Buena, Washington is an unincorporated rural community north of Toppenish and west of Zillah. It has a population of 800-1000 people live within 2 miles of its center and a larger rural population lives within five miles of Buena.
The community boundaries approximate an historic townsite located along old Yakima Valley Highway generally near Exit 50 of Interstate Highway I-82. Buena's Post Office ZIP code is 98921.
Buena is designated "Rural Settlement" by the Yakima County Zoning Code. Residents of the area are primarily farmers and farm-workers, many of them Hispanic. A central water and sewer system facilitates community-type housing density.
The community center includes a library, a church, a post office, a newer low-income housing development sponsored by the Catholic Diocese of Yakima and older, modest housing. Buena has no public or private schools. Buena-area children are bused over 5 miles to schools south of I-82 in Toppenish. Buena has no sidewalks, restaurants, gas stations, or banks. Because Buena is not an incorporated town, there is no taxing infrastructure through which to raise tax revenues.