Best PlacesAlbany, MN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Albany, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Albany ranks 4,370th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on fast internet by a wide margin, and childcare costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Albany
BestNeighborhood is the only ranking that scores 40 measures of daily life neighborhood by neighborhood and lets you re-weight every one of them yourself.
Albany's strengths and weaknesses
Where Albany ranks high
- Internet speedBetter than 99% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 93% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 93% of towns
- BikingBetter than 92% of towns
- TransitBetter than 91% of towns
Where Albany ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,847 a month, better than only 1% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 12% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 20% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 36% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 41% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Albany
A household needs to earn about $80,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Albany home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $89,607, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.
Where the monthly payment goes
Assumes a 20% down payment, a 6.6% 30-year fixed rate, and a 28% share of income going to the payment. The rate is the 2026-07-23 30-year fixed average, series MORTGAGE30US from the St. Louis Fed, which publishes Freddie Mac's weekly survey. Against the median home value, property tax uses Albany's effective rate of 0.84%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Albany
Albany runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Albany.
Who works in Albany, and how
Work in Albany centers on health care & social and construction. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 85%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Albany
Albany has more restaurants and bars per resident than 71% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Albany and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Albany, month by month
Albany sees roughly 124 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 82 degrees. January highs sit near 23, with lows near 6. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 23° | 14° | 6° |
| April | 53° | 42° | 33° |
| July | 82° | 71° | 61° |
| October | 57° | 47° | 38° |
Flying in and out of Albany
The nearest airport, St. Cloud Regional, is about 25 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 83 miles away.
The best schools in and around Albany
Schools across Albany average a B+, better than 81% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Holdingford ElementaryA · 70% proficient
- Albany ElementaryA · 63% proficient
- Avon ElementaryB · 48% proficient
Top middle schools
- Albany Area Middle SchoolA− · 54% proficient
- Melrose MiddleB− · 42% proficient
Top high schools
- Albany Area High SchoolB+ · 58% proficient
- Holdingford SecondaryB− · 43% proficient
- Melrose SecondaryC+ · 40% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Albany school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Albany measure by measure
Cards are ordered by how much each measure matters to you, so the ones you weighted highest come first. Expand to see every measure. Percentages compare Albany against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Albany
Is Albany a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Albany ranks 4,370th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on fast internet, state infrastructure, and low crime, and lowest on childcare costs and noise. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Albany expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $305,005. The overall cost of living runs about 10% below the national average. Set against a $89,607 median income, cost of living beats 75% of towns.
Is Albany safe?
Yes, Albany is safer than 93% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $177 per resident a year.
Compare Albany with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Albany. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Albany represents the same real quantity as a 60 anywhere else, and the ranking is a weighted average of those absolutes. The map colors come from a national scale calibrated against a population weighted random sample of 5,000 neighborhoods. That absolute scoring is what no other places-to-live ranking does: it puts a single neighborhood, a town, a metro, and a state on one scale, so the same 40 measures answer both which metro to move to and which street inside it to buy on. Read the full methodology.
Albany detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Albany: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Albany: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Albany: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Albany: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Albany detail on related sites:
- CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
- ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
- CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.
Federal and public data:
- U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey: income, home value, rent, vacancy, commute time and mode, educational attainment, home age, age structure, household type, industry, and race.
- NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
- FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
- Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
- FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
- U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
- FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
- CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
- National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
- FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
- Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.
Your priorities
Move a slider to say how much a measure matters. Zero turns it off.