What is Albany's Life Score?

Albany scores 45.4/100 (grade C), rank #265 of 387. Signature cost at the 14th percentile; stamps LOWER · RENT-SQUEEZE · cost CEILING · wages HIGH.

What pulls Albany up or down?

Strongest: schools (75/100). Weakest: cost of living (15/100). Profile mark RENT-SQUEEZE; dimension gap 60.

How current is this data?

Federal releases current as of August 2026 (BEA, BLS, HUD, FBI, NCES, DOL, EPA). Cadence varies by series; see methodology.

Metro Life Score

Albany, OR

Below-median composite Life Score — grade C, 32nd percentile of the national corpus.

Compiled by PlainCompare

45.4
Life Score / 100: C
Grade (curved): #265
of 387 metros: 32%
composite percentile

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Data updated August 2026

Verify: BEA · BLS · HUD · FBI · NCES · EPA · Census · Report a data issue · Data changelog

The verdict

Albany is below-median composite Life Score — #265 of 387 (45.4/100, grade C, 32nd percentile). Carried by schools at 75/100; held back most by cost of living at 15/100.

32nd
composite percentile: #265
of 387 peers: 14th
cost dimension percentile: 68th
wages dimension percentile

Life Score shape · LOWER · RENT-SQUEEZE · signature cost

Albany: cost pressure is the outlier

Albany is a LOWER-band metro where cost sits only at the 14th percentile (CEILING) — the clearest outlier vs wages at the 68th and composite #265. Cost of Living (15/100) is the main drag; Schools (75/100) keeps the floor. According to PlainCompare's federal Life Score corpus ranking, Albany, OR ranks #265 of 387 metros by composite Life Score (highest = #1) and #331 of 387 by cost-of-living dimension score (highest = #1). Methodology.

BEA RPP 102.1 (rent-RPP 101.1). BLS median salary $67,935, 42,220 jobs (Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand, Stockers and Order Fillers, Fast Food and Counter Workers). HUD 2BR FMR $1,500/mo (studio $1,034).

FBI UCR (OR): 335 violent, 2410 property/100K. NCES: 17.2:1 ratio, 9.8% charter. DOL infant childcare $12,639/yr. EPA: 21 Superfund sites (OR).

Where Albany sits among all US metros

Composite Life Score vs the national field

45 32nd percentile higher than 32% of 387 US metros

Each bar is a band; taller bars hold more US metros. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count, share, and where it sits relative to this entry.

Source PlainCompare composite of BEA, BLS, HUD, FBI, NCES, DOL, EPA data · August 2026

How the 45.4 is built

Albany's Life Score, decomposed

Cost of Living 2.9 (6%) Wages 13.7 (30%) Rent 4.7 (10%) Safety 7.6 (17%) Schools 7.5 (16%) Childcare 2.6 (6%) Environment 6.4 (14%)

Dimension detail

How Albany scores, dimension by dimension

Score Breakdown

Dimension Scores

Cost of Living 15/100 (20%) Below average

Wages 69/100 (20%) Average

Rent 31/100 (15%) Average

Safety 51/100 (15%) Average

Schools 75/100 (10%) Average

Childcare 26/100 (10%) Average

Environment 64/100 (10%) Average

Key Data Points

102.1

Cost Index (RPP)

$67,935

Avg Median Salary

$1,500

2BR Fair Market Rent

335

Violent Crime/100K (OR)

17.2:1

Student-Teacher Ratio

$12,639

Infant Childcare/yr (OR)

Superfund Sites (OR)

42,220

Total Employment

Geography used: crime, schools, childcare, and environment cards above are OR state-level when metro-specific feeds are unavailable, see the scope key at the top of this page.

Compare Albany With...

Albany vs Grants Pass Compare → Albany vs Salem Compare → Albany vs Bend Compare → Albany vs Paducah Compare → Albany vs Pocatello Compare → Albany vs Wildwood Compare →

Ranking Context

Albany outranks 32% of U.S. metros.

Rank	Metro	Score	Grade
#262	Memphis, TN-MS-AR	45.5	C
#263	Grand Rapids-Wyoming-Kentwood, MI	45.5	C+
#264	Spartanburg, SC	45.7	C+
#265	Albany, OR	45.4	C
#266	Eugene-Springfield, OR	45.4	C
#267	Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD	45.4	C
#268	Raleigh-Cary, NC	45.4	C

Quality vs. Affordability

Albany, OR is bottom 32% lowest-quality nationally but only bottom 15% least affordable among its composite-quality peers -- its Life Score is earned mostly outside the cost dimension, not through being a budget option.

Albany, OR (highlighted) among its 12 nearest composite-Life-Score peers, out of 387 tracked metros nationally. Crosshairs mark this peer neighborhood's own median composite score and cost-of-living score. Cost-of-living score is already inverted so higher = more affordable.

OR Metro Scores

Grants Pass, OR C+ 47.6 Salem, OR C+ 47.3 Bend, OR C+ 46.8 Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA C+ 46.2 Eugene-Springfield, OR C 45.4 Medford, OR C 45.1

Read with Albany

Nearest composite peers and cost poles for Albany (LOWER · RENT-SQUEEZE · CEILING/HIGH), replacing the fixed Explore/Guides strip.

Eugene-Springfield, OR

ABS(composite) peer at 45.4 (Δ 0.0 vs this metro); higher Life Score · grade C vs this page's LOWER · RENT-SQUEEZE · CEILING/HIGH.

Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD

ABS(composite) peer at 45.4 (Δ 0.0 vs this metro); higher Life Score · grade C vs this page's LOWER · RENT-SQUEEZE · CEILING/HIGH.

Raleigh-Cary, NC

ABS(composite) peer at 45.4 (Δ 0.0 vs this metro); higher Life Score · grade C vs this page's LOWER · RENT-SQUEEZE · CEILING/HIGH.

Traverse City, MI

ABS(composite) peer at 45.4 (Δ 0.0 vs this metro); higher Life Score · grade C vs this page's LOWER · RENT-SQUEEZE · CEILING/HIGH.

Fresno, CA (cost pole)

ABS(cost_score) orthogonal peer at 14/100 (Δ 0); cost stamp CEILING vs this metro's CEILING.

Portland-South Portland, ME (cost pole)

ABS(cost_score) orthogonal peer at 15/100 (Δ 0); cost stamp CEILING vs this metro's CEILING.

Albany, OR relocation guide

Stamp-branched guide for LOWER · RENT-SQUEEZE · CEILING/HIGH - how to read federal Life Score inputs before a move.

Using Albany's bottom-third Life Score

Albany scores 45.4/100 overall, but Schools (74.9) and Cost of Living (14.5) sit 60.4 points apart, so decide which of the two matters more to you before leaning on the total.

Schools is the strongest of Albany's seven dimensions (weighted 10% in the composite); if it is your priority, this is where the metro earns its rank. See all seven dimensions
Cost of Living is the weakest (weighted 20% in the composite); if it is a dealbreaker, weigh it before the ranking does. Rank metros on the composite
Grants Pass is the nearest comparison this page can offer; put the two side by side on the same seven dimensions. Compare with Grants Pass

A low composite is a weighted blend; individual dimensions can still be strong.

Data from BEA, HUD, FBI UCR, BLS OES, NCES, DOL, and EPA. Not affiliated with the U.S. Government.

Data sourced from official public datasets. See our methodology for details. Albany Life Score 45.4/100 · signature cost · retrieved and formatted by PlainCompare

Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.

All federal data sources used on this page

U.S. Census Bureau ACS - multi-dimension demographic + housing + income aggregates for cross-area comparison. census.gov/programs-surveys/acs
BEA Regional Economic Accounts - GDP, personal income, employment by state and metro. bea.gov/data/regional
BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) - wage estimates for comparable-area indexing. bls.gov/oes
FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) - crime statistics for safety-score component. fbi.gov/ucr
NCES Common Core of Data - public-school quality indicators by area. nces.ed.gov/ccd
EPA AirNow + Air Quality System (AQS) - air-quality measurements by area. epa.gov/outdoor-air-quality-data
HUD Fair Market Rents (FMR) - county and metro housing-cost indicators. huduser.gov/datasets/fmr