Welcome to Portales ...

The city of Portales is located in southeast New Mexico.

Portales is located in Roosevelt County<1> and is the County Seat for Roosevelt County.

The location of Portales has been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (ie- the GNIS).<2>

While we don't have a date for the founding of Portales, you might consider that their post office opened  in 1899.

From the  Census Estimates for 2019, Portales has a population of 11,590 people<3> (see below for details).

The community of Portales is 4,010 feet [1,222 m] above sea level.<4> In other words, the altitude of Portales is ¾ mile [or ~1¼ km] above sea level.

Time Zone: Portales lies in the Mountain Time Zone (MST/MDT) and observes daylight saving time

Note: If you travel east from Portales (for example, toward Muleshoe (TX)), you will leave Mountain Time and cross into the Central Time Zone (CST/CDT).

The area code for Portales: (575)

Websites for Portales ...

Official Website:   www.portalesnm.org/

Chamber of Commerce:   www.portales.com/

Population Details ...

Taken from the 2019 Census Estimates, Portales had an population of 11,590 people. This is a decrease of 5.62% since the 2010 Census (or an increase of 4.12% since the 2000 Census).

At the time of the 2010 Census, Portales had a population of 12,280 people (which is 61.88% of the total population of Roosevelt County). This makes Portales the county's most populous community.

The population of Portales represents 0.6% of the total population of New Mexico (which has 2,059,179 people), making it the state's 16th most populous community.

With a 2010 count of 12,280 people, the population of Portales increased 10.32% from the 2000 Census (with a count of 11,131 people).

More information can be found on the Census Page for Portales.

Communities near Portales ...

We have created a list of 10 communities that are near Portales.

• Clovis
  (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clovis
  • Clovis is located in Curry County
  • Population from the 2020 Census: 38,091 people
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Clovis <5>
• Dora
  (16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dora
  • Dora is located in Roosevelt County
  • Population from the 2020 Census: 118 people
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Dora <5>
• Floyd
  (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Floyd have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Floyd
  • Floyd is located in Roosevelt County
  • Population from the 2020 Census: 103 people
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Floyd <5>
• Saint Vrain
  (18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Saint Vrain
  • Saint Vrain is located in Curry County
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Saint Vrain <5>
• Elida
  (23 miles [37 km] to the southwest)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elida
  • Elida is located in Roosevelt County
  • Population from the 2020 Census: 175 people
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Elida <5>
• Melrose
  (23 miles [37 km] to the northwest)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Melrose have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Melrose
  • Melrose is located in Curry County
  • Population from the 2020 Census: 622 people
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Melrose <5>
• Texico
  (23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Texico
  • Texico is located in Curry County
  • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,062 people
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Texico <5>
• Farwell
  (23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Farwell have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Farwell
  • Farwell is located in Parmer County (TX)
  • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,275 people
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Farwell <5>
• Stegall
  (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southeast)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stegall
  • Stegall is located in Bailey County (TX)
• Causey
  (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Causey have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Causey
  • Causey is located in Roosevelt County
  • Population from the 2020 Census: 93 people
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Causey <5>

To Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

We have a couple of sections for those tracing their genealogy.

We created a list of cemeteries that are in the area around Portales. Our list includes the location of those cemeteries and we provide an overhead view. See our Cemetery List for Portales.

We have a detailed list of newspapers that have been published in the area around Portales. Our list includes 20 papers. See our Newspapers Page for Portales.

TripAdvisor Tourism Pages for Portales ...

Looking for more information about Portales? A wonderful source is the TripAdvisor website. We always start with the TripAdvisor Tourism page, where you can read an overview with links that will help you find lodging, restaurants and attractions.

In addition to the Tourism page for Portales, there are neighboring communities that also have Tourism pages. More information about those communities can be found on our TripAdvisor Page for Portales.

Adding Portales to Our Gazetteer ...

We originally found mention of Portales in both the FIPS-55 and the GNIS. For more information, see the FIPS and GNIS Codes sections on our Miscellaneous Page.

From our notes, the earliest published mention we've found for Portales was in the document titled List of Post Offices from Cameron Blevins and Richard Helbock.<6>

From that list, the Portales post office opened in 1899.

We also found Portales on a map titled Rand McNally Map of New Mexico (1920).

For more details, see References and Mentions for Portales.

Off-the-Road Links ...

The official website for Portales: www.portalesnm.org/

The official website for Roosevelt County: www.rooseveltcounty.com/

The official website for State of New Mexico: www.newmexico.gov/