There is more sunshine than Indiana, but not 350+ day per year! Where did you find that statistic? It would be closer to 300 max. And that includes partly cloudy days where there isn't very much sun. If the economy, high tax rates, higher than average unemployment, higher than average crime rate, lower than average wages aren't a concern than it probably would be a good place for you to retire. Winters are cold there, with some snow. December, January would be mid-20's nightly with mid-50's for high temps. This is not a warm climate. Spring is windy and dusty. Summer has a monsoon, with lots of moisture that comes up from the south, with clouds, humidity, thunderstorms and some flooding. Weather feels more tropical than desert in July, August and part of September. Housing prices seemed kind of high in Las Cruces. When I was looking there recently, I couldn't find much of anything decent for less than $300K, which is expensive considering the wages/opportunities there are low. New houses are cookie-cutter homes on tiny lots for $250K. If you're looking for desert living, with low taxes, better opportunities, more entertainment, warmer climate, nice desert scenery, you might want to consider Las Vegas, Nevada or surrounding areas. No, I'm not a realtor but I did live in both Las Vegas, NV and New Mexico for many years. Now living in west/central Florida.
Joseph | Homosassa Springs, FL | Report Abuse

I am considering Las Cruces For retirement but am concerned about the quality of healthcare. Can you offer an input on this?
Carol | Asheville, NC | Report Abuse

I've lived in Las Cruces since December 2002. My wife and I were looking for a place to retire. We had considered more northern New Mexico communities but since we ended up staying in Las Cruces for a few days to get our vehicle worked on? We really gave this place a hard look. Back in 2002? This was a very nice community. You could stop your car at EVERY crosswalk and the people crossing would thank you for stopping. Flash forward to 2019 and I'm so anxious to move, it's not funny. Why? The people. The demographics of Las Cruces pretty much split at Hispanic/Latino and Caucasian at 50-50 more or less but it is my experience (my wife and I are Caucasian) that Caucasians must be hiding out somewhere because we simply NEVER see them anymore. When Arizona's Governor scared the hell out of their Mexican demographic several years ago, many of those illegals moved to Las Cruces. When I first moved here? I never EVER saw a Mexican license plate in town as I ran my errands. Today? I cannot even drive across town without spotting 6 or 7 Mexican license plates from both Sonora and Chihuahua every day. And please make note? This is just from what I can see from driving on the streets. Yes, Las Cruces is now a SANCTUARY CITY. They do not advertise that fact but it is a fact. Go into any emergency room in town at any time of the day and you'll see 95%+ illegal aliens utilizing emergency services and usually NOT for emergencies because they don't have to pay. None of this would matter to me MUCH if I didn't both see and experience the CHANGES in living here as caused. Go into a restaurant if you're Caucasian and not get waited on. Watch and experience other Hispanics and Latinos go to the head of the line. Got Caucasian children? Be prepared to have them be treated as OUTCASTS in school. Be prepared to have your Caucasian children possibly beat up on a weekly basis just because they are WHITE. How do I know this? I live right around the corner from Mayfield High School and at least several times a month as I head out to run errands, it's about the same time as Mayfield High School getting out for the day. What do I see on a CONSISTENT basis? Caucasian teenagers almost RUNNING away from the high school so as not to get caught up by any group of Mexican teenagers. Why? Because many of these groups of Mexican teenagers do in fact pick on white teenagers and kick the crap out of them right on the street and nobody does anything about it. I myself have stopped more than my fair share of these fights. Hell, they're not even fights. I consider these HATE CRIMES, plain and simple. Get into a car accident in Las Cruces? And TRUST ME... YOU WILL EVENTUALLY... Be ready for the INCOMPETENT Las Cruces Police Department to write up a report that your insurance company can do absolutely NOTHING with. If your Las Cruces Policeman or Woman happens to be Mexican? You might as well accept the fact that whether the accident was your fault or not? It's going to be your fault. The Mexican connection here STICKS together. In fact? You'll rarely see a Mexican even pulled over for any traffic violations... However, if you're a Caucasian and driving a late model SUV? Be prepared to get pulled over regularly! The city of Las Cruces knows exactly where to extract money from. Be prepared to have your Caucasian neighbors eventually move away from your neighborhood and have one or more entire Mexican families move into their house. Normally? This wouldn't be a problem but in Las Cruces? This means having anywhere from 10 to 20 family members with CARS moving in next to you and having their vehicles park in every vacant spot they can find on your street. Often in front of your own home with their oil-leaking vehicle. Also be prepared to have these vehicles coming and going at all kinds of hours EACH and EVERY DAY. I happen to live on what used to be a nice Cul-de-Sac right around the corner from Mayfield High School. My neighborhood was easily a 50-50 split of Caucasians and Mexicans and? We ALL got along! It was a super nice neighborhood to live in. We even had our own park at the end of the Cul-de-Sac. Today? All but two Caucasians have moved out of our neighborhood. Many of the nice homes on our street have been purchased by Mexican families and guess what most of them have done to these homes? They gutted the desert landscaping. By that I mean, they took out all the desert plants that need no water. Even cut down trees! Nice, beautiful trees! Why? So they could come in with gravel rock in place of all desert landscaping. Then what? Well now, they park all their vehicles on every vacant spot of what used to be their front yards! Many homes now have anywhere from 5 to 10 cars parked on their property and the street out in front of their homes. If they run out of places to park? Not to worry... They will park in front of your home without asking you if it's okay. And in fact to take it even a bit further? They seem to like to park the less efficient vehicles in front of their neighbors' homes i.e., the ones that don't get driven that often... The ones with flat tires... The ones that leak oil and other fluids. Need to make extra money? No problem. If you're like a lot of Las Cruces Hispanic/Latino residents, simply open up a garage in your own garage! Get the word out to all your neighbors that you work on cars and before you know it? You'll have plenty of vehicles parked in front of both yours and your neighbors' homes waiting to get worked on. While this can provide a nice little side income, it's against the law and people do and will often get hurt because of their makeshift craftsmanship. Need to have 4 to 10 of your family move in? Just find a cheap motorhome to park on the street! Run the electric cable into your home so they can have electricity and THERE YOU GO! Instant living quarters for your family! Don't worry about what your neighbors think or say... This is Las Cruces! Okay... I'm being facetious. You may even think I'm being racist. I AM NOT. I was in the Military for over 20 years and worked well with every race, creed, color, etc. that you could possibly imagine. All I'm saying is that once the illegals began to move into Las Cruces? More and more Caucasians moved away and more and more legal Hispanic residents changed their behavior from getting along with their Caucasian neighbors to absolutely hating them and trying to get them too to move out. So sure... We have decent weather and mild winters and if you're Mexican? This is a great place to live because I have absolutely zero doubt you will flourish here. However... If you're Caucasian? Think twice.
Jack | Las Cruces, NM | Report Abuse