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Best Public Schools in Durango, CO

At a glance

Schools

4,820

Students

Districts

5-star school

Top rankedMountain Middle School45^th of 469 Colorado middle schools

▲

Biggest riser

Riverview Elementary School up 166 spots statewide this year

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Smallest classes

Sunnyside Elementary School 9.8 students per teacher

✦

Newly ranked this year

Escalante Middle School

SchoolDigger ratings

5★

4★

3★

2★

3 schools without a SchoolDigger rating (too few tested students)

Compare Colorado cities →See the top-ranked Colorado schools →

Summary:

The city of Durango, Colorado is home to 15 schools that serve students from elementary through high school, all part of the Durango School District No. 9-R. The district is ranked 34 out of 115 in Colorado and rated 4 out of 5 stars by SchoolDigger, indicating strong overall performance.

A few schools stand out in the Durango district. Mountain Middle School, a public charter, ranks 45th out of 469 Colorado middle schools and earns a perfect 5-star rating. It boasts exceptional English Language Arts and Math proficiency, with over 60% of students meeting or exceeding standards. Similarly, Park Elementary and Riverview Elementary are high-performing public elementary schools, ranking in the top 20% of Colorado elementary schools and earning 4-star ratings.

However, the data also reveals significant disparities in academic performance across the district. While some schools excel, others like Florida Mesa Elementary and Sunnyside Elementary struggle to meet state and district averages. These differences may be influenced by factors like school type, student demographics, and resource allocation. Addressing these equity concerns will be an important focus for the Durango School District moving forward.

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Ranking:

E Elementary M Middle H High A Alternative P Private

Choose columns to see: Summary School Students/Teachers Ranking Test Scores Finance All

School													Students/Teachers											Ranking (2025)				Ranking (2024)				PSAT10 Reading and Writing (2025)	PSAT10 Mathematics (2025)	PSAT9 Reading and Writing (2025)	PSAT9 Mathematics (2025)	SAT Reading and Writing (2025)	SAT Mathematics (2025)	CMAS English Language Arts (2025)							CMAS Math (2025)							CMAS Science (2025)			Per Pupil Expenditures (2025)
Name	Type	Grades	Address	City	Zip	County	District	Is Charter	Is Magnet	Is Virtual	Is Title I	Phone	Enrollment	Full-time Teachers	Student/ Teacher Ratio	Free/Discounted Lunch Recipients	White	Black	Hispanic	Asian	American Indian	Pacific Islander	Two or More Races	Average Standard Score (2025)	Statewide Rank (2025)	State Percentile (2025)	SchoolDigger Rating (2025)	Average Standard Score (2024)	Statewide Rank (2024)	State Percentile (2024)	Rank Change from Previous Year	PSAT10 Reading and Writing 10th Grade	PSAT10 Mathematics 10th Grade	PSAT9 Reading and Writing 9th Grade	PSAT9 Mathematics 9th Grade	SAT Reading and Writing 11th Grade	SAT Mathematics 11th Grade	CMAS English Language Arts 3rd Grade	CMAS English Language Arts 4th Grade	CMAS English Language Arts 5th Grade	CMAS English Language Arts 6th Grade	CMAS English Language Arts 7th Grade	CMAS English Language Arts 8th Grade	CMAS English Language Arts All Grades	CMAS Math 3rd Grade	CMAS Math 4th Grade	CMAS Math 5th Grade	CMAS Math 6th Grade	CMAS Math 7th Grade	CMAS Math 8th Grade	CMAS Math All Grades	CMAS Science 5th Grade	CMAS Science 8th Grade	CMAS Science 11th Grade	Total
Animas High School	Public, Charter	9-12	22 Osprey Way	Durango	81301	La Plata County	State Charter School Institute	Yes	No	No	No	(970) 247-2474	249	23	10.9	26.5%	200 (80.3%)	2 (0.8%)	33 (13.3%)	1 (0.4%)	1 (0.4%)	0 (0.0%)	12 (4.8%)	40.1	196^th of 328 public high schools	40.2%		67	104^th of 349 public high schools	70.2%	92	68.0	21.0	62.0	19.0	80.0	20.0																	18.9	$17,228
Mountain Middle School	Public, Charter	4-8	108 West 31st Street	Durango	81301	La Plata County	State Charter School Institute	Yes	No	No	No	(970) 828-5600	302	16	18.8		262 (86.8%)	0 (0.0%)	26 (8.6%)	1 (0.3%)	5 (1.7%)	0 (0.0%)	8 (2.6%)	88	45^th of 469 public middle schools	90.4%		92.8	27^th of 485 public middle schools	94.4%	18								62.1	78.0	78.4	86.8	66.0	74.2		62.7	76.3	55.8	69.8	56.0	64.5	59.3	44.9		$14,022
Durango High School	Public	9-12	2390 Main Avenue	Durango	81301	La Plata County	Durango School District No. 9-R	No	No	No	No	(970) 259-1630	1,352	84	16.1	30.1%	915 (67.7%)	11 (0.8%)	304 (22.5%)	6 (0.4%)	66 (4.9%)	2 (0.1%)	48 (3.6%)	71.8	95^th of 328 public high schools	71.0%		73.4	84^th of 349 public high schools	75.9%	11			76.0	49.0																			38.8	$17,204
Florida Mesa Elementary School	Public	PK, KG-5	216 Highway 172	Durango	81303	La Plata County	Durango School District No. 9-R	No	No	No	Yes	(970) 247-4250	293	28	10.3	52.6%	164 (56.0%)	0 (0.0%)	81 (27.6%)	3 (1.0%)	27 (9.2%)	0 (0.0%)	18 (6.1%)	35.5	566^th of 950 public elementary schools	40.4%		31.2	602^nd of 943 public elementary schools	36.2%	36							29.8	32.4	39.7				34.5	23.9	14.3	41.4				28.8	42.9			$21,477
Miller Middle School	Public	6-8	2608 Junction Street	Durango	81301	La Plata County	Durango School District No. 9-R	No	No	No	No	(970) 247-1418	360	30	11.9	35.3%	248 (68.9%)	5 (1.4%)	66 (18.3%)	2 (0.6%)	25 (6.9%)	1 (0.3%)	13 (3.6%)								(n/a)											57.7		52.1					35.7		32.2				$20,259
Needham Elementary School	Public	PK, KG-5	2425 West Third Avenue	Durango	81301	La Plata County	Durango School District No. 9-R	No	No	No	Yes	(970) 247-4791	367	32	11.5	42.2%	242 (65.9%)	3 (0.8%)	73 (19.9%)	2 (0.5%)	18 (4.9%)	0 (0.0%)	29 (7.9%)	48	463^rd of 950 public elementary schools	51.3%		55.1	402^nd of 943 public elementary schools	57.4%	61							38.6	62.7	48.0				50.0	25.4	42.4	32.7				33.5	33.3			$19,117
Park Elementary School	Public	PK, KG-5	510 E. 6th Ave.	Durango	81301	La Plata County	Durango School District No. 9-R	No	No	No	Yes	(970) 247-3718	452	36	12.7	38.9%	256 (56.6%)	1 (0.2%)	110 (24.3%)	7 (1.5%)	38 (8.4%)	1 (0.2%)	37 (8.2%)	79.7	176^th of 950 public elementary schools	81.5%		78.8	177^th of 943 public elementary schools	81.2%	1							57.6	61.8	60.3				60.1	58.3	55.8	58.7				57.5	55.6			$19,787
Riverview Elementary School	Public	PK, KG-5	2900 Mesa Avenue	Durango	81301	La Plata County	Durango School District No. 9-R	No	No	No	No	(970) 247-3862	374	31	12.0	30.5%	279 (74.6%)	1 (0.3%)	48 (12.8%)	2 (0.5%)	16 (4.3%)	1 (0.3%)	27 (7.2%)	79.3	185^th of 950 public elementary schools	80.5%		61.1	351^st of 943 public elementary schools	62.8%	166							60.3	66.2	64.0				63.5	69.8	48.5	44.9				55.0	56.3			$19,623
Escalante Middle School	Public	6-8	141 Baker Lane	Durango	81303	La Plata County	Durango School District No. 9-R	No	No	No	No	(970) 247-9491	461	35	13.1	42.7%	286 (62.0%)	8 (1.7%)	111 (24.1%)	1 (0.2%)	31 (6.7%)	0 (0.0%)	24 (5.2%)	53.2	189^th of 469 public middle schools	59.7%					(n/a)												46.2	46.7						39.1	34.9		35.1		$20,006
Sunnyside Elementary School	Public	PK, KG-5	75 Cr 218	Durango	81303	La Plata County	Durango School District No. 9-R	No	No	No	Yes	(970) 259-5249	107	11	9.8	50.5%	67 (62.6%)	0 (0.0%)	32 (29.9%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (1.9%)	1 (0.9%)	5 (4.7%)								(n/a)													31.6							21.1				$25,867
Animas Valley Elementary School	Public	PK, KG-5	373 Hermosa Meadows Road	Durango	81301	La Plata County	Durango School District No. 9-R	No	No	No	Yes	(970) 247-0124	185	18	10.1	37.8%	109 (58.9%)	0 (0.0%)	58 (31.4%)	0 (0.0%)	11 (5.9%)	0 (0.0%)	7 (3.8%)	47.5	467^th of 950 public elementary schools	50.8%		53.6	420^th of 943 public elementary schools	55.5%	47							57.7	39.1	50.0				49.3	29.6	45.8	25.0				33.3	33.3			$23,709
Durango Big Picture High School	Public	9-12	150 Tech Center Dr	Durango	81301	La Plata County	Durango School District No. 9-R	No	No	No	No	(970) 259-0203	99	11	8.9	56.6%	57 (57.6%)	1 (1.0%)	25 (25.3%)	2 (2.0%)	8 (8.1%)	0 (0.0%)	5 (5.1%)	30.4	231^st of 328 public high schools	29.6%		35.9	215^th of 349 public high schools	38.4%	16	50.0			17.0																			31.3	$29,311
The Juniper School	Public, Charter	K-8	225 Sawyer Dr	Durango	81303	La Plata County	Durango School District No. 9-R	Yes	No	No	No	(970) 764-4185	171	12	14.4	38.6%	136 (79.5%)	0 (0.0%)	28 (16.4%)	2 (1.2%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	5 (2.9%)	60.1	356^th of 950 public elementary schools	62.5%		63.7	331^st of 943 public elementary schools	64.9%	25							73.9	41.2	52.9	31.3			50.0	56.5	23.5	35.3				32.6	64.7			$13,921
Southwest Colorado eSchool	Public, Virtual	6-12	701 Camino Del Rio Suite 220	Durango	81301	La Plata County	San Juan boces	No	No	Yes	No	(970) 403-0946	48	2	29.4		36 (75.0%)	2 (4.2%)	7 (14.6%)	0 (0.0%)	3 (6.3%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)								(n/a)																								$00

Cities Near Durango

City	Distance	# of Schools	Statewide Rank
Bayfield	14.03 mi	4	139^th
Ignacio	17.61 mi	4	175^th
Hesperus	20.28 mi	1
Mancos	25.34 mi	4	178^th
Silverton	34.78 mi	3

See the top CO Colorado cities

SchoolDigger data sources: National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education, the U.S. Census Bureau and the Colorado Department of Education.

IMPORTANT DISCLAIMERS: Not all boundaries are included. We make every effort to ensure that boundaries are up-to-date. But it's important to note that these are approximations and are for general informational purposes only. To verify legal descriptions of boundaries or school locations, contact your local tax assessor's office and/or school district.