Buffalo, NY
Buffalo-Cheektowaga, NY Metro Area
Figures are medians for the whole Buffalo-Cheektowaga, NY Metro Area, not the city proper.
Among the 300 U.S. metros CityLedger tracks, Buffalo ranks 201st for affordability — how far a typical paycheck stretches after local prices — and 181st for income. A household earns $72,300 a year while median rent runs $1,114/mo, making it expensive relative to what residents earn. Affordability and price level are different lenses: the raw cost of living here runs 4% below the U.S. average.
Its strongest card is commute (57th of 300), while affordability is the soft spot (201st). Housing usually decides a move: rent ranks 95th and home prices 91st among the 300 metros CityLedger tracks.
For your salary & household
Enter your pay and household size to see what it's really worth here — the numbers update live and the link stays shareable.
On $75,000 for just you in Buffalo, your take-home is worth about $60,300 once local prices are factored in — local prices stretch it further than the U.S. average.
Take-home estimates a single filer taking the standard deduction (2025 federal brackets, FICA, and state income tax) and isn't tax advice. “Real value” rebases take-home to average U.S. prices using the BEA cost-of-living index; the per-person figure uses the OECD square-root equivalence scale.
The numbers
Income & cost
- Median income
- 181st of 300↑20.3%$72,300
- Cost of living?The local price level vs. the U.S. average of 100 (BEA). Lower means cheaper. This is raw prices, not adjusted for income.
- 164th of 30096 (US=100)
- Cost-adj. income?Median household income divided by the local price level — what the typical paycheck is really worth here.
- $75,435
- Per-capita income
- $42,171
- Full-time pay
- $47,195
Housing
- Median rent
- 95th of 300↑34.5%$1,114/mo
- Home value
- 91st of 300↑57.5%$253,200
- Property tax
- $4,508/yr · 1.8%
- Sales tax
- 8.53%
Jobs & education
- Unemployment
- 129th of 3004.2%
- Bachelor's+
- 93rd of 30038.3%
- Avg commute
- 57th of 30021.5 min
People
- Population
- 1,160,172
- Population change
- +2.9%
- Median age
- 41.3 yrs
- Foreign-born
- 7.9%
- Broadband
- 92%
Environment & risk
- Air quality (AQI)
- 116th of 30044
- Natural-hazard loss
- 108th of 300$11/$10k
Health
- Fair/poor health
- 70th of 30016.3%
- Uninsured (18–64)
- 6.1%
Sources: U.S. Census Bureau (ACS), U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, U.S. EPA, FEMA, CDC, NOAA — every figure's source is listed on our methodology page. Data built 2026-06-14. ↑↓ mark the change since 2019.
How CityLedger scores it
Transparent weights — see our methodology.
Strengths
- + Rent
- + Home prices
- + Education
- + Commute
- + Health
Watch-outs
- – Affordability
Climate
30-year normals (1991–2020) from the nearest station — buffalo.
What jobs pay in Buffalo
Median annual wage by occupation (BLS OEWS 2025) — half of workers in each role earn more, half less.
- Family medicine physicians
- $228,190
- IT managers
- $172,650
- Financial managers
- $164,230
- Pharmacists
- $137,900
- Lawyers
- $130,800
- Software developers
- $127,850
- General & operations managers
- $103,280
- Registered nurses
- $99,060
- Civil engineers
- $97,060
- Web developers
- $83,550
- Accountants & auditors
- $82,120
- Police officers
- $80,950
- Secondary school teachers
- $79,280
- Electricians
- $77,930
- Elementary school teachers
- $76,490
- Plumbers
- $72,230
- Carpenters
- $63,500
- Truck drivers (heavy)
- $59,440
- Construction laborers
- $50,620
- Maintenance & repair workers
- $50,620
- Waiters & waitresses
- $46,580
- Customer service reps
- $45,520
- Janitors
- $37,380
- Retail salespersons
- $34,910
- Cashiers
- $33,850
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS 2025 — annual median wage. Cross-industry, all experience levels.
Where new residents move from
The states sending the most people to the Buffalo metro, by estimated movers (U.S. Census 2022 migration flows, 5-year). Moves from elsewhere in New York are excluded to show where out-of-state arrivals originate.
- Pennsylvania1,555
- Florida1,208
- Texas683
- Ohio503
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2022 Migration Flows (5-year).
Cities like Buffalo
Closest matches across cost, income, size, education, and age — tap to compare.
Buffalo metro — frequently asked
- What is the median rent in the Buffalo metro?
- Median gross rent across the Buffalo-Cheektowaga, NY Metro Area is $1,114 a month (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024). That figure covers the whole metro area, not just the city of Buffalo.
- What is the median household income in the Buffalo metro?
- A typical household in the Buffalo-Cheektowaga, NY Metro Area earns $72,300 a year (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- Is Buffalo expensive to live in?
- The overall cost of living in the Buffalo-Cheektowaga, NY Metro Area runs about 4% below the U.S. average (BEA Regional Price Parities, 2024) — prices are lower than average, before accounting for local pay.
- Does a paycheck go far in the Buffalo metro?
- After adjusting for local prices, the median household income is worth about $75,435 (versus its face value of $72,300). CityLedger rates the Buffalo-Cheektowaga, NY Metro Area expensive for what residents earn.
- What is the typical home value in the Buffalo metro?
- The median home value across the Buffalo-Cheektowaga, NY Metro Area is $253,200 (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- What is the unemployment rate in the Buffalo metro?
- The unemployment rate in the Buffalo-Cheektowaga, NY Metro Area is 4.2% (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).