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About Albany
Albany is the county seat of Linn County, where the Calapooia River meets the Willamette. Wikipedia reports that the Monteith brothers platted the town around 1848 and named it for their hometown of Albany, New York, that it became the county seat in 1851 and that it was incorporated in 1864.
Albany in numbers
| Measure | Albany |
|---|---|
| Population, 2020 Census | 56,472 |
| Population, ACS 2020-2024 | 56,839 |
| Population, Portland State University certified estimate (July 1, 2025) | 57,897 (+2.5% since 2020) |
| Households | 21,933 |
| Owner-occupied share of households | 58.9% |
| Median household income | $78,114 (margin of error plus or minus $3,524) |
| Median home value (owner-occupied) | $389,200 (plus or minus $9,859) |
| Median age | 37.7 |
| Owner-occupied homes valued at $300,000 or more | 9,804 of 12,927 (75.8%; margin of error about plus or minus 680 homes) |
| Business establishments, ZIPs 97321 and 97322 | 1,639 |
| Paid employees at those establishments | 23,130 |
A plain reading
Albany is a little smaller than Corvallis and noticeably more affordable. The median home value is about $114,000 lower and median household income is about $13,000 higher. Close to six in ten households own their home, and about three in four owner-occupied homes are valued at $300,000 or more. The median age of 37.7 is close to the Oregon norm.
Every ACS figure is a sample estimate with a margin of error. The owner-home count above could be off by several hundred in either direction.
How we got these numbers
- Households, tenure, income, home value, age and home-value brackets come from the Census Bureau's American Community Survey (ACS) 5-year estimates for 2020-2024, tables B01003, B11001, B25003, B19013, B25077, B01002 and B25075, read through Census Reporter for the city of Albany. Dollars are 2024 inflation-adjusted ACS dollars. The $300,000-or-more count adds the brackets from $300,000 to $399,999 up to $2,000,000 or more; its margin of error combines the bracket margins.
- The 2020 population is the Census count from Census TIGERweb. The 2025 figure is the Portland State University Population Research Center estimate as listed by the League of Oregon Cities, certified December 15, 2025. The estimates are prepared as of July 1.
- Business counts are from Census ZIP Code Business Patterns 2023 for ZIP codes 97321 and 97322. They are by ZIP code, not by city limit, so they can include places outside the city, and they leave out businesses with no paid employees.
Sources
- U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year data (2020-2024)
- Census Reporter
- Census TIGERweb
- Census ZIP Code Business Patterns
- League of Oregon Cities, certified population estimates
- Portland State University Population Research Center
- Albany, Oregon (Wikipedia), for history
Also from Oregon Living: Oregon Living in Eugene, Oregon · Oregon Living in Salem, Oregon · Oregon Living in Corvallis, Oregon.