Buffalo Center vs Thompson

A side-by-side comparison of Buffalo Center and Thompson: population, income, housing, and more.

Buffalo Center and Thompson are places in Iowa. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Buffalo Center has the higher population (1,000 vs 448 in Thompson). Buffalo Center has the higher median household income ($49,474 vs $49,375 in Thompson). Thompson has the higher median home value ($99,600 vs $93,800 in Buffalo Center).

Population, income & housing

	Buffalo Center	Thompson
Population	1,000	448
Median age	58.2 yrs	60.3 yrs
Median household income	$49,474	$49,375
Median home value	$93,800	$99,600
Median gross rent	$646	$696
Housing units	584	311
Homeownership rate	72.2%	76.7%
Bachelor's degree or higher	26.1%	34.0%
Unemployment rate	9.2%	4.5%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Buffalo Center	Thompson
Population	901 → 1,000 (+11.0%)	382 → 448 (+17.3%)
Median household income	$44,655 → $49,474 (+10.8%)	$44,500 → $49,375 (+11.0%)
Median home value	$64,200 → $93,800 (+46.1%)	$68,300 → $99,600 (+45.8%)
Median gross rent	$629 → $646 (+2.7%)	$689 → $696 (+1.0%)

Buffalo Center

Population

9011,000

Median household income

$44,655$49,474

Median home value

$64,200$93,800

Median gross rent

$629$646

Thompson

Population

382448

Median household income

$44,500$49,375

Median home value

$68,300$99,600

Median gross rent

$689$696

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Buffalo Center	Thompson
Under 5	2.5%	1.8%
5 to 17	11.9%	9.4%
18 to 24	7.3%	4.7%
25 to 34	4.9%	5.1%
35 to 44	6.7%	10.3%
45 to 54	12.7%	12.1%
55 to 64	21.7%	17.0%
65 to 74	17.8%	25.9%
75 and over	14.5%	13.8%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Buffalo Center	Thompson
White (non-Hispanic)	94.3%	92.0%
Black or African American	0.0%	0.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	1.1%	0.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.0%
Two or more races	1.4%	1.1%
Hispanic or Latino	3.2%	6.9%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Buffalo Center	Thompson
No high school diploma	2.8%	11.7%
High school graduate	41.6%	31.8%
Some college or associate's	29.5%	22.5%
Bachelor's degree	22.3%	29.2%
Graduate or professional degree	3.7%	4.8%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Buffalo Center	Thompson
Drove alone	65.6%	80.1%
Carpooled	6.6%	2.5%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	25.6%	4.5%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	2.1%	8.0%
Other means	0.0%	5.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Buffalo Center	Thompson
1-unit, detached	83.0%	91.0%
1-unit, attached	0.3%	0.0%
2 to 4 units	12.2%	0.0%
5 to 19 units	4.5%	7.7%
20 or more units	0.0%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	0.0%	1.3%

Poverty & households

	Buffalo Center	Thompson
Poverty rate	8.3%	8.1%
Average household size	1.92	1.61
Mean commute (minutes)	19	18
Median year structure built	1957	1958