Buffalo has lower household incomes than 96% of U.S. towns
22.3% of residents live below the poverty line, where Missouri as a whole has 12.6%. For jobs and income Buffalo is better than 6% of U.S. towns (D); for walkability it is more walkable than 30% of U.S. towns (C). Working from home is the commute for 4% of workers (Missouri 13%).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in Buffalo
Buffalo’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Buffalo is Springfield, 33 miles away as the crow flies. 27% of working residents (322) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Buffalo workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 33 minutes each way, against 24 across Missouri. Over a year that’s about 253 hours of commuting, 69 more than the state’s typical worker. Time on the road ↓
Few Buffalo workers work from home
Only 4% of workers work from home, against 13% across Missouri. Almost everyone here travels to a job. 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.
How Buffalo earns its Jobs & income grade
Job access by car holds Buffalo’s grade up (ahead of 29% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($39,896, U.S. $80,734).
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Buffalo could be anywhere from D− to B−.
The commute from Buffalo, by distance
About 26% 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.
Buffalo’s commute takes about 33 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 10.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Buffalo workers work from home, vs 13% across Missouri. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,271 commuters (the 4% who work from home are left out). Across Missouri: 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.
The daily flow of workers through Buffalo
On a workday 1,000 residents head out to work, 211 work right here, and 1,344 people come in from elsewhere.
About 3,900 people are in Buffalo on a workday afternoon, 10% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.28 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.
27% of working residents work in Springfield
Where Buffalo clocks in
27% of workers
6% 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.
The 1,555 jobs based in Buffalo
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Buffalo, 2013 → 2023: 1,716 → 1,555. 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.
Getting around Buffalo: mostly by car
The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: hardly any commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 3.2% across Missouri.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,323 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). 3.8% of Buffalo households have no vehicle (Missouri 6.6%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Buffalo’s commuters take a bus or train.
U.S. towns of 2,500 to 4,800, and where Buffalo sits
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Mission Hills KS | 3,522 | $250K | 1.2% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 30 | St. Paul MO | 3,849 | $159K | 0.5% | 0.5% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 111 | Clarkson Valley MO | 2,540 | $247K | 3.0% | 2.9% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 183 | Frontenac MO | 3,790 | $233K | 2.0% | 4.4% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,106 | Moses Lake North WA | 4,517 | $58K | 29.8% | 13.5% | 5% | D |
| 4,107 | Monticello GA | 3,040 | $49K | 16.3% | 14.3% | 22% | D |
| 4,108 | Buffalo MO | 3,550 | $40K | 22.3% | 7.5% | 17% | D |
| 4,109 | Oneida TN | 3,899 | $49K | 28.1% | 5.3% | 19% | D |
| 4,110 | Colorado City TX | 3,884 | $53K | 16.6% | 9.3% | 28% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 4,355 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 18% | 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 Buffalo, the top three, the last and three more from Missouri.
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?
$39,896 (±$28,201) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $70,702 across Missouri and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Buffalo?
22.3%, against 12.6% across Missouri and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Buffalo?
33 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Missouri and 26 nationally. 4% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Buffalo work?
17% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Springfield (27%, 33 mi), Bolivar (6%, 18 mi), Lebanon (5%, 24 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Buffalo walkable?
Buffalo is more walkable than 30% of U.S. towns (Walkability C): an EPA walkability index of 7.7 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Buffalo without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 4% 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. 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.