Wall-Ratzlaff House · Photo: Klepto50 · CC BY-SA 4.0Work, pay and getting to work in Buhler
About one in ten stay in Buhler for work; outside it, Hutchinson is the main destination (34%, 9 miles). The two grades for Buhler are B for jobs and income and C+ for walkability. A typical one-way commute lasts 22 minutes (Kansas 20, U.S. 26).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work and commuting in Buhler, in brief
Buhler and Hutchinson trade workers both ways
Hutchinson is the top workplace for Buhler residents (34%) and also where the most people who work in Buhler come from (36% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Many jobs in Buhler pay little
26% of the jobs based in Buhler pay $1,250 a month or less, under $15,000 a year. 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; with 561 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Buhler’s Jobs & income grade, measure by measure
On income, poverty and job access, Buhler is better than 60% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds Buhler’s grade up (4.2%, U.S. 12.5%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 37% of U.S. towns).
Unemployment (1.8%) is left out: Buhler’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Buhler could be anywhere from C+ to B+.
Commuting out of Buhler: the destinations
Where Buhler clocks in
34% of workers
11% 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.
Most jobs in Buhler are in services
637 jobs are based in Buhler.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Buhler, 2013 → 2023: 678 → 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 Buhler’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The daily commute in and out of Buhler
On a workday 497 residents head out to work, 64 work right here, and 573 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.14 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
About 22 minutes to work from Buhler
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Buhler workers work from home, vs 12% across Kansas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 579 commuters (the 10% who work from home are left out). Across Kansas: 85% 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 many miles Buhler commutes
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 Buhler, the car does most of the work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Buhler is more walkable than 43% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Buhler near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 646 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service: no data. EPA’s transit file has no stops for most of this county (its agencies had not published schedules in the format EPA used in 2020). That is missing data, not a finding that there is no bus or train.
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 7.5% of Buhler households have no vehicle (Kansas 5.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Buhler’s commuters take a bus or train.
Buhler is 1,376th of 5,400 U.S. towns of 900 to 1,800 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 52 | Lake Quivira KS | 1,005 | $178K | 3.8% | 0.0% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 56 | Lexington Township KS | 1,512 | $135K | 0.0% | 2.7% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 69 | Westwood KS | 1,720 | $118K | 1.9% | 2.4% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,374 | Hooper Township NE | 1,079 | $77K | 4.8% | 1.2% | 6% | B |
| 1,375 | Addison VT | 1,352 | $107K | 4.5% | 0.6% | 3% | B |
| 1,376 | Buhler KS | 1,320 | $73K | 4.2% | 1.8% | 11% | B |
| 1,377 | Centerburg OH | 1,691 | $76K | 9.5% | 2.7% | 7% | B |
| 1,378 | Scott Township IN | 1,198 | $67K | 0.0% | 10.9% | <1% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 5,400 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 0% | 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 Buhler, the top three, the last and three more from Kansas.
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 Buhler: questions
What is the median household income in Buhler?
$72,929 (±$7,662) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $74,275 across Kansas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Buhler?
4.2%, against 11.3% across Kansas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Buhler?
22 minutes each way on average, against 20 across Kansas and 26 nationally. 10% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Buhler work?
11% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Hutchinson (34%, 9 mi), Wichita (11%, 39 mi), McPherson (3%, 17 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Buhler walkable?
Buhler is more walkable than 43% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 6.3 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Buhler without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 8% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Buhler, from the people who make the trip.
More of Buhler
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.