Albany vs Durham
Metro-area medians — Albany-Schenectady-Troy, NY Metro Area vs Durham-Chapel Hill, NC Metro Area — not the cities proper.
Albany comes out ahead, winning 4 of the 6 clearly-decided measures.
Albany and Durham cost about the same to live in, but Albany households earn about 4% more. Adjusted for local prices, a typical paycheck stretches about as far in either.
Their widest everyday difference: Albany has cleaner air on a typical day — a median AQI of 37 versus 51.
For your salary & household
Enter your pay and household size to see what it's really worth here — the numbers update live and the link stays shareable.
On $75,000 for just you, Durham leaves you about $2,082/yr better off after tax and local prices.
Take-home estimates a single filer taking the standard deduction (2025 federal brackets, FICA, and state income tax) and isn't tax advice. “Real value” rebases take-home to average U.S. prices using the BEA cost-of-living index; the per-person figure uses the OECD square-root equivalence scale.
Choose Albany for
- + Median household income
- + Median rent
- + Median home value
- + Air quality (median AQI)
More comparisons
Metros closest to Albany and Durham on cost, income, size, and education.
Albany vs Durham — frequently asked
- Is Albany cheaper than Durham?
- They are about even — the overall cost of living in the Albany and Durham metros is within 3% of each other (BEA Regional Price Parities), so neither is meaningfully cheaper.
- Which has higher household income, Albany or Durham?
- Albany has the higher median household income — $86,637 versus $83,542 (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS), about 4% more.
- Does a paycheck go further in Albany or Durham?
- It is roughly a wash. After adjusting income for local prices, a typical paycheck is worth about the same in both metros ($87,015 versus $85,621).
- Which has cheaper rent, Albany or Durham?
- Albany has cheaper rent — a median of $1,341/mo versus $1,598/mo (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS).