LAS CRUCES, N.M. – The southern New Mexico city of Las Cruces has its eyes on the future, according to a recent survey by the credit card comparison website CreditDonkey.com.

The site's editors researched cities based on five major data points of major metropolitan areas in the country: U.S. Census population data from 2010 to 2012, age of housing, number of construction jobs, number of transportation companies and the number of DeLoreans sold in their state in the last year. Las Cruces rounded out the list at No. 10, with the new Spaceport America playing a role in its ranking.

Las Cruces is set to be the face of space travel in fall 2014 with Spaceport America heading the race to space. Located 55 miles north of Las Cruces, Spaceport America is the world's first commercial spaceport designed to enable space access to anyone, with Virgin Galactic as its anchor tenant. Although space travel won't officially open until later this year, preview bus tours are available to see the facilities before full operations commence.

Aside from space travel, Las Cruces' sunny weather, lower cost of living and great family attractions make the city a perfect oasis for retirement, which helped it grow in the early 2000s. Since 2010, the city has grown in population by nearly 2 percent. The survey also cites that 39.84 percent of the city's housing was built in 1990 or later.        

The CreditDonkey.com Top 10 Best Cities of the Future list are: 10. Las Cruces, N.M.; 9. Houston, Texas; 8. Phoenix, Ariz.; 7. San Jose, Calif.; 6. Miami, Fla.; 5. Denver, Colo.; 4. Orlando, Fla.; 3. Seattle, Wash.; 2. Bakersfield, Calif.; 1. Los Angeles, Calif. The full article is online at www.creditdonkey.com/where-future.html.

For more information about Spaceport America, including visitor information, visit www.spaceportamerica.com or call 575-373-611. Please note there are various pick-up locations for bus tours in Truth or Consequences and Elephant Butte. New Mexico Spaceport Authority is located at 901 E. University Ave., Suite 965L, in Las Cruces.

For additional information about Las Cruces, visit the Las Cruces Convention & Visitors Bureau website at www.lascrucescvb.org. 

For Las Cruces media inquiries or high-resolution photography, contact Brooke Traister at brooke@tuckerpr.com or 214-252-0900.

# # #