars of local milk products each year. It is the principal city of the Portales Micropolitan Statistical Area, which is part of the larger Clovis-Portales Combined Statistical Area, including Clovis, 19 miles away and Cannon Air Force Base, 13 miles away.
context_section_description: According to a study conducted by Bizjournals.com, of 577 micropolitan areas, Portales ranked 15th in the nation and ninth in the western United States in overall quality 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, adults are well-educated, and access to big-city attractions is reasonably close.
  The study identified 12 categories including population growth, per capita income, small business growth, professional jobs, commuting, cost of living, and advanced degrees. Cities were given points for positive results and negative scores if they were below the national averages. These scores were then totaled to determine its overall rank on the list of micropolitan areas.
  Portales, the smallest city in the top 25, received a quality of life score of 8.96, the 15th highest score in the nation. According to Scott Thomas, the author of the study, the income per capita, short commuting times, low taxes, and substantial percentage of adults with a graduate degree contributed to the ranking. Los Alamos was the only other New Mexico city to be recognized in the top 20.
caption: High School Spirit Wall downtown
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