Buffalo Lake vs Fairfax

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

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

Fairfax has the higher population (1,134 vs 664 in Buffalo Lake). Buffalo Lake has the higher median household income ($56,719 vs $53,750 in Fairfax). Buffalo Lake has the higher median home value ($106,000 vs $99,800 in Fairfax).

Population, income & housing

	Buffalo Lake	Fairfax
Population	664	1,134
Median age	41.2 yrs	37.9 yrs
Median household income	$56,719	$53,750
Median home value	$106,000	$99,800
Median gross rent	$763	$410
Housing units	285	448
Homeownership rate	73.4%	81.9%
Bachelor's degree or higher	20.1%	9.4%
Unemployment rate	5.5%	1.9%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Buffalo Lake	Fairfax
Population	621 → 664 (+6.9%)	1,149 → 1,134 (-1.3%)
Median household income	$42,574 → $56,719 (+33.2%)	$57,528 → $53,750 (-6.6%)
Median home value	$92,400 → $106,000 (+14.7%)	$78,400 → $99,800 (+27.3%)
Median gross rent	$539 → $763 (+41.6%)	$470 → $410 (-12.8%)

Buffalo Lake

Population

621664

Median household income

$42,574$56,719

Median home value

$92,400$106,000

Median gross rent

$539$763

Fairfax

Population

1,1491,134

Median household income

$57,528$53,750

Median home value

$78,400$99,800

Median gross rent

$470$410

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Buffalo Lake	Fairfax
Under 5	9.2%	5.4%
5 to 17	16.9%	22.8%
18 to 24	5.7%	5.0%
25 to 34	12.8%	11.0%
35 to 44	7.5%	15.3%
45 to 54	10.7%	6.6%
55 to 64	8.4%	11.8%
65 to 74	12.0%	8.1%
75 and over	16.7%	13.8%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Buffalo Lake	Fairfax
White (non-Hispanic)	68.5%	71.3%
Black or African American	0.0%	0.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.3%	0.0%
Asian	0.0%	1.1%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	1.7%	0.0%
Two or more races	1.7%	1.9%
Hispanic or Latino	27.9%	25.7%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Buffalo Lake	Fairfax
No high school diploma	11.9%	17.7%
High school graduate	34.0%	40.6%
Some college or associate's	34.0%	32.4%
Bachelor's degree	13.5%	7.9%
Graduate or professional degree	6.6%	1.5%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Buffalo Lake	Fairfax
Drove alone	84.7%	71.6%
Carpooled	0.8%	13.6%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	4.1%	5.7%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	10.3%	7.5%
Other means	0.0%	1.6%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Buffalo Lake	Fairfax
1-unit, detached	80.4%	90.8%
1-unit, attached	0.0%	0.0%
2 to 4 units	1.4%	0.0%
5 to 19 units	6.3%	3.6%
20 or more units	2.8%	3.1%
Mobile home & other	9.1%	2.5%

Poverty & households

	Buffalo Lake	Fairfax
Poverty rate	17.4%	14.8%
Average household size	2.49	2.65
Mean commute (minutes)	27	22
Median year structure built	1959	1949