Bird Island vs Buffalo Lake

A side-by-side comparison of Bird Island and Buffalo Lake: population, income, housing, and more.

Bird Island and Buffalo Lake are places in Minnesota. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Bird Island has the higher population (964 vs 664 in Buffalo Lake). Bird Island has the higher median household income ($71,190 vs $56,719 in Buffalo Lake). Bird Island has the higher median home value ($114,600 vs $106,000 in Buffalo Lake).

Population, income & housing

	Bird Island	Buffalo Lake
Population	964	664
Median age	49.4 yrs	41.2 yrs
Median household income	$71,190	$56,719
Median home value	$114,600	$106,000
Median gross rent	$617	$763
Housing units	496	285
Homeownership rate	81.7%	73.4%
Bachelor's degree or higher	19.5%	20.1%
Unemployment rate	0.6%	5.5%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Bird Island	Buffalo Lake
Population	858 → 964 (+12.4%)	621 → 664 (+6.9%)
Median household income	$53,021 → $71,190 (+34.3%)	$42,574 → $56,719 (+33.2%)
Median home value	$77,600 → $114,600 (+47.7%)	$92,400 → $106,000 (+14.7%)
Median gross rent	$534 → $617 (+15.5%)	$539 → $763 (+41.6%)

Bird Island

Population

858964

Median household income

$53,021$71,190

Median home value

$77,600$114,600

Median gross rent

$534$617

Buffalo Lake

Population

621664

Median household income

$42,574$56,719

Median home value

$92,400$106,000

Median gross rent

$539$763

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Bird Island	Buffalo Lake
Under 5	5.3%	9.2%
5 to 17	18.4%	16.9%
18 to 24	3.3%	5.7%
25 to 34	10.0%	12.8%
35 to 44	9.9%	7.5%
45 to 54	9.5%	10.7%
55 to 64	19.8%	8.4%
65 to 74	14.7%	12.0%
75 and over	9.1%	16.7%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Bird Island	Buffalo Lake
White (non-Hispanic)	92.9%	68.5%
Black or African American	2.9%	0.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.3%
Asian	0.0%	0.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	1.7%
Two or more races	0.3%	1.7%
Hispanic or Latino	3.8%	27.9%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Bird Island	Buffalo Lake
No high school diploma	3.4%	11.9%
High school graduate	35.8%	34.0%
Some college or associate's	41.3%	34.0%
Bachelor's degree	16.9%	13.5%
Graduate or professional degree	2.6%	6.6%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Bird Island	Buffalo Lake
Drove alone	90.0%	84.7%
Carpooled	1.5%	0.8%
Public transit	1.2%	0.0%
Walked	1.7%	4.1%
Bicycle	0.8%	0.0%
Worked from home	4.2%	10.3%
Other means	0.6%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Bird Island	Buffalo Lake
1-unit, detached	80.2%	80.4%
1-unit, attached	4.6%	0.0%
2 to 4 units	5.8%	1.4%
5 to 19 units	9.3%	6.3%
20 or more units	0.0%	2.8%
Mobile home & other	0.0%	9.1%

Poverty & households

	Bird Island	Buffalo Lake
Poverty rate	10.6%	17.4%
Average household size	2.13	2.49
Mean commute (minutes)	21	27
Median year structure built	1958	1959