Poll: Albany Ranked in Top 10 'Best for Families' in USA

Yay, Albany

Some good press for the City of Albany and the surrounding area of the Capital Region, as a recent survey by U.S. News and World Reports places our metro in the Top 10 "Best Places to Live for Families in the USA."

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The survey, released in August, took multiple things into consideration before bestowing such heaping praise on the Capital area of Upstate New York. According to the survey, the ranking was judged on the following criteria:

Cost of living and average annual salary
Quality of high school education,
average commute time, crime rate
The area’s overall well-being
Access to top-notch healthcare

Sean Pavone

US News and World Reports claims that the Albany metro area has an annual salary of $3000 more than the national average, lower crime, and really good air, making it a top-notch location "for raising your kids."

"Albany’s average annual salary, at $61,560, is more than $3,000 above the national average. Albany also scores well for low rates of property crime, violent crime, and murder, according to FBI data... Albany ranks No. 20 out of 150 places for air quality, according to the U.S. Environmental Agency's Air Quality Index, which measures the amount of pollutants in the air that could cause harm to the general population." US News and World Reports

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Others ranked in New York

The Albany area ranked ahead of three others from New York, outpacing Rochester (#21), Buffalo (#17), as well as Syracuse (#12).

Check out the complete list from US News and World Reports

25. Boise, Idaho
24. Cincinnati
23. Davenport-Bettendorf, Iowa, and Moline-Rock Island, Illinois (Quad Cities)
22. Washington, D.C.
21. Rochester, New York
20. Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
19. Portland, Maine
18. Raleigh and Durham, North Carolina
17. Buffalo, New York
16. Ann Arbor, Michigan
15. Hickory, North Carolina
14. Omaha, Nebraska
13. Pittsburgh
12. Syracuse, New York
11. Madison, Wisconsin
10. Lincoln, Nebraska
9. Fort Wayne, Indiana
8. Grand Rapids, Michigan
7. Albany, New York
6. Des Moines, Iowa
5. Minneapolis-St. Paul
4. Fayetteville, Arkansas
3. Green Bay, Wisconsin
2. San Jose, California
1. Huntsville, Alabama

8 Towns Near Upstate NY Ranked among USA's Best for Fall Foliage

The 9 Best Fried Chicken Sandwiches in the Capital Region, Ranked!

Ever since Chic-Fil-A added two more restaurants in the Capital Region a few weeks back, there's been a lot of "clucking" in our area about who has the "best-tasting" chicken sandwich.

Recently, we posted the question on our various social media platforms, and the results were pretty interesting.

For the purpose of our survey, we didn't care if it was made at a local mom-and-pop style pub, tavern, or restaurant or if it was made by a multi-billion dollar national chain.

If Capital Region residents knew of a place that builds a delicious, golden-fried chicken sandwich, we wanted to hear about it.

Here are the Top 9 Chicken Sandwiches of the Capital Region, Ranked!

See The Capital Region's 10 Best Cider Donuts For 2023 [RANKED]

As we enjoy the last fleeting moments of summer 2023, there is a silver lining to the end of the season. We will soon replace summer concerts with all of our favorite Upstate New York autumn activities like pumpkin picking, leaf peeping, and indulging in our season favorite - CIDER DONUTS! We have a LONG list of great cider donut spots, but to determine the best of the best we once again went to our listeners to determine which ones to visit this year. So Who serves the best cider donuts in the Capital Region? Here are the top 10 for autumn 2023 according to you - with 3 new spots on this year's list!