Photo: SudoGhost · CC BY-SA 3.0Buford has 3.1 jobs for every working resident: 22,682 people commute in to work
Jobs and income earn Buford B−; getting around on foot earns it B−. 23,637 jobs are based in Buford, against 7,671 working residents. About one in seven work in Buford itself; outside it, Atlanta draws the most (7%, 35 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The commute and the jobs: Buford in brief
Buford draws workers from far and wide
The 23,637 jobs in Buford are filled from a wide area. The ten biggest home towns of its workers supply 12%; the other 84% come from many towns beyond those. The commute map ↓
Buford has far more jobs than workers
Buford has 23,637 jobs, 3.1 for every working resident. On a workday afternoon about 35,000 people are in town, 85% more than the 19,000 who live here. Day and night ↓
No single place dominates Buford’s commute
The biggest draw, Atlanta, gets only 7% of working residents, and 58% work outside the top ten towns entirely. Buford residents fan out across the region. The commute map ↓
Buford has added jobs fast
Jobs based in Buford went from 14,724 in 2013 to 23,637 in 2023, +61%. The jobs ↓
Stores, warehouses and trucking
41% of the jobs in Buford are in trade, transport and utilities, against 26% of the jobs its residents hold. The jobs ↓
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; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
How Buford earns its Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Buford is better than 54% of U.S. towns, #93 of 263 in Georgia. Job access by car holds Buford’s grade up (ahead of 85% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down (12.6%, U.S. 12.5%).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Buford could be anywhere from C+ to B+.
The daily trip into Buford
Where Buford clocks in
7% of workers
5% 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.
Who commutes out of Buford, and who commutes in
On a workday 6,716 residents head out to work and 955 work right here.
About 35,000 people are in Buford on a workday afternoon, 85% 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.
The kinds of work in Buford
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Buford, 2013 → 2023: 14,724 → 23,637. 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 Buford’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Commuting from Buford: about 28 minutes a trip
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Buford workers work from home, vs 16% across Georgia. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 6,356 commuters (the 14% who work from home are left out). Across Georgia: 84% drive alone, 1% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
How far Buford’s workers travel
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.
In Buford, the car does most of the work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Buford is more walkable than 52% of U.S. towns, #147 of 263 in Georgia. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 3.1% across Georgia.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 7,380 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 0% 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 0.9 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 56% 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). 4.6% of Buford households have no vehicle (Georgia 5.9%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Buford’s commuters take a bus or train.
Out of 1,915 U.S. towns of 13,000 to 25,000, Buford comes 1,173rd on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Plain Township OH | 13,257 | $219K | 2.1% | 0.8% | 10% | A+ |
| 2 | Rogers MN | 15,606 | $159K | 1.9% | 1.2% | 10% | A+ |
| 3 | Trophy Club TX | 13,695 | $201K | 2.1% | 2.0% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 155 | Holly Springs GA | 20,261 | $114K | 3.9% | 2.2% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 252 | Vinings GA | 14,390 | $95K | 6.2% | 2.2% | 4% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 324 | Flowery Branch GA | 13,110 | $104K | 6.1% | 2.4% | 4% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 1,171 | Hazel Dell WA | 23,237 | $86K | 9.8% | 8.2% | 5% | B− |
| 1,172 | Hazel Park MI | 14,937 | $67K | 12.3% | 5.1% | 4% | B− |
| 1,173 | Buford GA | 18,780 | $69K | 12.6% | 4.5% | 12% | B− |
| 1,174 | Zachary LA | 20,621 | $84K | 8.5% | 6.9% | 10% | B− |
| 1,175 | Hopkins MN | 19,523 | $75K | 12.1% | 6.4% | 6% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,915 | 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 Buford, the top three, the last and three more from Georgia.
Next door to Buford
The biggest share goes to Sugar Hill (2%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Buford workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Buford | – | B− | B− | 28 min | $69,471 |
| Sugar Hill | 2% | A− | C+ | 33 min | $107,389 |
| Flowery Branch | under 2% | A | B− | 28 min | $103,942 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Buford’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.
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 Buford: questions
What is the median household income in Buford?
$69,471 (±$6,690) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,353 across Georgia and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Buford?
12.6%, against 13.4% across Georgia and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Buford?
28 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Georgia and 26 nationally. 14% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Buford work?
12% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Atlanta (7%, 35 mi), Gainesville (5%, 15 mi), Alpharetta (4%, 17 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Buford walkable?
Buford is more walkable than 52% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 7.8 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Buford 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 Buford, from the people who make the trip.
More of Buford
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.