Buffalo Lake, MN population, income and ZIP codes

Buffalo Lake city is a very small community in Minnesota, with 664 residents counted in the Census American Community Survey 2019-2023 ACS 5-year estimates, which places it #437 of 914 ranked by population — larger than 52% of them. The median age here is 41.2 years against 39.1 nationally, a slightly older profile than the country as a whole. At this population the ACS sample is small, so the margin of error around every dollar figure below is wide — treat the numbers as a band, not a point, and expect them to move between annual releases without the place itself changing.

Households in Buffalo Lake city earn a median of $56,719 a year, 27.8% below the national figure of $78,538 and 25% below the $75,469 median for the 361 Minnesota cities we cover. Household income here is measured before tax and pooled across everyone at the address, which is why it reads higher than typical individual earnings in the same area. Poverty reaches 17.4% of residents here, above the 12.4% national rate.

The typical owner-occupied home in Buffalo Lake city is valued at $106,000, 65.1% below the national figure and 56% below the $240,400 peer median, while median gross rent runs $763 a month, 45.7% below the national figure, or roughly $9,156 across a full year. A household on the local median income would put about 16.1% of gross pay toward that rent against the federal 30% cost-burden threshold, so renting here is cheap relative to what people here earn. The home-price-to-income ratio works out to 1.9×, against roughly 3.9× nationally, so purchase prices are unusually low against local pay, the pattern in places where supply is plentiful and wage growth has been flat. 73.4% of occupied homes are owner-occupied versus 65% nationally, so the market leans toward owners. Gross rent folds in the utilities a tenant pays separately, so it is closer to the real monthly outlay than a headline rent figure.

With 664 residents, a handful of survey responses moves every median on this page. Compare Buffalo Lake city against its county rather than against national figures.

No figure on this page is estimated by us; each one comes straight from the published ACS tables for this area. Small-area estimates still carry wider margins of error than state or national figures, so check the linked ACS tables before relying on them for lending, appraisal or legal work.