Background: Colorectal cancer surgery is associated with significant postoperative morbidity, which may have long-term implications on patient outcomes. We hypothesize that operative complications following surgery for colorectal cancer are associated with increased recurrence and worse survival. Methods: Using a prospectively maintained database, we reviewed patients with colorectal cancer that underwent a curative resection from 2008 to 2015. Patients were categorized by presence of any complication within 90 days from surgery and by type of complication, infectious and non-infectious. We compared clinical, pathological, and perioperative data using t-test, chi-squared test, and ANOVA. We compared overall (OS) and recurrence free survival (RFS) using Kaplan Meier and log-rank test. Multivariable Cox regression was used to compare mortality and recurrence. Results: Two hundred and twenty-nine patients underwent 104 colon and 125 rectal cancer resections (20 pelvic exenterations, 83 low anterior and 17 abdominoperineal resections) were followed for a median of 23 months. Fifty percent were completed minimally invasively. Postoperative complications occurred in 52%; 19% had a major complication (Clavien-Dindo 3-4). Postoperative complications were more likely to occur in open (61% vs. 38%, p < 0.01) and rectal operations (63% vs. 42%, p = 0.02). On multivariable analysis, OS and RFS were not statistically different in patients with complications. Patients with infectious complications had worse 3-year survival when compared to patients with non-infectious complications and without complications (58%,69%,76%, p = 0.04). Recurrence at 3 years was also significantly different among the three groups (p = 0.03). Infectious complications remained associated with worse overall survival (HR 1.8; 95% CI 1.02,3.26) and recurrence free survival (HR 1.9; 95% CI 1.06,3.39) after adjusting for patient, tumor, and perioperative data. Conclusions: Infectious complications following colorectal cancer surgery are associated with worse OS and RFS independent of tumor stage, type of surgery, and technique. Current research is ongoing to explore possible etiologies of this association.