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Place dossier plate
SheetNY-UNIVERSITY-AT-BUFFALO-NY ยท University at Buffalo, NY 6,776 pop
Instrument codes from this place’s ACS population and household income, BEA state COL, FBI safety, national income percentile, photo-finish peer city, home-value band, and matched Census-tract book - not a moving recommendation.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by population, income
Out-of-state nearest neighbors for University at Buffalo on ACS population and median household income
. Link sets are deduped so each column is a distinct comparison path, not a forecast that peers share a labor market or climate.
Similar population
Nearest out-of-state cities by ACS population. This city: 6,776.
New York's University at Buffalo counts 6,776 residents. Source: Census ACS.
78th
percentile, median rent
๐ How we sourced this
Population, income, and housing-cost figures come from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 5-year estimates (B-series tables). Crime data uses FBI UCR; climate uses NOAA Climate Normals; school counts come from NCES Common Core of Data; permits use the Census Building Permits Survey (BPS). See our methodology page for the full ETL pipeline and OMB / FIPS join keys.
Data Snapshot: University at Buffalo, NY
University at Buffalo is a small town in New York, home to 6,776 residents per U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. The median resident age is 19.4 years. 97.3% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 21.2% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
New York carries a cost-of-living premium: BEA Regional Price Parities 2024 puts New York at 107.9 on a 100-equals-national-average scale (Above Average). Statewide, HUD pegs Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom unit at $1,579 monthly. Statewide, average monthly utility bills in New York run around $285, per EIA 2023 residential energy data. Workers in University at Buffalo report an average commute of 14.5 minutes, with 45.5% driving alone and 9.5% working from home. On FEMA's National Risk Index, this area rates 69.4 out of 100 for natural-hazard exposure (Moderate).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of University at Buffalo's data
How this reading path is ordered
This is not a composite city score. It is a city-specific route through the available public records, ordered for this profile so the page starts with questions the joined data can actually answer. The route here runs from work and mobility to comparison shortlist; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For University at Buffalo, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares.
No matched row is reported here for local building permits, FBI reported-crime rates, within-city Census tract profiles, matched public-school count, annual population history; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
1. Work and mobility
What does the journey to work look like in University at Buffalo?
Mode share answers how workers usually travel; it does not measure congestion, reliability, distance to a particular job, or the quality of transit service. No single mode completely explains the work trip here. The mix is more useful than a one-number commute grade, especially when comparing places where transit, walking, and remote work divide the non-driving share differently.
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 45.5%. The reported mean trip to work is 14.5 minutes.
Which cities make useful reference points for University at Buffalo?
Within New York, the closest population matches are Lawrence (6,771 residents, $174,787 income); South Hill (6,805 residents, $112,437 income); Bayville (6,744 residents, $143,571 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Sterling, AK (6,776 residents); Chestnut Hill, PA (6,774 residents); Atlantic, IA (6,773 residents). These are mechanical peer sets, not claims that the places share a labor market, climate, culture, or metro context.
Use the in-state set to hold state policy and broad price conditions more nearly constant. Use the nationwide size set to ask whether cities with a similar resident count produce different housing, income, or commute outcomes. The income set is a third lens, deliberately separate from population matching.
Comparative score against U.S. cities with population of 1,000 or more on Census ACS medians
(income, poverty, bachelor's share, cost of living) and FBI UCR violent-crime rates when
published. Higher means a stronger standing on those published figures, not a livability
rating, not a recommendation to move, buy, or pick a "best" city. Missing inputs drop out
and redistribute weight.
How it is calculated.
Poverty rate A+
0.0%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share A+
97.3%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Cost of living F
107.9 index
BEA state Regional Price Parities index (100 โ national average); lower is stronger on this axis. Same value for every city in the state.
Household income N/A
N/A
No ACS median household income on file for this place.
Violent crime N/A
N/A
No FBI UCR violent-crime rate for this place (coverage is incomplete).
University at Buffalo profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Poverty rate: 100/100 (A+) ยท 0.0%
Bachelor's+ share: 100/100 (A+) ยท 97.3%
Cost of living: 12/100 (F) ยท 107.9 index
How does University at Buffalo compare to other US cities?
University at Buffalo measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Median rent78% pricier than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares University at Buffalo against every qualifying US city; each in-state rank narrows that to New York only. Full formula and direction notes: methodology.
New York-relative analysis
Median Gross Rent places University at Buffalo near the bottom of New York's cities
Among the 1,256 New York cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, University at Buffalo ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares University at Buffalo only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 1,256
0th percentile in New York
Poverty Rate
#1,032 of 1,246
0th percentile in New York
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#3 of 1,254
100th percentile in New York
How in-state ranks are ordered
Ranked by raw value (highest first); a higher rank is not automatically "better" for every measure, see each metric's own context above. This is a comparison within New York only, not a livability score. See the methodology for the source and calculation.
Income distribution context
Median household income is not available for University at Buffalo in the current Census ACS release (common for very small places).
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)97.3%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)0.0%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)21.2%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
6,776
Median Income
N/A
Median Home Value
N/A
Median Age
19.4
Poverty Rate
0.0%
Labor force participation
21.2%
Bachelor's Degree+
97.3%
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Average Commute Time
14.5 minutes
Drive Alone
45.5%
Carpool
2.7%
Public Transit
7.7%
Walk
32.2%
Work from Home
9.5%
Other
2.4%
Based on 1,436 workers 16 and over.
Monthly Utility Costs
New York statewide monthly utility average (EIA 2023): $285
EIA 2023 residential energy data puts average monthly utilities across New York at $285 (electricity about $130 , water and sewer about $65 ).
These are New York statewide averages, not a meter reading for University at Buffalo. Actual bills vary by home size, usage, and local rates. Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023.
Living Costs & Risk
New York's BEA cost-of-living index is 107.9 (Above Average; US average = 100, RPP 2024). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in the county around University at Buffalo is $1,579/mo. FEMA's National Risk Index, averaged to New York statewide on PlainCities, rates natural-hazard exposure at 69.4 / 100 (Moderate).
Cost/risk geography note
Cost of living is a New York statewide BEA average; rent is a county-level HUD Fair Market Rent for the county University at Buffalo sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How University at Buffalo compares to similar-size New York cities
Same-state peer method
Closest same-state population matches, not geographic neighbors. Population + median household income come from Census Bureau ACS 5-year B01001 and B19013.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year 2023, Census ACS B08301/B08136, U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023, BEA Regional Price Parities 2024, HUD Fair Market Rents 2026, FEMA National Risk Index.