Buffalo vs Cheektowaga

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

Buffalo and Cheektowaga are places in New York. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Buffalo has the higher population (276,397 vs 76,251 in Cheektowaga). Cheektowaga has the higher median household income ($66,293 vs $48,050 in Buffalo). Cheektowaga has the higher median home value ($169,200 vs $152,300 in Buffalo).

Population, income & housing

	Buffalo	Cheektowaga
Population	276,397	76,251
Median age	34.3 yrs	39.3 yrs
Median household income	$48,050	$66,293
Median home value	$152,300	$169,200
Median gross rent	$989	$1,025
Housing units	136,533	35,359
Homeownership rate	42.7%	70.5%
Bachelor's degree or higher	30.3%	28.2%
Unemployment rate	7.2%	3.8%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Buffalo	Cheektowaga
Population	256,480 → 276,397 (+7.8%)	73,740 → 76,251 (+3.4%)
Median household income	$37,354 → $48,050 (+28.6%)	$54,002 → $66,293 (+22.8%)
Median home value	$89,800 → $152,300 (+69.6%)	$114,100 → $169,200 (+48.3%)
Median gross rent	$776 → $989 (+27.4%)	$845 → $1,025 (+21.3%)

Buffalo

Population

256,480276,397

Median household income

$37,354$48,050

Median home value

$89,800$152,300

Median gross rent

$776$989

Cheektowaga

Population

73,74076,251

Median household income

$54,002$66,293

Median home value

$114,100$169,200

Median gross rent

$845$1,025

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Buffalo	Cheektowaga
Under 5	6.1%	5.1%
5 to 17	16.4%	13.5%
18 to 24	11.0%	9.3%
25 to 34	17.5%	15.3%
35 to 44	12.5%	12.2%
45 to 54	10.6%	11.4%
55 to 64	12.1%	12.8%
65 to 74	8.9%	10.6%
75 and over	4.9%	9.7%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Buffalo	Cheektowaga
White (non-Hispanic)	42.7%	74.2%
Black or African American	31.8%	13.4%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.3%	0.2%
Asian	8.2%	3.2%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.1%
Some other race	0.3%	0.5%
Two or more races	3.9%	3.6%
Hispanic or Latino	12.7%	4.8%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Buffalo	Cheektowaga
No high school diploma	13.4%	6.9%
High school graduate	27.2%	33.5%
Some college or associate's	29.0%	31.4%
Bachelor's degree	16.9%	18.1%
Graduate or professional degree	13.4%	10.1%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Buffalo	Cheektowaga
Drove alone	64.5%	78.9%
Carpooled	9.9%	6.7%
Public transit	8.5%	1.3%
Walked	4.7%	1.6%
Bicycle	0.6%	0.3%
Worked from home	9.6%	9.8%
Other means	2.3%	1.4%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Buffalo	Cheektowaga
1-unit, detached	36.1%	63.9%
1-unit, attached	3.4%	1.8%
2 to 4 units	43.2%	22.2%
5 to 19 units	6.2%	5.9%
20 or more units	10.8%	3.1%
Mobile home & other	0.3%	3.1%

Poverty & households

	Buffalo	Cheektowaga
Poverty rate	27.4%	9.6%
Average household size	2.24	2.17
Mean commute (minutes)	20	20
Median year structure built	1938	1959