Living in Albany, NY

Albany's crime numbers hover right around the U.S. average. Violent crime index: 95. Property crime index: 79. The national baseline for both is 100, so you're looking at a city that's neither notably safe nor notably dangerous on paper. In practice, where you live within the city shifts the picture dramatically — a 10-minute drive can mean a completely different experience. Check local crime maps. Source: FBI UCR.

Housing costs in Albany are reasonable. Median rent sits at $1,178/month with median household income at $59,485/year — a 23.8% rent-to-income ratio. That's well within the comfort zone that most financial advisors recommend. It's not dirt cheap, but most working households can afford rent here without financial strain. Other costs like groceries and utilities will vary, but the rent picture is solid. Census ACS 2023 data.

Most people in Albany are at work within 17 minutes — a pretty reasonable commute by American standards. The breakdown: 54.8% drive alone, 10.9% take public transit, and 11.9% work from home. Rush hour adds time, obviously, but the baseline is manageable.

Everything on this page is built from public government sources: rent and income figures from the Census Bureau's American Community Survey (ACS 5-Year Estimates, 2023); commute and transportation data from Census ACS tables B08303 and B08006; crime rates from the FBI Uniform Crime Report. We refresh each dataset monthly through an automated pipeline and cross-check for anomalies. No surveys, no user-submitted guesses — just official federal data presented in a way that's actually useful for people researching a move.