Because there are quite a few people attending college in Portales, it is thought of as a college town. To the benefit of the many students in the area, Portales provides a number of services, amenities and opportunities geared towards their needs and activities.
Residents of the city have the good fortune of having one of the shortest daily commutes compared to the rest of the country. On average, they spend only 15.81 minutes getting to work every day.
As is often the case in a small city, Portales doesn't have a public transportation system that people use for their commute.
The percentage of people in Portales who are college-educated is somewhat higher than the average US community of 21.84%: 26.44% of adults in Portales have at least a bachelor's degree.
The per capita income in Portales in 2022 was $23,988, which is lower middle income relative to New Mexico, and low income relative to the rest of the US. This equates to an annual income of $95,952 for a family of four. However, Portales contains both very wealthy and poor people as well.
Portales is an extremely ethnically-diverse city. The people who call Portales home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. People of Hispanic or Latino origin are the most prevalent group in Portales, accounting for 46.26% of the city’s residents (people of Hispanic or Latino origin can be of any race). The greatest number of Portales residents report their race to be White, followed by Black or African-American. Important ancestries of people in Portales include German, Irish, English, Italian, and European.
The most common language spoken in Portales is English. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and Italian.
