Cedar Bluff · Photo: Bill Fitzpatrick · CC BY-SA 3.0Households in Buffalo earn less than in almost any other U.S. town
Buffalo grades D− for jobs and income and D− for walkability. Household incomes here are among the lowest in the country. 50.5% of residents live below the poverty line, next to 14.1% for South Carolina as a whole.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The commute and the jobs: Buffalo in brief
Fewer jobs are based in Buffalo than ten years ago
Jobs counted in Buffalo fell from 340 in 2013 to 99 in 2023, −71%. That can be real closings or a large employer now reporting its workers at another address; the data can’t tell the two apart. The jobs ↓
Buffalo is a place people come home to
There are 99 jobs based in Buffalo, about two for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Buffalo has about 870 people in it, 34% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
Buffalo and Union trade workers both ways
Union is the top workplace for Buffalo residents (16%) and also where the most people who work in Buffalo come from (23% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
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 554 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
What’s behind Buffalo’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Buffalo is better than 2% of U.S. towns. Job access by car holds Buffalo’s grade up (ahead of 24% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($21,614, U.S. $80,734).
Unemployment (12.8%) is left out: Buffalo’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A firm grade. At either end of the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Buffalo stays D−.
Jobs in Buffalo: what the 99 are
99 jobs are based in Buffalo.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Buffalo, 2013 → 2023: 340 → 99. 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.
Who works in Buffalo, and who works elsewhere
On a workday 548 residents head out to work, 6 work right here, and 93 people come in from elsewhere.
About 870 people are in Buffalo on a workday afternoon, 34% fewer than live here.
0.18 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute out.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
16% of working residents work in Union
Where Buffalo clocks in
6% of workers
4% 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.
About 34 minutes each way, longer than most of South Carolina
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 10.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Buffalo workers work from home, vs 12% across South Carolina. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 354 commuters (the 0% who work from home are left out). Across South Carolina: 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.
How many miles Buffalo commutes
About 20% 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.
Getting around Buffalo: mostly by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Buffalo is more walkable than 4% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Buffalo 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 354 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). 31.1% of Buffalo households have no vehicle (South Carolina 5.7%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Buffalo’s commuters take a bus or train.
Where Buffalo sits among U.S. towns of 900 to 1,800
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 209 | Pimlico SC | 1,765 | $137K | 4.8% | 0.0% | 0% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 421 | Cane Savannah SC | 1,551 | $132K | 4.6% | 11.8% | 0% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 818 | Shell Point SC | 1,439 | $82K | 3.1% | 6.4% | 1% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5,170 | Banks Springs LA | 1,406 | $26K | 65.3% | 11.2% | 11% | D− |
| 5,171 | Hays MT | 1,009 | $52K | 23.7% | 21.1% | 39% | D− |
| 5,172 | Buffalo SC | 1,329 | $22K | 50.5% | 12.8% | 1% | D− |
| 5,173 | Hooper Bay AK | 1,297 | $50K | 22.7% | 14.3% | — | D− |
| 5,174 | Kamiah ID | 1,134 | $36K | 17.5% | 4.6% | 32% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 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 Buffalo, the top three, the last and three more from South Carolina.
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?
$21,614 (±$10,279) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $69,324 across South Carolina and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Buffalo?
50.5%, against 14.1% across South Carolina and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Buffalo?
34 minutes each way on average, against 26 across South Carolina and 26 nationally. 0% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Buffalo work?
1% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Union (16%, 3 mi), Spartanburg (6%, 20 mi), Charlotte (4%, 59 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Buffalo walkable?
Buffalo is more walkable than 4% of U.S. towns (Walkability D−): an EPA walkability index of 4.4 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 31% 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.