Best PlacesAlbany, OR Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in the Albany metro, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages are not the whole story, and the strongest areas score well above them. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Photo by Edfallere, CC BY-SA 4.0, via wiki
Albany ranks 186th of 387 U.S. metro areas on the BestNeighborhood index. It ranks low mainly on the schools and disaster risk. It does better on low crime, which keeps it off the bottom.
The best neighborhoods in the Albany metro
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.
The best areas in Albany
The towns and districts of the Albany metro, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood in each, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the metro.
Scio
Incomes run higher, local pay stretches further, and it is quieter.
Downtown Albany
Biking is better and streets are more walkable.
Harrisburg
More households have young kids, though tree cover is thinner.
Brownsville
Disaster risk is lower, though more homes sit empty.
Lebanon
Schools score lower and prices have run up more.
Sweet Home
Commutes are longer and fewer adults hold degrees.
Albany shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 13% of the country and others in the top 1%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Albany's strengths and weaknesses
Albany lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. Low crime, few empty homes, and state infrastructure carry most of that.
The drawbacks are real but narrow. The schools, disaster risk, and the cost of living against local pay hold the score down. The detail is below, and the map is where it turns into a choice of neighborhood rather than just a place.
Where Albany ranks high
- Crime safetyBetter than 96% of metro areas
- Low vacancyBetter than 95% of metro areas
- State infrastructureBetter than 92% of metro areas
- Air qualityBetter than 86% of metro areas
- Cell coverageBetter than 74% of metro areas
Where Albany ranks low
- School gradeC−, better than only 19% of metro areas
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 20% of metro areas
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 21% of metro areas
- Short commute25.7 minutes each way, better than only 22% of metro areas
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 23% of metro areas
What it costs to buy a home in Albany
A household needs to earn about $101,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Albany home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $78,885, so buying stretches a typical household.
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 0.78%, 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's age mix sits close to the national median.
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 retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 84%
- Work from home 12%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Albany
Albany has fewer places to eat and drink per resident than most metro areas and less late-night activity than most metro areas. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Albany and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Albany growing, and who is moving in?
Albany has grown about 11% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Salem, OR.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Albany go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Albany, month by month
Albany sees roughly 99 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 86 degrees. January highs sit near 49, with lows near 34. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 49° | 41° | 34° |
| April | 64° | 51° | 40° |
| July | 86° | 68° | 53° |
| October | 67° | 53° | 41° |
Flying in and out of Albany
The nearest airport, McNary Field, is about 20 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Portland International, about 71 miles away.
The best schools in and around Albany
Schools across Albany average a C−, better than 19% of metro areas.
Top elementary schools
- Oak Grove Elementary SchoolA− · 62% proficient
- Liberty Elementary SchoolB · 47% proficient
- Meadow Ridge ElementaryB · 45% proficient
Top middle schools
- North Albany Middle SchoolC+ · 36% proficient
- Timber Ridge SchoolC− · 30% proficient
- Seven Oak Middle SchoolC− · 29% proficient
Top high schools
- Corvallis High SchoolA+ · 90% proficient
- West Albany High SchoolA · 72% proficient
- South Albany High SchoolC+ · 35% 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 386 metro areas.
Who Albany suits
Families
Schools land around the 19th percentile and crime safety beats 96%.
Retirees
The weather beats 58% of metro areas and it is quieter than 56%.
Common questions about living in Albany
Is Albany a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Albany ranks 186th of 387 metro areas. It scores highest on low crime, few empty homes, and state infrastructure, and lowest on the schools and disaster risk. 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 $387,190. The overall cost of living runs about 2% below the national average. Set against a $78,885 median income, cost of living beats 21% of metro areas.
Is Albany safe?
Yes, Albany is safer than 96% of metro areas. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $269 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Albany?
July highs average about 86 degrees, and January highs near 49 with lows near 34. That works out to about 99 pleasant days a year, more than 58% of metro areas.
What are the best neighborhoods in Albany?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Scio, Downtown Albany, and Harrisburg. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Albany good for families?
Schools beat 19% of metro areas, crime safety beats 96%, and childcare runs $1,005 a month.
Is Albany good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 21% of metro areas, though advertised internet speeds beat only 52% of metro areas. About 12% of workers already work from home.
Compare Albany with other metro areas
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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.