What is Buffalo-Cheektowaga's Life Score?

Buffalo-Cheektowaga scores 46.8/100 (grade C+), rank #242 of 387. Signature wages at the 88th percentile; stamps MID · WAGE-LED · cost DEAR · wages PEAK.

What pulls Buffalo-Cheektowaga up or down?

Strongest: wages (89/100). Weakest: schools (3/100). Profile mark WAGE-LED; dimension gap 85.

How current is this data?

Federal releases current as of August 2026 (BEA, BLS, HUD, FBI, NCES, DOL, EPA). Cadence varies by series; see methodology.

Metro Life Score

Buffalo-Cheektowaga, NY

Below-median composite Life Score — grade C+, 37th percentile of the national corpus.

Compiled by PlainCompare

46.8
Life Score / 100: C+
Grade (curved): #242
of 387 metros: 37%
composite percentile

View your shortlist

Data updated August 2026

Verify: BEA · BLS · HUD · FBI · NCES · EPA · Census · Report a data issue · Data changelog

The verdict

Buffalo-Cheektowaga is below-median composite Life Score — #242 of 387 (46.8/100, grade C+, 37th percentile). Carried by wages at 89/100; held back most by schools at 3/100.

37th
composite percentile: #242
of 387 peers: 38th
cost dimension percentile: 88th
wages dimension percentile

Life Score shape · MID · WAGE-LED · signature wages

Buffalo-Cheektowaga: pay power is the signature

Buffalo-Cheektowaga stamps MID · WAGE-LED with wages at the 88th percentile of the metro corpus (PEAK) — ahead of its cost mark (DEAR, 38th) and composite #242. Wages (89/100) amplifies the lead; Schools (3/100) is the residual gap. According to PlainCompare's federal Life Score corpus ranking, Buffalo-Cheektowaga, NY ranks #242 of 387 metros by composite Life Score (highest = #1) and #239 of 387 by cost-of-living dimension score (highest = #1). Methodology.

BEA RPP 95.8 (rent-RPP 81.0). BLS median salary $74,613, 524,180 jobs (Home Health and Personal Care Aides, Retail Salespersons, Fast Food and Counter Workers). HUD 2BR FMR $1,343/mo (studio $1,105).

FBI UCR (NY): 380 violent, 1661 property/100K. NCES: 11.4:1 ratio, 7.1% charter. DOL infant childcare $13,869/yr. EPA: 122 Superfund sites (NY).

Where Buffalo-Cheektowaga sits among all US metros

Composite Life Score vs the national field

47 37th percentile higher than 37% of 387 US metros

Each bar is a band; taller bars hold more US metros. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count, share, and where it sits relative to this entry.

Source PlainCompare composite of BEA, BLS, HUD, FBI, NCES, DOL, EPA data · August 2026

How the 46.8 is built

Buffalo-Cheektowaga's Life Score, decomposed

Cost of Living 7.7 (16%) Wages 17.7 (38%) Rent 6.8 (15%) Safety 6.1 (13%) Schools 0.3 (1%) Childcare 2.1 (4%) Environment 6.1 (13%)

Dimension detail

How Buffalo-Cheektowaga scores, dimension by dimension

Score Breakdown

Dimension Scores

Cost of Living 38/100 (20%) Average

Wages 89/100 (20%) Above average

Rent 45/100 (15%) Average

Safety 41/100 (15%) Average

Schools 3/100 (10%) Bottom 10%

Childcare 21/100 (10%) Below average

Environment 61/100 (10%) Average

Key Data Points

95.8

Cost Index (RPP)

$74,613

Avg Median Salary

$1,343

2BR Fair Market Rent

380

Violent Crime/100K (NY)

11.4:1

Student-Teacher Ratio

$13,869

Infant Childcare/yr (NY)

122

Superfund Sites (NY)

524,180

Total Employment

Geography used: crime, schools, childcare, and environment cards above are NY state-level when metro-specific feeds are unavailable, see the scope key at the top of this page.

Compare Buffalo-Cheektowaga With...

Buffalo-Cheektowaga vs Binghamton Compare → Buffalo-Cheektowaga vs Utica Compare → Buffalo-Cheektowaga vs Watertown Compare → Buffalo-Cheektowaga vs Paducah Compare → Buffalo-Cheektowaga vs Pocatello Compare → Buffalo-Cheektowaga vs Wildwood Compare →

Ranking Context

Buffalo-Cheektowaga outranks 37% of U.S. metros.

Rank	Metro	Score	Grade
#239	Kansas City, MO-KS	46.9	C+
#240	Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, FL	47.0	C+
#241	Las Vegas-Henderson-North Las Vegas, NV	47.0	C+
#242	Buffalo-Cheektowaga, NY	46.8	C+
#243	Bend, OR	46.8	C+
#244	Providence-Warwick, RI-MA	46.7	C+
#245	Panama City-Panama City Beach, FL	46.5	C+

Quality vs. Affordability

Buffalo-Cheektowaga, NY's quality rank (bottom 38% lowest-quality) and affordability rank (bottom 39% least affordable) sit close together -- an unusually proportionate metro where overall quality and cost-of-living move together.

Buffalo-Cheektowaga, NY (highlighted) among its 12 nearest composite-Life-Score peers, out of 387 tracked metros nationally. Crosshairs mark this peer neighborhood's own median composite score and cost-of-living score. Cost-of-living score is already inverted so higher = more affordable.

NY Metro Scores

Binghamton, NY B 53.0 Utica-Rome, NY B- 51.3 Watertown-Fort Drum, NY C+ 46.4 Syracuse, NY C 44.6 Glens Falls, NY C 42.6 Rochester, NY C- 42.2

Read with Buffalo-Cheektowaga

Nearest composite peers and cost poles for Buffalo-Cheektowaga (MID · WAGE-LED · DEAR/PEAK), replacing the fixed Explore/Guides strip.

Bend, OR

ABS(composite) peer at 46.8 (Δ 0.0 vs this metro); higher Life Score · grade C+ vs this page's MID · WAGE-LED · DEAR/PEAK.

Providence-Warwick, RI-MA

ABS(composite) peer at 46.7 (Δ 0.1 vs this metro); lower Life Score · grade C+ vs this page's MID · WAGE-LED · DEAR/PEAK.

Kansas City, MO-KS

ABS(composite) peer at 46.9 (Δ 0.1 vs this metro); higher Life Score · grade C+ vs this page's MID · WAGE-LED · DEAR/PEAK.

Las Vegas-Henderson-North Las Vegas, NV

ABS(composite) peer at 47.0 (Δ 0.2 vs this metro); higher Life Score · grade C+ vs this page's MID · WAGE-LED · DEAR/PEAK.

Logan, UT-ID (cost pole)

ABS(cost_score) orthogonal peer at 38/100 (Δ 0); cost stamp DEAR vs this metro's DEAR.

Midland, TX (cost pole)

ABS(cost_score) orthogonal peer at 39/100 (Δ 0); cost stamp DEAR vs this metro's DEAR.

Buffalo-Cheektowaga, NY relocation guide

Stamp-branched guide for MID · WAGE-LED · DEAR/PEAK - how to read federal Life Score inputs before a move.

Using Buffalo-Cheektowaga's middle-third Life Score

Buffalo-Cheektowaga scores 46.8/100 overall, but Wages (88.6) and Schools (3.1) sit 85.5 points apart, so decide which of the two matters more to you before leaning on the total.

Wages is the strongest of Buffalo-Cheektowaga's seven dimensions (weighted 20% in the composite); if it is your priority, this is where the metro earns its rank. See all seven dimensions
Schools is the weakest (weighted 10% in the composite); if it is a dealbreaker, weigh it before the ranking does. Rank metros on the composite
Binghamton is the nearest comparison this page can offer; put the two side by side on the same seven dimensions. Compare with Binghamton

A middle-third composite is a weighted blend; individual dimensions can sit well above or below it.

Data from BEA, HUD, FBI UCR, BLS OES, NCES, DOL, and EPA. Not affiliated with the U.S. Government.

Data sourced from official public datasets. See our methodology for details. Buffalo-Cheektowaga Life Score 46.8/100 · signature wages · retrieved and formatted by PlainCompare

Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.

All federal data sources used on this page

U.S. Census Bureau ACS - multi-dimension demographic + housing + income aggregates for cross-area comparison. census.gov/programs-surveys/acs
BEA Regional Economic Accounts - GDP, personal income, employment by state and metro. bea.gov/data/regional
BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) - wage estimates for comparable-area indexing. bls.gov/oes
FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) - crime statistics for safety-score component. fbi.gov/ucr
NCES Common Core of Data - public-school quality indicators by area. nces.ed.gov/ccd
EPA AirNow + Air Quality System (AQS) - air-quality measurements by area. epa.gov/outdoor-air-quality-data
HUD Fair Market Rents (FMR) - county and metro housing-cost indicators. huduser.gov/datasets/fmr