Durango
Durango is Mexico's fourth-most peaceful state.
Capital: Durango · Area: 123,364 km² · Checked 3 Nov 2026
Durango at a glance
INEGI publishes IMMEX export-plant counts by state only in its database, not in the monthly bulletin we could read, so no count is shown here rather than an estimate; where Book 6 gives a share, it is in the text below.
This is Durango
Durango was founded on 8 July 1563 as the capital of Nueva Vizcaya, near the Cerro de Mercado, a large iron deposit. It remains one of Mexico's leading gold producers, and forestry, mostly pine with some oak, is a major industry. In La Laguna, cotton was the main crop from the late 19th century to the 1970s, and Gómez Palacio processes chicken and dairy. Film crews have worked in the state since 20th Century Fox shot White Feather there in 1954. The Southern Tepehuanes, who call themselves O'dam, are the largest Indigenous group, followed by the Huichols. The 2020 census counted 1,832,650 residents. The Universidad Juárez del Estado de Durango was established in the former Jesuit college of the capital. 18
Who it suits
Durango suits a company that needs a resource-based input or lower wages and can accept thin supplier networks. 5
The Bajío suits a supplier to automotive and aerospace makers already in Mexico, a company that sells to the Mexican and American markets, and a plant with moderate load that values a deep supply base and a choice of mid-sized labor markets. It suits less well a company whose only customer is across the border and whose freight is time-sensitive, which Chapters 13 and 14 serve better, and a very large electrical load in Querétaro until the substations arrive. A company that will run trucks on the MEX-45D and MEX-57D, or place people in León, should budget for security as a line, not a contingency. Zacatecas and Durango suit a company that needs a resource-based input or lower wages and can accept thin supplier networks.
What to check first
- Start with power, in writing: which substation serves the lot, how many megawatts are free today, and when the next block arrives, above all in Querétaro, San Luis Potosí, and Guanajuato.
- Then the route: the corridor sections the plant’s trucks will use, with tracking-firm or insurer data for each, and the hours they will run.
- Then the labor market of the specific city, not the state: this year’s turnover from the plants nearest the site, formal job growth, and whether the anchor customers nearby are expanding or leaving, as Aguascalientes showed.
- Then vacancy, from 2 or 3 brokers, since the sources disagree.
- Chapter 23 takes those checks from shortlist to site.
Weighing Durango for a plant, a warehouse or an office? Work with us.
Industry and plants
A creator called mining and forestry its main industries in April 2026. The state held 1.2% of IMMEX establishments in June 2024. 5
The 2020 census counted 1,832,650 inhabitants (INEGI). Unemployment was 2.9% in the second quarter of 2026, against 2.7 nationally, and informality, at 55.5%, edged past the national 55.1. Lokus Data’s IMSS series showed 267,117 formal jobs in July 2026, up 3.5% in a year. 5
Output by sector, 2024
Share of the state’s output, current prices 16
- 47.5%Services +2.6% real, 2024
- 38.7%Industry: manufacturing, construction, energy, mining +8.4% real, 2024
- 9.0%Agriculture, livestock, fishing +2.4% real, 2024
- 4.8%Taxes on products, net
Among the 32, measure by measure
Each bar is one state, largest on the left, in the colour of its corridor; Durango is the bright one with the white edge. 1 2 3 7 6
Beside its neighbours in the Bajío and Center-North
Share of Mexico’s output, 2024
Exports, 2025
Formal private jobs, July 2026
Informal work, Q2 2026
Durango against Mexico
Coloured: the state. Grey: the whole country.
Safety, taxes and incentives
INEGI counted 2,641 businesses victimized per 10,000 in 2023, below the national average of 2,722. The Mexico Peace Index 2026 ranks it the fourth most peaceful, and the May 29, 2026, USA advisory sets it at Level 2. 5
The 2026 payroll tax is 3.0% (BHR). The World Bank ranked it fifth in construction permits in 2016, and IMCO ranked it 22nd in competitiveness in 2026. 5
Cities, ports, airports, crossings, power and water
Durango
The capital: 616,068 people (2020) 17
Gómez Palacio
City: 301,742 people (2020) 17
Ciudad Lerdo
City: 79,669 people (2010) 17
General Guadalupe Victoria International Airport
International airport (DGO) · 569,178 passengers in 2025 17
Power and water
In September 2025, CONAGUA said a dam will replace all of Durango city’s groundwater, contaminated with fluoride and arsenic, with surface water. Chapter 6 treats power. 5
Logistics and crossings
Durango lies on the road north above the Bajío, and an adviser to a security association named its highways among cargo-theft routes in November 2025. 5
Development pole
Durango’s logistics and industrial center was declared a development pole in the Diario Oficial on August 26, 2025. 5
The recent arrivals
- Book 6 records no dated plant announcement for this state.
At 552.23 pesos in July 2026, Durango’s average daily IMSS contribution wage was the third-lowest of the 32; the national figure was 673.9. 5
Book 6’s cost model prices only Monterrey, Querétaro and Mérida in full.
Rent per square metre, freight to your customers and the fully loaded cost of your own workforce are figures we prepare for each client, not numbers to publish: work with us.
Sources, each with its date
- INEGI, Encuesta Intercensal 2025 (people in private dwellings; median age from the tabulates), 22 Sep 2026 · link
- INEGI, PIB por Entidad Federativa 2024, current prices; share our arithmetic over the national 33,506,847 million pesos, 5 Dec 2025 · link
- INEGI, Exportaciones Trimestrales por Entidad Federativa, the four quarters of 2025 summed (our arithmetic), preliminary, 31 Mar 2026 · link
- Wikipedia, List of states of Mexico, citing INEGI (continental area, 2016), 22 Oct 2026 · link
- Book 6, Where to Go in Mexico, Part V, with the sources listed there, Nov 2026 · link
- INEGI, ENOE second quarter 2026, bulletin 503/26, as compiled in Book 6, Part V, 25 Aug 2026 · link
- IMSS open data as processed by Lokus Data (private formal jobs and average daily contribution wage; the national wage of 673.9 pesos covers all IMSS-insured workers), as compiled in Book 6, Jul 2026 · link
- Book 6, Where to Go in Mexico, chapter 15, The Bajío and Center-North, with the sources listed there, Nov 2026 · link
- INEGI, quarterly state exports, bulletin 609/26, as compiled in Book 6, 30 Sep 2026 · link
- Secretaría de Economía, foreign direct investment by state of destination, as reproduced by the Chamber of Deputies, Gaceta Parlamentaria, 14 Apr 2026 · link
- IMCO, Índice de Competitividad Estatal 2026, 21 Sep 2026 · link
- BHR, bulletin on state payroll-tax rates for 2026, as compiled in Book 6, Jan 2026 · link
- Institute for Economics and Peace, Mexico Peace Index 2026; USA Department of State travel advisory of 29 May 2026, 29 May 2026 · link
- INEGI, ENVE 2024 (businesses victimized in 2023, per 10,000), 10 Dec 2024 · link
- INEGI, ITAEE first quarter 2026 (change on a year), from Book 6, Figure VII.18, Nov 2026 · link
- INEGI, PIB por Entidad Federativa 2024, the state's press release (shares at current prices, growth at constant prices; taxes on products are 100 less the three activities, our arithmetic), 5 Dec 2025 · link
- Wikipedia, the city, airport, port and crossing pages (EN and ES), read 3 November 2026, 3 Nov 2026 · link
- Wikipedia and the pages listed: Durango (en); Durango (es), 3 Nov 2026 · link
Pictures
- PlazaGomez: Alx 91, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
- Montage Victoria de Durango: Microstar, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons