• 302 days of sunshine per year

• Mild winters, with days averaging 50 degrees.

• The average commute time is 21 minutes and 72.7% of regional residents drive less than 30 minutes to work.

The area is enriched by the contributions of many cultures and offers a range of museums, theater performances, and musical performances. The Plaza Theatre Performing Arts Centre is listed as a "Place of National Historic Significance" on the National Historic Register. The restored Plaza Theatre is a state-of-the-art multi-use performance hall, with two theatres and four meeting spaces available for public use.  The El Paso Museum of Art is one of a handful of institutions in the United States that has a permanent display of the Kress Collection. The El Paso Symphony is the state's oldest operating orchestra group.

Outdoor recreation in the region (within a 2 hour drive) includes hiking, camping, fishing and rock climbing in scenic outdoor venues such as the Lincoln National Forest, Gila Wilderness and Hueco Mountains State Park.

Other outdoor sports within two hours include fishing at various lakes and rivers in West Texas and southern New Mexico, water sports at Elephant Butte Lake and snow skiing at Ski Apache. Ski Apache offers a 12,000 ft peak with over 7000 acres of skiing terrain. It has 55 trails served by 11 lifts, including New Mexico's only gondola.

Numerous public and private golf courses in the region offer a variety of venues from traditional layouts to mountain courses to desert links.

El Paso offers residents a choice of nine school districts, providing a wide range of educational offerings. El Paso voters have also recently approved $645 million in bonds to build new schools and renovate many existing campuses throughout the city. The El Paso community offers 22 top-notch private schools (K-12) with the option of secular or various religious affliations.   Since 1985, 18 public and private schools in El Paso County have been honored with the National Blue Ribbon School award.

El Paso's cost of living is well below the national average. According to ACCRA (see next page), the cost of living is 93.7% of the national average. Residents of Texas also do not pay a personal income tax.

The region's median home value is lower than Texas, and national medians. The median housing value in the Greater El Paso Region was $111,200 in 2005, compared to the median housing values in Texas ($181,500) and the US. ($219,600).

Spectator sports include minor league baseball (El Paso Diablos), professional soccer (El Paso Patriots), and NCAA Division I football, basketball, volleyball, track & field, golf and more at the University of Texas at El Paso (Conference USA) and New Mexico State University (WAC). El Paso is home to the Sun Bowl classic-- America's second oldest post-season collegiate bowl game.

El Paso International Airport serves 15 cities with more than 132 daily arrivals and departures.

Selected Awards and Recognitions: