Photo: Acroterion · CC BY-SA 4.0Households in Buffalo earn less than those in 70% of U.S. towns
Below the poverty line: 9.9% of residents; Wyoming has 10.5%. Jobs and income earn Buffalo C−; getting around on foot earns it A. For 17% of workers, the job is at home, against 9% across Wyoming.
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
Most jobs in Buffalo go to people who live here
Of the 1,890 jobs based in Buffalo, 48% are held by Buffalo residents. In most towns, people from elsewhere hold most of the local jobs. Day and night ↓
Buffalo’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Buffalo is Sheridan, 34 miles away as the crow flies. 8% of working residents (175) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Commutes from Buffalo are quick
The average trip to work takes 13 minutes, against 19 across Wyoming. That’s about 46 hours a year less on the road than the typical Wyoming 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.
Income, poverty and work: Buffalo’s grade explained
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Buffalo is better than 22% of U.S. towns, #23 of 28 in Wyoming. The poverty rate holds Buffalo’s grade up; job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 7% of U.S. towns).
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Buffalo could be anywhere from D to B.
Who works in Buffalo, and who works elsewhere
On a workday 1,212 residents head out to work, 903 work right here, and 987 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 (0.89 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.
How far Buffalo’s workers travel
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.
Commuting from Buffalo: about 13 minutes a trip
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 4.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Buffalo workers work from home, vs 9% across Wyoming. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,689 commuters (the 17% who work from home are left out). Across Wyoming: 83% 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.
8% of working residents work in Sheridan
Where Buffalo clocks in
8% 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 work there is in Buffalo: 1,890 jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Buffalo, 2013 → 2023: 2,385 → 1,890. 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.
Good to walk, short on transit: Buffalo
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Buffalo is more walkable than 86% of U.S. towns, #10 of 28 in Wyoming. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 12.8% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 5.8% across Wyoming, on an EPA index of 7.8.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 2,035 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). 4.2% of Buffalo households have no vehicle (Wyoming 4.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Buffalo’s commuters take a bus or train.
Buffalo places 3,078th of 3,867 on jobs and income among U.S. towns of 3,300 to 6,400
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Mission Hills KS | 3,522 | $250K | 1.2% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 351 | Ranchettes WY | 5,949 | $121K | 2.9% | 0.5% | 2% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 1,645 | Newcastle WY | 3,349 | $83K | 7.3% | 0.4% | 48% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 2,667 | Worland WY | 4,730 | $63K | 10.7% | 3.1% | 55% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 3,076 | Mount Pleasant TN | 5,103 | $50K | 22.8% | 3.8% | 10% | C− |
| 3,077 | Perry Township OH | 3,341 | $53K | 18.3% | 5.1% | 6% | C− |
| 3,078 | Buffalo WY | 4,733 | $63K | 9.9% | 5.3% | 43% | C− |
| 3,079 | Monticello IN | 5,595 | $53K | 11.1% | 5.9% | 22% | C− |
| 3,080 | Broken Bow NE | 3,507 | $60K | 8.8% | 5.9% | 61% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,867 | 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 Wyoming.
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?
$62,629 (±$7,956) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $76,176 across Wyoming and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Buffalo?
9.9%, against 10.5% across Wyoming and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Buffalo?
13 minutes each way on average, against 19 across Wyoming and 26 nationally. 17% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Buffalo work?
43% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Sheridan (8%, 34 mi), Gillette (4%, 60 mi), Casper (2%, 105 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Buffalo walkable?
Buffalo is more walkable than 86% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 7.8 out of 20, and 13% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Buffalo without a car?
1% 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.