Buffalo, South Dakota.
Typical home $189,288 (+9.3% in a year).
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$385 (+63%) since Feb 2022.
- 1 year
- Up $16,066 +9%
- $173,222$189,288 since Sep 2025
Monthly payment to buy the typical home
Home value × that month's 30-year mortgage rate, 20% down, principal and interest. This is the line households feel: prices and rates compound each other.
- Buffalo$994
- South Dakota$1,668
- United States$1,922
Typical home values in Buffalo, SD rose 9.3% over the past year — faster than the nation's +1.2%.
Living in Buffalo, Harding County, South Dakota
Buffalo is a town of 346 people in Harding County. Half its households earn more than $85,104 a year and half less, against $80,441 across Harding County; 7% of its people live below the poverty line. Unemployment in Harding County was 1.4% in August 2026, and the county had 2.0% more jobs in 2025 than the year before. The most people in Harding County work in farming, then schools and health care.
Written by AI Claude Sonnet 5.5 wrote this on 23 October 2026 from the figures here, a list of nearby places and what it knows. It can be wrong or out of date.
What it’s like
The place. Buffalo is a very small town and the seat of Harding County, in the northwest corner of South Dakota. Household incomes here run higher than across the county, and a smaller share of people live below the poverty line than in many places. Winters are cold, with January the coldest month and highs hovering around freezing, and summers are warm in July. Rain and melted snow add up to a dry year overall.
Work. Many residents earn their living in farming, forestry and mining, with others working in schools, hospitals and social care, in shops, or for the government. Across Harding County, the largest workplace is the Harding County School District. Unemployment is low and has edged lower than a year ago, and the county has added a few more jobs over the past year. Few adults hold a four-year degree, and only a small number work from home.
Things to do. The land around Buffalo is open country, and the best known places nearby are all a longer drive away. Atterbury Creek is a river, and Antelope Range and Livestock Research Station is a protected area. Short Pine National Forest and Cave Hills National Forest are also protected areas, giving visitors a chance to get out among the buttes and pines of the region.
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- 16%of adults have a degree
- 7%below the poverty line
- 6%work from home
What people in Harding County work in
Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. Harding County had 453 jobs in 2025, 2.0% more than the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Weather through the year
Coldest in January, with highs near 32° and lows near 11°; warmest in July, with highs near 86° and lows near 58°. About 13 inches of rain and melted snow a year.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Buffalo Asos weather station, a mile away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in Harding County
- Harding County School District 31-1School district39FTE
School districts come from the Common Core of Data (NCES, 2023–24); FTE marks full-time equivalent staff. Not listed: many offices and banks, which need not report to OSHA; military bases, whose staff OPM withholds; and, in about half the states, city and county governments.
Natural hazards
- Winter weatherVery high
- WildfireRelatively high
- HailRelatively high
- Cold wavesRelatively high
- Ice stormsRelatively moderate
- Strong windRelatively moderate
FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms in Buffalo’s census tracts, against the rest of the country; all of them together, relatively moderate. It is meant for planning, not a substitute for a local risk assessment or a flood map: FEMA’s index.
From the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2020 census and its American Community Survey (2020–2024 five-year estimates), and the Bureau of Labor Statistics. A survey, so each figure has a margin of error, and figures it is not sure of are left out. More on Harding County.
Buffalo home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Buffalo$189,288
- South Dakota$317,874
- United States$366,157
When this market ran hot
Each cell is that month's year-on-year home-value growth. Read left to right, top row is the latest year — the 2021–22 band is the boom.
Zip codes with a Buffalo address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Buffalo — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.