Photo: Michael Rivera · CC BY-SA 3.0Albany’s household incomes are lower than in 91% of U.S. towns
The two grades for Albany are D for jobs and income and B+ for walkability. 27.5% of residents are in poverty, against 13.4% across Georgia. About half stay in Albany for work; outside it, Camilla is the main destination (3%, 24 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Albany: the figures worth knowing
Albany is where the jobs are
Albany has 36,811 jobs, 1.6 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Commutes from Albany are quick
The average trip to work takes 20 minutes, against 28 across Georgia. That’s about 61 hours a year less on the road than the typical Georgia worker. Time on the road ↓
Fewer than half of Albany workers earn over $40,000 a year
40% of Albany’s working residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, wherever they work, and 19% earn $1,250 a month or less. The jobs ↓
Albany draws workers from far and wide
The 36,811 jobs in Albany are filled from a wide area. Albany’s own residents hold 31% and the ten next-biggest home towns 9%; the other 60% come from many towns beyond those. The commute map ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey.
Jobs & income in Albany: the grade in detail
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Albany is better than 10% of U.S. towns, #215 of 263 in Georgia. Job access by car holds Albany’s grade up (ahead of 59% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down (11.2%, U.S. 5.2%).
A firm grade. At either end of the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Albany stays D.
Who commutes out of Albany, and who commutes in
On a workday 11,038 residents head out to work, 11,469 work right here, and 25,342 people come in from elsewhere.
About 81,000 people are in Albany on a workday afternoon, 21% more than live here.
1.6 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than out.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
A commute of about 20 minutes in Albany
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Albany workers work from home, vs 16% across Georgia. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 22,658 commuters (the 9% who work from home are left out). Across Georgia: 84% drive alone, 1% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
The 36,811 jobs based in Albany
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Albany, 2013 → 2023: 37,600 → 36,811. Big swings can come from how a large employer reports its locations, not only from real openings or closings.
Primary jobs covered by unemployment insurance (not the self-employed). Pay is monthly earnings. LEHD 2023.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Albany’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Who travels to work in Albany, and from where
Where Albany clocks in
3% of workers
2% of workers
2% of workersLines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
The distance from Albany to work
About 25% show a job over 50 miles away. Some of that is real, and some is employers that report every worker at a head office, so a few long commutes are on paper only.
Straight-line distance from each worker’s home block to their main job’s block. LEHD 2023.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Driving is how Albany gets around
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Albany is more walkable than 69% of U.S. towns, #77 of 263 in Georgia. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 2.4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 3.1% across Georgia.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 24,959 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service: no data. EPA’s transit file has no stops for most of this county (its agencies had not published schedules in the format EPA used in 2020). That is missing data, not a finding that there is no bus or train.
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 12.4% of Albany households have no vehicle (Georgia 5.9%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Albany’s commuters take a bus or train.
Albany and other U.S. towns of 47,000 to 90,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | McLean VA | 49,627 | $250K | 2.9% | 2.3% | 6% | A+ |
| 2 | Lakeville MN | 79,270 | $139K | 2.9% | 2.0% | 11% | A+ |
| 3 | Fulshear TX | 64,630 | $187K | 1.6% | 2.8% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 11 | Dunwoody GA | 51,792 | $122K | 6.1% | 1.9% | 9% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 41 | Johns Creek GA | 80,401 | $160K | 4.2% | 4.1% | 7% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 120 | Alpharetta GA | 66,921 | $148K | 5.6% | 4.9% | 18% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 645 | Youngstown OH | 58,832 | $34K | 37.3% | 11.9% | 21% | D |
| 646 | Hattiesburg MS | 48,802 | $46K | 28.3% | 8.7% | 56% | D |
| 647 | Albany GA | 66,907 | $47K | 27.5% | 11.2% | 51% | D |
| 648 | Pahrump NV | 47,347 | $62K | 13.7% | 8.5% | 28% | D |
Census ACS 2020–24 (income, poverty, unemployment), Census LEHD (work in town), TownRatings Jobs & income grades. Each town links to its Work & commute page.
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Albany, the top three, the last and three more from Georgia.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Two sources, two years. Trips, distances and jobs based here: Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs, where the employer reports them. Income, poverty, unemployment, commute time and how people travel: Census ACS 2020–24 averages.
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Albany: questions
What is the median household income in Albany?
$47,240 (±$2,360) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,353 across Georgia and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Albany?
27.5%, against 13.4% across Georgia and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Albany?
20 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Georgia and 26 nationally. 9% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Albany work?
51% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Camilla (3%, 24 mi), Columbus (2%, 76 mi), Atlanta (2%, 152 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Albany walkable?
Albany is more walkable than 69% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 8.7 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Albany without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 12% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Albany, from the people who make the trip.
More of Albany
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2023, primary jobs. Commute time, working from home and working out of state: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates. Distances are straight lines between home and work; real drives run longer. Walkability index, job access and transit service: U.S. EPA Smart Location Database. The two grades are our own summaries of these figures, not official ratings.