Albany County vs Orange County

A side-by-side comparison of Albany County and Orange County: population, income, housing, and more.

Albany County and Orange County are counties in New York. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Orange County has the higher population (403,840 vs 315,374 in Albany County). Orange County has the higher median household income ($96,497 vs $83,149 in Albany County). Orange County has the higher median home value ($361,100 vs $277,400 in Albany County).

Population, income & housing

	Albany County	Orange County
Population	315,374	403,840
Median age	38.3 yrs	36.9 yrs
Median household income	$83,149	$96,497
Median home value	$277,400	$361,100
Median gross rent	$1,252	$1,602
Housing units	146,959	148,460
Homeownership rate	56.7%	68.4%
Bachelor's degree or higher	45.2%	32.2%
Unemployment rate	5.2%	5.4%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Albany County	Orange County
Population	306,968 → 315,374 (+2.7%)	380,085 → 403,840 (+6.2%)
Median household income	$66,252 → $83,149 (+25.5%)	$79,944 → $96,497 (+20.7%)
Median home value	$222,500 → $277,400 (+24.7%)	$271,200 → $361,100 (+33.1%)
Median gross rent	$1,022 → $1,252 (+22.5%)	$1,259 → $1,602 (+27.2%)

Albany County

Population

306,968315,374

Median household income

$66,252$83,149

Median home value

$222,500$277,400

Median gross rent

$1,022$1,252

Orange County

Population

380,085403,840

Median household income

$79,944$96,497

Median home value

$271,200$361,100

Median gross rent

$1,259$1,602

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Albany County	Orange County
Under 5	4.7%	6.7%
5 to 17	13.5%	19.0%
18 to 24	14.3%	10.3%
25 to 34	13.3%	11.9%
35 to 44	12.1%	12.3%
45 to 54	11.3%	12.8%
55 to 64	13.0%	12.8%
65 to 74	10.4%	8.6%
75 and over	7.4%	5.7%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Albany County	Orange County
White (non-Hispanic)	69.0%	59.2%
Black or African American	11.4%	10.5%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.1%
Asian	7.2%	2.8%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.4%	0.6%
Two or more races	4.8%	3.5%
Hispanic or Latino	7.0%	23.2%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Albany County	Orange County
No high school diploma	6.8%	10.3%
High school graduate	21.6%	28.0%
Some college or associate's	26.4%	29.4%
Bachelor's degree	23.3%	18.2%
Graduate or professional degree	21.8%	14.1%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Albany County	Orange County
Drove alone	67.6%	69.0%
Carpooled	8.5%	9.5%
Public transit	4.3%	4.4%
Walked	4.2%	3.7%
Bicycle	0.3%	0.1%
Worked from home	13.6%	11.5%
Other means	1.4%	1.9%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Albany County	Orange County
1-unit, detached	48.7%	62.4%
1-unit, attached	4.7%	6.8%
2 to 4 units	24.7%	11.7%
5 to 19 units	11.5%	10.7%
20 or more units	9.1%	6.5%
Mobile home & other	1.3%	1.9%

Poverty & households

	Albany County	Orange County
Poverty rate	12.9%	13.0%
Average household size	2.24	2.86
Mean commute (minutes)	21	34
Median year structure built	1964	1975