I grew up in Portales. Lived there over 20 years.
Clovis is a small city. Population of 35,000 sounds about right. City data stats are here:
https://www.city-data.com/city/Clovis-New-Mexico.html
Portales is much smaller. Around 12,000 people. City data stats here:
https://www.city-data.com/city/Portales-New-Mexico.html
Elida is a very small town. I'd be surprised is there are 200 permanent residents. Not much there but houses, the local school, a convenience store, and maybe a tiny video rental place. City data states here:
https://www.city-data.com/city/Elida-New-Mexico.html
Cost of living is cheap, at least compared to most places.
Quality of life? Depends on what you're looking for, I guess. More on this below.
Diversity. Being eastern New Mexico, there is of course a large Hispanic population. Speaking Spanish isn't necessary, but it will come in handy. African Americans are still an extreme minority. Eastern New Mexico University in Portales brings in quite a few students and teachers from Asia and the Middle East. So yeah, for being such a small rural community, the area really does have quite a bit of diversity. Growing up there, I had many Hispanic friends. One of my best friends was Chinese, and I knew kids from Iran, India, etc. One of my good friends that I went to school with all through college was half-Indian and half-Hungarian.
The good about the area:
Friendly people for the most part. You can find a jerk or a bigot if you look hard enough, but you'll have to look. If anything, people from away who come from more reserved or distant cultures sometimes find locals TOO friendly.
Cost of living is relatively low. Although it is going up. The Air Base is undergoing a major expansion, industry has moved in (especially to Clovis), and with that come higher real estate prices.
HOT weather, if that's your thing. Personally, this would go on "bad things about the area" list, but it may be what you're looking for. In the summer, you can expect weeks where it gets well over a hundred degrees every day, and you'll be lucky if it gets below 80 at night. Drought or near-drought conditions are not uncommon in some years.
Winters are mild compared to other parts of the country. I can remember one white Christmas as a kid. Some winters it didn't snow at all. However, my parents who still live there tell me they have been getting more snow in recent years. The area does shut down during a heavy snow. They just aren't equipped to deal with it. But the snow usually melts within a couple of days.
Shopping. Clovis has a decent mall and most of the big chain stores. Portales has a few. Most locals their take the 20 minute drive to shop in Clovis. Folks in Elida either drive the 45 minutes to Clovis or 45 minutes to Roswell. Last time I was there (which has been about 5 years ago), Elida didn't even have a grocery store. Most people who really want to SHOP make the drive to Lubbock, Amarillo, or Albuquerque.
The bad about the area:
Crime. Don't get me wrong. It isn't Jersey or LA or anything, but the crime statistics are above the national average. A lot of it is drug-related. There are gangs in the area, although random violence from them is rare. Most violence from them is pretty well targeted. Substance abuse is a problem, and that increases things like burglaries. Rarely did a year go by when at least one of the local convenience stores wasn't held up.
Public schools are not the greatest. Not terrible, but not great.
Poverty is a big problem. The overwhelming majority of folks are middle-class -- and more toward the lower end of middle class. Some people are truly poor. Local welfare rolls are pretty high.
Water is going to become a serious problem there over the next 50 years. The hundreds of dairies are using water that the landscape just can't support -- and they are doing it via irrigation from the water table. Once that is drained, it's gone.
Flies. Flies like you would not believe. From about April to October, count on half of every meal time being spent shooing flies off your food. All of the dairies in the area are breeding grounds for the little pests.
Entertainment. Unless you're into honky tonk bars or your idea of a good time is walking the mall or seeing a movie, there just isn't much. ENMU gets a rare concert, and the theater department puts on a play a couple of times a year. Most people who love the night life and like to boogie make the 90 minute drive to Lubbock, 100 minute drive to Amarillo, or 3 hour drive to Albuquerque.
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Clovis
