Photo: TCP04 · CC BY 4.0New Buffalo has lower household incomes than 66% of U.S. towns
For jobs and income New Buffalo is better than 40% of U.S. towns (C+); for walkability it is more walkable than 87% of U.S. towns (A). 12.7% of residents live below the poverty line, against 13.2% across Michigan. The trip to work takes 21 minutes on average (Michigan 24, U.S. 26).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2021, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in New Buffalo, in a few figures
New Buffalo is where the jobs are
New Buffalo has 863 jobs, 1.7 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
A big share show a job far from home
38% of working residents have a main job more than 50 miles away. Part of that is employers that report every worker at one head office, so not all of those trips happen daily. How far ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2021, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey; 2021 is the newest year Michigan has published; with 522 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Where New Buffalo’s Jobs & income grade comes from
Job access by car holds New Buffalo’s grade up (ahead of 59% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($64,702, U.S. $80,734).
Unemployment (1.5%) is left out: New Buffalo’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
The commuting and job counts on this page are Census LEHD 2021: Michigan reports later than other states, so its newest year is two years behind.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, New Buffalo could be anywhere from C− to A−.
The daily commute in and out of New Buffalo
On a workday 434 residents head out to work, 88 work right here, and 775 people come in from elsewhere.
About 2,000 people are in New Buffalo on a workday afternoon, 20% more than live here.
1.7 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than out.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2021, primary jobs.
Miles to work from New Buffalo
About 38% 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 2021.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Commuting in to New Buffalo: where workers come from
Where New Buffalo clocks in
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.
What the 863 jobs in New Buffalo are
863 jobs are based in New Buffalo.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in New Buffalo, 2011 → 2021: 993 → 863. 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 2021.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs New Buffalo’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Commuting from New Buffalo: about 21 minutes a trip
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of New Buffalo workers work from home, vs 14% across Michigan. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 544 commuters (the 16% who work from home are left out). Across Michigan: 86% 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.
Walkable streets, thin transit: New Buffalo
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 644 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). 8.3% of New Buffalo households have no vehicle (Michigan 7.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of New Buffalo’s commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 1,200 to 2,300, New Buffalo ranks 2,778th of 5,760 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Hewlett Harbor NY | 1,332 | $250K | 1.9% | 7.2% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 99 | Caledonia MI | 1,778 | $106K | 3.7% | 0.5% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 206 | Wheatfield Township MI | 1,659 | $117K | 1.9% | 2.7% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 249 | Sylvan Lake MI | 1,685 | $106K | 5.4% | 2.9% | 3% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 2,776 | Deering NH | 1,933 | $101K | 14.3% | 4.9% | 3% | C+ |
| 2,777 | Young Township PA | 1,670 | $61K | 5.9% | 6.8% | 12% | C+ |
| 2,778 | New Buffalo MI | 1,685 | $65K | 12.7% | 1.5% | 17% | C+ |
| 2,779 | Porter Township PA | 1,539 | $74K | 13.0% | 5.6% | 2% | C+ |
| 2,780 | Blacklick Township PA | 1,831 | $57K | 5.4% | 3.9% | 3% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5,760 | Paraje NM | 1,333 | $33K | 61.7% | 0.0% | 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 New Buffalo, the top three, the last and three more from Michigan.
11% of New Buffalo works in a town next door
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | New Buffalo workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New Buffalo | – | C+ | A | 21 min | $64,702 |
| New Buffalo Township | 11% | C+ | B | 25 min | $92,188 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to New Buffalo Township. Darker towns draw more of New Buffalo’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 2021, 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 New Buffalo: questions
What is the median household income in New Buffalo?
$64,702 (±$24,988) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,875 across Michigan and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in New Buffalo?
12.7%, against 13.2% across Michigan and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from New Buffalo?
21 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Michigan and 26 nationally. 16% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in New Buffalo work?
17% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are New Buffalo Township (11%, 1 mi), Grand Rapids (8%, 98 mi), Michigan City (5%, 9 mi) (Census LEHD 2021).
Is New Buffalo walkable?
New Buffalo is more walkable than 87% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 9.8 out of 20, and 6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around New Buffalo without a car?
1% 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 New Buffalo, from the people who make the trip.
More of New Buffalo
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2021, 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.