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Demographics>At A GlancePopulation characteristics for Albany, its largest suburbs, and the county as a whole, from the 2000 U.S. Census:
Albany's population fell below 100,000 in the 2000 Census for the first time since 1905. The population of neighboring suburbs, especially Colonie, continued to grow. Albany County, a large land area that includes rural areas such as Berne, Rensselaerville, and Coeymans, is dominated by the city and its closest suburban neighbors. Rise And Decline Of Albany's Population
In the early years of the United States, Albany was one of the Republic's biggest cities. The 1790 census showed Albany at 19th, with 3,498 inhabitants; by 1810 the city had risen to 10th place among U.S. cities with 10,762. For the next 40 years, in the heyday of the Erie Canal and the early days of steam power, Albany hovered around the 9th or 10 largest city in the country, reaching the 50,000 mark in the 1850's. But as railroads criscrossed the nation and resources were drawn to the West, Albany's relative place, though not its absolute size, began to decline; by 1900 it was only the 40th largest city in the U.S., and by 1960 the 94th largest, with 129,726 inhabitants. From then on the city population began to decline due to suiburbanization, the disaster of urban renewal, and the fiasco of Empire State Plaza. The city no longer breaks the top 100 of U.S. city populations. The following chart tracks Albany's population alongside that of the 20th biggest city in the United States in each census year:
The chart shows Albany's overall population peaking around 1960 and in steady decline since; the 20th largest city population continued to rise until 1980, flattening after that. Gender, AGe, And RaceSelected gender and racial makeup characteristics for Albany City, Colonie Town, and Albany County:
The County demographic data is generally close to an average of the Albany and Colonie data--not surprising, since Albany and Colonie taken together account for almost two-thirds of the County residents. The lower median age of the City can be accounted for by the many college students. The contrast between the City and its suburbs in terms of racial makeup could not be starker. The County is almost totally caucasian outside Albany City. By the way, that 3.2% under "other" for the city certainly includes the diverse and growing population around Central Ave from places like Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Sudan (Afghans and Pakistani almost certainly object to checking 'Asian Indian' on the census form, while black African immigrants may justifiably be reluctant to simply check 'black'). Housing & VEHICLE Stats
For all the problems of Albany, an over-reliance on the automobile is not one of them. Over one-quarter of Albany households have no vehicle, and a similar percentage walk or use public transportation to get to work.
This is in contrast to the predictable dependence on cars in the suburban cul-de-sacs and boxstore warrens, and dovetails with the similarly predictable high incidence of single-family homes outside the city. Property values are about 20% higher outside the city than within, in spite of the fact that Albany City now includes a huge number of beautifully restored urban dwellings thanks to the Historic Albany Foundation. The 10 percent vacancy rate also indicates the anemic nature of the downtown real estate market. Some neighborhoods can only be called 'up and coming' for so long. Economic Stats
The picture here is a grim one for the city. Albany median household income is 30% lower than than of the county and a whopping 42% lower than that of Colonie. Unemployment and poverty are worse in Albany than its environs by huge percentage margins. For about 40 years money and population have been trickling out of the City--from an urban environment based on neighborhoods, society, and culture, to a suburban environment based on the automobile, consumer consumption, and isolated life in atomized dwellings. Albany's neighborhoods have become great bargains for young urban pioneers. But the higher taxes, crime rates, and frequently sickly nature of downtown and neighborhood retail makes it an open question whether it is worth the bargain. Those with children, especially, find themselves skeptical of the downtown environment in increasing numbers--and when they ultimately decide to leave it becomes that much harder for everyone else to remain. More and more those who live in the city do so not by choice but because there are no viable economic alternatives. Miscellaneous Social Stats
As those able to maintain incomes, keep families together, and maintain some coherent set of social standards emigrate to the world of Home Depot and Target, the city is left, more and more, as a residence of last resort for the incompetent, the flawed, and those who prey on them. It also becomes an opportunity of sorts for the ambitious from around the globe, who would not fit in so well in Boxstore World. Many thrive in the city; others descend slowly into the mire and join the underclass. For those who consider urbanism a better and more humane form of social organization than the suburban warren, the figures do not provide much cause for optimism. The former vitality of the city was largely based on the fact that, among the less well off, there lived a monied and cultured elite, bound to the urban environment because of its economic and cultural institutions. This upper class may have been hidebound by prejudice and predicated on economic exploitation, but they did see themselves as part of a social contract, and in many cases patronized and sustained cultural and civic institutions that benefited all classes throughout the urban habitat. In time the ethos of mutual social responsibility changed to one of "he who helps himself", and the scions of State Street abandoned their city, heading for an imagined suburban Arcadia. There their descendants have become lawyers, marketing consultants, and software engineers, their dignity, pride, and culture exchanged for a Range Rover, a prefab McMansion, and a plasma-screen TV. Meanwhile, Downtown, life has not stopped. True, no one has yet hit on the formula for recreating the confluence of society and economy that built the cities in their heyday. But for Albany residents, the search and struggle must continue. At least, unlike the suburbanites isolated in their cul-de-sacs and mesmerized by mass entertainment, they will be struggling together. LF <BACK TO HOME PAGE |
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