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Albany, NY: A good place to live?

Original Post
Darren Gemoets · · Albany, NY · Joined Jul 2008 · Points: 0

I'm considering a move back to Albany. I lived there from 2001-2003 or so and liked it.  Any Albanians willing to give me some insight into living there now?  Traffic still manageable?  Taxes?  Gunks and Dacks even busier now?

Thanks.

Greg Pouliot · · Rumney NH · Joined Jul 2012 · Points: 90

Last time I was there was 4 years ago. Traffic sucks, but that’s to be expected living in a city. Gunks are always a shit show on the weekends, but during the week you’ll have the place to yourself. There’s a great gym in Clifton Park now, called The Edge, really nice community of climbers there. I always rented and didn’t find prices to be overwhelming. Taxes are highish according to friends and family who own. All that being said, if you can find a place in Latham or Guilderland, go that route. Close to Albany but out of the city proper. Lots of good restaurants and bars all around the place. Good luck!

Gunkiemike · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Jul 2009 · Points: 3,687

In the years since you and Greg lived there, Thatcher Park has opened as a legit sport climbing area. It's close enough to ALB for after work climbing . Well so are the Gunks, but Thatcher is really close. If trad's your preference, the many crags of Crane Mt are less than 90 min. away.

RJ B · · Basalt, CO · Joined May 2017 · Points: 465

I'm currently the membership chair for the Thacher Climbing Coalition and going to college in Albany and I can say Thacher is super nice being so close and travel in Albany is not that terrible. If you hit rush hour, yeah you may be in traffic for 5 minutes, but it's not that bad. Also, the bus system is actually pretty nice and reliable. 

Kevin Heckeler · · Las Vegas, NV · Joined Jul 2010 · Points: 1,638

I lived in the immediate Albany area for most of my 43+ years on the planet, and now I don't.  That should be a sign of where this post is heading.

Adirondacks aren't super busy unless you're trying to get on a 5 star climb on the weekend.  Even then you could probably just wait it out/get in line.  The drive ended up wearing on me after years of hiking then climbing up there.  And camping spots along the main roads have started getting full.  It's just not 'quaint' anymore.  Biting bugs, mud, and more await.

Gunks -- I ended up not going much and even let my membership lapse after YEARS of climbing there regularly.  I don't get weekdays off unless I burn vacation time (which I was spending heading West), so I was stuck with shit-show-Saturdays/Sunday or not going.  I chose to stop going.

Taxes for the State and local are higher than some other parts of the country (like Nevada).  Cost of living is moderate to low overall.

Traffic depends entirely on where you live/commute.  East of Albany (Troy side of the river) tends to be easier to commute than from any other direction.  Clifton Park probably the least desirable area to live unless you like listening to entire albums or audiobooks on your commute.  You could luck out and won't have to work in Albany, but a majority of the work for the area is there.

I managed a lot of years of great outdoors experiences and have a few good friends I had to leave behind, but I feel like I 'wised up' over those years and as soon as the opportunity presented itself I got the f^&% outta there.  If doing stuff outdoors on a regular basis is important, and/or you only have weekends, then the desert Southwest is really the only place where access to these things can be somewhat guaranteed.  Weather is probably the biggest downfall of doing anything on the wet coast, but seeing that you're already there (WV) then Albany won't be much of a change in that regard.

Darren Gemoets · · Albany, NY · Joined Jul 2008 · Points: 0

Thanks everyone.  I appreciate you taking the time to respond.  

It sounds like Albany, the Dacks, Gunks and general area have grown over the last 16 years, but not much worse than what I experienced when I lived there.  I forgot about Thatcher; I'm psyched that's been developed.  

I'm also considering a move to the greater DC area, but I think the Capital Region probably has a better overall quality of life (outdoors, culture, affordability) than DC.  I wish  I could pull move back west, but I'd need to live in Denver, Seattle, or some other insanely crowed and expensive area for work.      

Robert Hall · · North Conway, NH · Joined Aug 2013 · Points: 28,893

Disclaimer- I never lived there, but did:
1) Drive through it a lot when I lived in Buffalo for 5 yrs
2) Seriously considered a job there, so looked into things
 
A) Basically it's sort of like "The best of times and the worst of times!" in that it's about 2 hours to "anywhere".  (OK, maybe only 1 1/2 to 1 13/4 to the Gunks)  Kevin kind of said it: sooner or later driving 2 - 4 hrs everytime kind of gets to you.
B) Traffic is pretty bad during rush hour.
C) Oh yes, and check out airplane ticket prices. Last I looked they were very pricey (I don't know if "SouthWorst" has moved in yet to bring down prices) but I think things were so pricey because it is the state capital (speculation).  and...of course... it's only a "feeder" type airport; i.e. direct flights to many places don't exist.

all that being said...I would think that the key determining factor should be the job you're going for.  Does it fit into your career progression?....or are you thinking of  moving there as a "climbing hub" location?  (If so, think about places like Keene, NH [whose airport is Hartford CT] where the cost-of-living is much less (and no income tax) ; or something else in SW or SE NH.

Marc801 C · · Sandy, Utah · Joined Feb 2014 · Points: 65
Darren Gemoets wrote: I wish  I could pull move back west, but I'd need to live in Denver, Seattle, or some other insanely crowed and expensive area for work.      

Obviously we don't know what you do, but there are a lot of smaller cities in the west than those you mention that have good job markets, including high tech. Seeing that you're considering a move to Albany, what about a similar sized western city?

Darren Gemoets · · Albany, NY · Joined Jul 2008 · Points: 0

Thanks again for the comments.  I appreciate them.

If you're interested:  I'm a 46 year old statistician who is moving from higher ed teaching into the private sector/government work.  Before WV, I was teaching in Grand Junction, but didn't like the job and my wife missed teaching (she was doing research), so we left.  We really loved Junction, but professionally it was a poor fit.    

If my CV were stronger (years of heavy teaching loads hampered my research productivity) I'd have better luck in my current search in "hot" areas (Bay area, etc) , but thus far the only hits have been in DC, Albany, and the midwest.  My age probably doesn't help either.    

The priority for me(us) now is professional.  The Albany job is a good fit (not perfect, but close), and geographically the best option thus far.  My wife is changing careers and needs a larger city to explore her options.  

Oh to be 26 again with the endless possibilities...

Rob Upton · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Jan 2015 · Points: 516

Albany is blah but I cant think of a better place to live in upstate NY if you are a climber. Gunks is always busy but its the Gunks! There is so much new stuff in the Adirondacks you can have a crag to yourself for the weekend.

Climb On · · Everywhere · Joined Jan 2016 · Points: 0

I moved here 3 years ago and I don’t consider the traffic bad at all compared to the larger cities. Consider looking into living in Troy. The downtown is being developed, lots of great restaurants and the sign off turnarounds everywhere- condos are being built. I’m not thrilled with the taxes here but the gunks and so much more are close enough that I’m happy. 

Kevin Heckeler · · Las Vegas, NV · Joined Jul 2010 · Points: 1,638
Darren Gemoets wrote: The priority for me(us) now is professional.  The Albany job is a good fit (not perfect, but close), and geographically the best option thus far.  My wife is changing careers and needs a larger city to explore her options.  

The market in Albany is actually quite small.  I had a job within a few days arriving in Vegas.  No kidding.  Typical job hunt in the Albany area in the past took me several months.  Granted, I didn't keep that first job in Vegas but have another job within a couple months and many other possibilities I didn't pursue due to personal reasons.  But no lack of work despite Vegas still recovering from the 2008 financial collapse.


So don't move to Albany thinking there's a lot of opportunity.  If you're going to work for the State, then *perhaps* there's a better incentive.  I do IT work in the private sector.  Albany itself is 100,000.  There's about half a million in the entire area.  It's really not that big.  And it's not really growing, when compared to other parts of the Country.  We often referred to it as "smalbany" because it was fairly regular so-and-so knew so-and-so.  NO Way!  :p
Kevin Heckeler · · Las Vegas, NV · Joined Jul 2010 · Points: 1,638
Adrienne DiRosario wrote: I moved here 3 years ago and I don’t consider the traffic bad at all compared to the larger cities. Consider looking into living in Troy. The downtown is being developed, lots of great restaurants and the sign off turnarounds everywhere- condos are being built. I’m not thrilled with the taxes here but the gunks and so much more are close enough that I’m happy. 

Hi Adrienne.  I wish we got to connect more before leaving.  I'm glad you're settling in.  Troy is definitely becoming a bright spot for the area!  :)  

If you're ever itching to get away, reach out to us.
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