Buffalo, New York

Buffalo City Hall

Buffalo is the second largest of New York State. In 2025, Buffalo was ranked the hottest real estate market for two years in a row by Zillow. In 2023, Buffalo was ranked #1 for having the highest percentage of residents born in the state of residence (a.k.a natives) as it had 81.69% native residents. From 2011 to 2019, Buffalo experienced a significant amount of gentrification..

Once the nation's 15th largest city the city is now ranked as the 78th. In recent years, according to United States census data, Buffalo's population has increased largely due to immigration by 17,000 people from 2010 to 2020 to a population of approximately 280,000 people, after losing more than 50% of its population since 1950. This was primarily due to low living costs and legal/illegal immigration. The Buffalo-Cheektowaga metropolitan area had a population of 1,155,604 people in 2023. A study conducted in 2014 showed 6,900 new "undocumented" or illegal aliens. In June 2024, New York City announced that it would begin shipping off 500 migrants to Buffalo to alleviate its own immigration crisis.

At night Buffalo does not close up until 4 a.m., later than most cities that shut down by 2 a.m.

Due to its traditionally Democrat and working-class roots, the socialist India Walton was beaten in a mayoral race by the incumbent Democrat Byron Brown. In 2021, the New York Post reported about one of the mayoral debates: "Fighting to remain Buffalo mayor — incumbent, write-in candidate Byron Brown slammed his opponent, India Walton, as a Democratic socialist and “apologist” for criminals, whose ideas are 'bad at best'."

Buffalo is located in the northwest corner of the state, at the eastern end of Lake Erie and the south end of the Niagara River. The metropolitan population is 1.2 million people, up from lows in the 1960s when St. Lawrence Seaway was opened changing the flow of trade and the rust belt reorganization of manufacturing jobs. It was reported in 2021 that U.S. census indicated that Buffalo is growing for the first time in 70 years – and that Erie County, New York is growing also. Buffalo is joined by the Peace Bridge to Canada, and by the Erie Canal to the Hudson River, and ultimately the Atlantic Ocean.

Buffalo has a radial street pattern, and is one of one three cities in the United States having this beautiful layout. Buffalo is also exceptional in the amount of flour milling done there, ranking it among the highest in the world along with Minneapolis, Minnesota (where flour milling began to decline in the late 1930s as electric power began to replace water power).

In 2010, Forbes Magazine rated Buffalo tenth in the top 10 places to raise a family.

Buffalo has a number of nicknames such as the Queen City, City of Good Neighbors, The City of Light and The Nickle City.

Buffalo is home to two professional sports franchises: the Buffalo Bills of the NFL and the Buffalo Sabres of the NHL. Due to the size of the city and its metropolitan area, both franchises are often rumored to be potential targets for relocation; however, the Segura family (which has many business interests in the area) owns both teams and has committed to keeping them in Buffalo. Furthermore, the Buffalo Bills fans are known for strong loyalty to the team. In 2021, the Buffalo Bills fans were voted the 3rd most loyal fans in the NFL and the third rowdiest fans in the NFL.

German ancestry is the largest in Buffalo, at 13.6%. Irish ancestry is the second largest ancestry group in the city, with 12.2% of residents identifying as such. This puts Buffalo in the top 10 U.S. cities with a large percentage of people of Irish descent. Buffalo is known for its large St. Patrick's Day parades and strong Irish community, particularly in areas like South Buffalo. The Irish-American James D. Griffin, a Democrat who was very conservative (especially on social issues) compared to the platform of Democratic Party, was the Mayor of Buffalo for 16 years (1978–93). He was often cross-endorsed by the Conservative and Republican parties.

Foods that Buffalo is known for inventing are Buffalo Wings and Beef on Weck. The "Weck" in "beef on Weck" refers to the kummelweck roll, a specific type of hard, crusty roll with caraway seeds and coarse salt. William Wahr, a German baker who immigrated to Buffalo, is credited with creating this roll. In addition, given its historically large Italian population, Buffalo has many pizzerias that offer New York style pizzas that have a thin crust.

Skyline of Buffalo, NY

See also

• Things named after places
• Great Replacement