The Census Bureau says the population of Las Cruces reached nearly 90,000 in 2007, but city officials say they crossed that threshold already.
The population is actually between 90,000 and 103,000, city officials told the Las Cruces Sun-News.
Regardless, the state’s second-largest city grew 4.1 percent from 2006 to 2007, the Census says in a newly released estimate. Doña Ana County reached a population of 198,791 in 2007.
Las Cruces wasn’t the fastest growing New Mexico city from 2006 to 2007. The Census says Rio Rancho grew 7.8 percent to 75,978 residents (passing Santa Fe to become the state’s third-largest city), and Los Lunas grew 4.2 percent to 12,115, making Las Cruces third on the list of the fastest growing cities in the state.
Las Cruces remains the only rapidly growing city outside the greater Albuquerque area.