Photo: Skvader · CC BY-SA 4.0Albany has lower unemployment (2.9%) than 71% of U.S. towns
Jobs and income earn Albany B−; getting around on foot earns it A−. 6% of workers have no commute at all (Minnesota 18%). About one in five stay in Albany for work; outside it, St. Cloud is the main destination (18%, 20 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What sets Albany apart on work
Albany trades workers with the towns around it
Albany has about as many jobs (1,656) as working residents (1,389), but they are mostly different people: 1,122 residents leave for work each day while 1,389 people come in. Only 16% of the jobs in Albany are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
Albany has added jobs fast
Jobs based in Albany went from 1,057 in 2013 to 1,656 in 2023, +57%. The jobs ↓
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; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
How the Jobs & income grade adds up in Albany
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Albany is better than 51% of U.S. towns, #191 of 273 in Minnesota. Unemployment holds Albany’s grade up; household income pulls it down ($69,167, U.S. $80,734).
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Albany could be anywhere from C− to A−.
Who leaves Albany for work, and who comes in
On a workday 1,122 residents head out to work, 267 work right here, and 1,389 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.19 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
What the 1,656 jobs in Albany are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Albany, 2013 → 2023: 1,057 → 1,656. 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.
Where Albany goes to work
Where Albany clocks in
18% of workers
6% 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.
Commuting from Albany: about 23 minutes a trip
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Albany workers work from home, vs 18% across Minnesota. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,294 commuters (the 6% who work from home are left out). Across Minnesota: 84% drive alone, 2% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
Miles to work from Albany
About 18% 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.
Albany is easy on foot, hard by bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Albany is more walkable than 84% of U.S. towns, #59 of 273 in Minnesota. Both inputs place Albany near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,376 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 0% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 0% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about under 0.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 20% of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 14.1% of Albany households have no vehicle (Minnesota 6.7%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Albany’s commuters take a bus or train.
Albany next to U.S. towns of 2,000 to 3,900: 2,256th of 4,882 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 9 | Independence MN | 3,763 | $187K | 1.1% | 0.8% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 18 | Deephaven MN | 3,794 | $198K | 1.7% | 1.7% | 3% | A+ |
| 19 | Greenfield MN | 2,962 | $154K | 1.2% | 0.4% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,254 | Port Ludlow WA | 2,891 | $96K | 5.9% | 6.4% | 2% | B− |
| 2,255 | Arcade GA | 2,035 | $68K | 9.7% | 2.3% | 1% | B− |
| 2,256 | Albany MN | 2,873 | $69K | 10.8% | 2.9% | 19% | B− |
| 2,257 | Tullytown PA | 2,228 | $65K | 13.6% | 4.7% | 4% | B− |
| 2,258 | Windsor VA | 2,947 | $69K | 11.7% | 3.6% | 7% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 4,882 | Cibecue AZ | 2,228 | $26K | 57.2% | 13.3% | 12% | 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 Minnesota.
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?
$69,167 (±$14,363) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $89,062 across Minnesota and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Albany?
10.8%, against 9.3% across Minnesota and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Albany?
23 minutes each way on average, against 23 across Minnesota and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Albany work?
19% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are St. Cloud (18%, 20 mi), Avon (6%, 6 mi), Melrose (4%, 13 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Albany walkable?
Albany is more walkable than 84% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 10.3 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Albany without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 14% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
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.