Buffalo Lake vs Hector

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

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

Hector has the higher population (1,111 vs 664 in Buffalo Lake). Hector has the higher median household income ($59,762 vs $56,719 in Buffalo Lake). Hector has the higher median home value ($124,100 vs $106,000 in Buffalo Lake).

Population, income & housing

	Buffalo Lake	Hector
Population	664	1,111
Median age	41.2 yrs	38.5 yrs
Median household income	$56,719	$59,762
Median home value	$106,000	$124,100
Median gross rent	$763	$1,108
Housing units	285	554
Homeownership rate	73.4%	75.1%
Bachelor's degree or higher	20.1%	14.7%
Unemployment rate	5.5%	3.7%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Buffalo Lake	Hector
Population	621 → 664 (+6.9%)	972 → 1,111 (+14.3%)
Median household income	$42,574 → $56,719 (+33.2%)	$54,803 → $59,762 (+9.0%)
Median home value	$92,400 → $106,000 (+14.7%)	$81,900 → $124,100 (+51.5%)
Median gross rent	$539 → $763 (+41.6%)	$817 → $1,108 (+35.6%)

Buffalo Lake

Population

621664

Median household income

$42,574$56,719

Median home value

$92,400$106,000

Median gross rent

$539$763

Hector

Population

9721,111

Median household income

$54,803$59,762

Median home value

$81,900$124,100

Median gross rent

$817$1,108

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Buffalo Lake	Hector
Under 5	9.2%	5.3%
5 to 17	16.9%	12.8%
18 to 24	5.7%	15.9%
25 to 34	12.8%	12.9%
35 to 44	7.5%	11.3%
45 to 54	10.7%	8.5%
55 to 64	8.4%	14.0%
65 to 74	12.0%	10.3%
75 and over	16.7%	9.0%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Buffalo Lake	Hector
White (non-Hispanic)	68.5%	87.9%
Black or African American	0.0%	0.1%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.3%	0.0%
Asian	0.0%	0.8%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	1.7%	0.0%
Two or more races	1.7%	5.1%
Hispanic or Latino	27.9%	6.0%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Buffalo Lake	Hector
No high school diploma	11.9%	10.4%
High school graduate	34.0%	40.7%
Some college or associate's	34.0%	34.2%
Bachelor's degree	13.5%	13.9%
Graduate or professional degree	6.6%	0.8%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Buffalo Lake	Hector
Drove alone	84.7%	75.4%
Carpooled	0.8%	13.8%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	4.1%	3.4%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.7%
Worked from home	10.3%	3.9%
Other means	0.0%	2.9%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Buffalo Lake	Hector
1-unit, detached	80.4%	79.4%
1-unit, attached	0.0%	0.0%
2 to 4 units	1.4%	5.6%
5 to 19 units	6.3%	2.7%
20 or more units	2.8%	9.0%
Mobile home & other	9.1%	3.2%

Poverty & households

	Buffalo Lake	Hector
Poverty rate	17.4%	7.9%
Average household size	2.49	2.37
Mean commute (minutes)	27	16
Median year structure built	1959	1962