Photo: Brian Stansberry · CC BY 4.0Buffalo has fewer jobs than working residents: 0.2 for each
Only 2% work in Buffalo; the top destination outside it is Elizabethtown (17%, 17 miles). There are 42 jobs in Buffalo, against 243 working residents. For 0% of workers, the job is at home, where Kentucky as a whole has 10%.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The work figures that set Buffalo apart
Buffalo is a place people come home to
There are 42 jobs based in Buffalo, about two for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Buffalo has about 530 people in it, 27% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
Few Buffalo workers work from home
Only 0% of workers work from home, against 10% across Kentucky. Almost everyone here travels to a job. Time on the road ↓
Commutes from Buffalo are quick
The average trip to work takes 19 minutes, against 24 across Kentucky. That’s about 38 hours a year less on the road than the typical Kentucky worker. Time on the road ↓
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 243 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
The daily commute in and out of Buffalo
On a workday 238 residents head out to work, 5 work right here, and 37 people come in from elsewhere.
About 530 people are in Buffalo on a workday afternoon, 27% fewer 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.
Commuting from Buffalo: about 19 minutes a trip
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Buffalo workers work from home, vs 10% across Kentucky. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 230 commuters (the 0% who work from home are left out). Across Kentucky: 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.
Where people from Buffalo work
Where Buffalo clocks in
17% of workers
6% 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.
Jobs in Buffalo: what the 42 are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Buffalo, 2013 → 2023: 30 → 42. 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 Buffalo’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The distance from Buffalo to work
About 24% show a job over 50 miles away. Some of that is real, and some is employers that report every worker at a head office, so a few long commutes are on paper only.
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.
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 Buffalo: questions
What is the median household income in Buffalo?
$47,120 (±$40,967) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $63,726 across Kentucky and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Buffalo?
17.8%, against 16.1% across Kentucky and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Buffalo?
19 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Kentucky and 26 nationally. 0% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Buffalo work?
2% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Elizabethtown (17%, 17 mi), Louisville (9%, 47 mi), Hodgenville (6%, 4 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Buffalo without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 0% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Buffalo, from the people who make the trip.
More of Buffalo
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.