If you live in Durango, the city is asking for about 16 minutes of your time — and those minutes could help shape local decisions for years.
The City of Durango’s 2026 Community Survey asks residents to rate key aspects of life in Durango — including the local economy, transportation, community design, utilities, public safety, the natural environment, parks and recreation, health and wellness opportunities, arts and culture, and how connected residents feel to their community. It also asks about affordability, neighborhood design, environmental quality, cultural opportunities and whether Durango feels welcoming and inclusive.
The survey is open online through March 16. Residents can take the survey through the city’s engagement platform at engage.durangoco.gov, where the survey is hosted and where applications for community focus groups planned for the week of April 20 will also be posted.
In early February, 3,000 surveys were mailed to randomly selected households within Durango city limits, forming the statistically valid foundation of the effort.
Durango participates in the National Community Survey, a standardized questionnaire used by municipalities across the country. By asking many of the same questions over time, cities can track how residents’ views change while also comparing results with hundreds of communities nationwide.
The same questions asked in the city’s 2023 survey appear again this year, allowing Durango to measure how community views evolve.
That earlier survey offered a revealing snapshot of local sentiment. Nearly 87% of residents rated Durango as a good place to live, and the city’s natural environment and parks received some of the highest marks — 94% and 90% positive ratings, respectively. Residents also reported feeling safe: about 90% said they felt safe in their neighborhoods during the day, and emergency services such as fire and ambulance services earned strong approval.
But the results also highlighted challenges residents know well.
Only 5% of respondents described the cost of living in Durango as affordable, and the availability of affordable housing ranked among the lowest-rated community characteristics.
The survey also offered a snapshot of who participated. The largest share of respondents were ages 18 to 34 (39%), and women and men were represented evenly at 50% each. About 80% of respondents identified as white, and 57% were homeowners — a reminder that the city may need to continue finding ways to ensure a wider range of voices are represented in community conversations.
Participation itself was solid but could be stronger. Invitations were mailed to 3,000 households, and 723 residents responded, producing a response rate of about 25%.
The results also reflected a highly engaged community. More than half of respondents — 54% — reported volunteering during the previous year, a rate higher than national benchmarks and another sign of Durango’s strong tradition of civic participation.
Now the city hopes to hear from even more residents.
The online survey allows any resident within city limits to weigh in before the March 16 deadline. The focus groups planned for the week of April 20 will offer another opportunity to share perspectives in smaller discussions.
Klancy Nixon, Durango’s community engagement specialist, said those discussions help provide context alongside the survey’s statistical findings.
“These allow us to collect more qualitative feedback to couple with the more quantitative results from the survey.”
Together, the survey and focus groups provide both statistical trends and the deeper perspectives behind them.
Durango is facing questions that will shape the next chapter of the city — from affordability and growth to protecting the qualities that make this community special.
The community survey is one simple way residents can help guide those decisions.
So take the 16 minutes.
Even with spring break beginning March 16, that’s time well spent.
