Photo: Quintin Soloviev · CC BY 4.0Durango draws 11,356 commuters a day, with 2.0 jobs for every working resident
There are 16,312 jobs in Durango for 8,166 working residents. For jobs and income Durango is better than 47% of U.S. towns (B−); for walkability it is more walkable than 94% of U.S. towns (A). More than half stay in Durango for work; outside it, Denver is the main destination (2%, 236 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Durango, in a few figures
Commutes from Durango are quick
The average trip to work takes 14 minutes, against 25 across Colorado. That’s about 84 hours a year less on the road than the typical Colorado worker. Time on the road ↓
Durango is where the jobs are
Durango has 16,312 jobs, 2.0 for every working resident. On a workday afternoon about 28,000 people are in town, 41% more than the 20,000 who live here. Day and night ↓
Durango draws workers from far and wide
The 16,312 jobs in Durango are filled from a wide area. Durango’s own residents hold 30% and the ten next-biggest home towns 12%; the other 58% come from many towns beyond those. The commute map ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey.
Income, poverty and work: Durango’s grade explained
Unemployment holds Durango’s grade up (3.1%, U.S. 5.2%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 34% of U.S. towns). It also does well on household income.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Durango could be anywhere from C to B.
Commuting from Durango: about 14 minutes a trip
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 4.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Durango workers work from home, vs 21% across Colorado. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 9,390 commuters (the 15% who work from home are left out). Across Colorado: 82% drive alone, 2% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
How many people are in Durango by day
On a workday 3,210 residents head out to work and 4,956 work right here.
About 28,000 people are in Durango on a workday afternoon, 41% more than live here.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
Where the people who work in Durango live
Where Durango clocks in
2% of workers
2% of workers
2% of workersLines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
The kinds of work in Durango
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Durango, 2013 → 2023: 15,660 → 16,312. Big swings can come from how a large employer reports its locations, not only from real openings or closings.
Primary jobs covered by unemployment insurance (not the self-employed). Pay is monthly earnings. LEHD 2023.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Durango’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Half of Durango commutes less than 3 miles
About 18% show a job over 50 miles away. Some of that is real, and some is employers that report every worker at a head office, so a few long commutes are on paper only.
Straight-line distance from each worker’s home block to their main job’s block. LEHD 2023.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Walkable streets, thin transit: Durango
How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 17.2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 6.4% across Colorado, on an EPA index of 9.5.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 11,050 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 7% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 0% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about under 0.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 20% of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 4.9% of Durango households have no vehicle (Colorado 5.2%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Durango’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Durango ranks: 1,251st of 1,860 U.S. towns of 14,000 to 27,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rogers MN | 15,606 | $159K | 1.9% | 1.2% | 10% | A+ |
| 2 | West Springfield VA | 22,532 | $163K | 1.9% | 1.7% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Ada Township MI | 14,769 | $168K | 2.0% | 0.7% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 86 | Greenwood Village CO | 15,323 | $149K | 3.1% | 3.3% | 13% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 188 | Lone Tree CO | 15,278 | $124K | 4.9% | 3.0% | 9% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 210 | Castle Pines CO | 15,583 | $191K | 6.9% | 2.6% | 4% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 1,249 | Laconia NH | 17,246 | $73K | 12.6% | 3.1% | 28% | B− |
| 1,250 | Port Hueneme CA | 20,987 | $93K | 11.4% | 10.1% | 4% | B− |
| 1,251 | Durango CO | 19,733 | $79K | 13.0% | 3.1% | 61% | B− |
| 1,252 | Jackson Township IN | 23,633 | $62K | 15.0% | 2.2% | 38% | B− |
| 1,253 | Blooming Grove NY | 18,418 | $96K | 13.8% | 6.8% | 9% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,860 | Douglas AZ | 16,038 | $42K | 27.8% | 12.3% | 29% | D− |
Census ACS 2020–24 (income, poverty, unemployment), Census LEHD (work in town), TownRatings Jobs & income grades. Each town links to its Work & commute page.
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Durango, the top three, the last and three more from Colorado.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Two sources, two years. Trips, distances and jobs based here: Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs, where the employer reports them. Income, poverty, unemployment, commute time and how people travel: Census ACS 2020–24 averages.
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Durango: questions
What is the median household income in Durango?
$78,602 (±$9,139) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $95,470 across Colorado and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Durango?
13.0%, against 9.4% across Colorado and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Durango?
14 minutes each way on average, against 25 across Colorado and 26 nationally. 15% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Durango work?
61% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Denver (2%, 236 mi), Farmington (2%, 39 mi), Cortez (2%, 39 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Durango walkable?
Durango is more walkable than 94% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 9.5 out of 20, and 17% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Durango without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 5% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Durango, from the people who make the trip.
More of Durango
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2023, primary jobs. Commute time, working from home and working out of state: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates. Distances are straight lines between home and work; real drives run longer. Walkability index, job access and transit service: U.S. EPA Smart Location Database. The two grades are our own summaries of these figures, not official ratings.