Schenectady, New York

Area Profile

68,847 residents. Public schools, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Schenectady, in Schenectady County.

57out of 100
Area Score
Bottom 38% of 2,944 profiles measured

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
Opportunity2803rd of 3,904 cities measured46
Schools2230th of 2,668 cities measured25
Growth2498th of 2,973 cities measured29
Housing affordabilityTop 38% of 4,223 cities measured87
Climate3601st of 4,223 cities measured60
Physical resilienceTop 18% of 4,182 cities measured84
AccessTop 14% of 4,226 cities measured99
Economic stability3498th of 4,226 cities measured40
The quick read

Employment conditions sit below most comparable published city profiles: unemployment is 4.8% and the Opportunity signal places Schenectady in the bottom 28%.

Natural-hazard exposure is lower than in most comparable published city profiles, placing Schenectady in the top 18% for physical resilience.

A major airport is 7 miles away, giving the area unusually direct access to the national air network.

At a glance

Population
68,847
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$58,399
Bottom 36% nationally
Density
6,370/sq mi
10.8 sq mi of land
Median age
36.1
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Schenectady County
New York
Metro area
Albany-Schenectady-Troy, NY
Nearest major airport
ALB
7 mi · Albany Intl
Median home value
$168,800
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 4.8% is lower than 32% of the 3,904 measured US cities.

Employment fell 0.4% over the past year, to 30,693 employed residents.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Median household income ±$2,915$58,399Bottom 36%of 29,5732024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$2,202$34,175Top 49%of 31,4202024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate23.8%Top 17%of 31,9002024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute23.6 minBottom 33%of 31,5432024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher25.4%Top 39%of 31,9192024 ACS 5-Year
Employment30,693Bottom 38%of 3,904June 2026
Employment change (3 years)0.0%Top 48%of 3,903June 2026
Employment change (year over year)-0.4%Top 40%of 3,904June 2026
Labor force32,256Bottom 39%of 3,904June 2026
Labor force participation60.6%Top 50%of 31,9332024 ACS 5-Year
Mean annual wage$71,830Top 39%of 3,6582025 OEWS
Median annual wage$58,460Top 26%of 3,6582025 OEWS
Unemployment change (year over year)0.4%Top 37%of 3,904June 2026
Unemployment rate4.8%Top 32%of 3,904June 2026
Unemployment rate
2021/062022/032022/122023/092024/062025/032025/102026/067.23.9
Monthly unemployment rate from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, most recent value 4.8% in June 2026. A break in the line is a month the Bureau of Labor Statistics did not publish for this area — it is left empty rather than estimated.
Median household income, successive ACS releases
202120222023202458k50k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $58,399 in the 2024 ACS 5-Year. Consecutive releases share four years of sample, so AreaProfile shows them as a record of successive estimates and does not compute a year-over-year change from them.
Largest occupations — Albany-Schenectady-Troy, NY
OccupationPeople employedMedian annual wage
Home Health and Personal Care Aides13,180$37,590
Retail Salespersons11,930$35,420
Registered Nurses10,230$99,970
General and Operations Managers8,890$111,130
Janitors and Cleaners, Except Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners8,880$37,810
Cashiers8,570$34,290

Occupational employment and wages are published for metropolitan areas rather than for individual cities or ZIP areas, so these describe the wider labor market this location sits in. 2025 OEWS, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

21% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 29% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 12.0 students for every full-time teacher, fewer than in most measured places.

Public schools
12
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
12.0
across all schools here
Math proficiency
20.6%
Bottom 12% in New York
Reading proficiency
29.5%
Bottom 5% in New York
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
SCHENECTADY HIGH SCHOOLSCHENECTADY CITY SCHOOL DISTRICT2,88513.4
ONEIDA MIDDLE SCHOOLSCHENECTADY CITY SCHOOL DISTRICT65710.110%
CENTRAL PARK MIDDLE SCHOOLSCHENECTADY CITY SCHOOL DISTRICT6009.210%30%
WOODLAWN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLSCHENECTADY CITY SCHOOL DISTRICT50214.328%48%
PAIGE ELEMENTARY SCHOOLSCHENECTADY CITY SCHOOL DISTRICT46812.016%26%
JESSIE T ZOLLER ELEMENTARY SCHOOLSCHENECTADY CITY SCHOOL DISTRICT43911.938%51%
DR MARTIN LUTHER KING SCHOOL JR ELEMENTARY SCHOOLSCHENECTADY CITY SCHOOL DISTRICT42411.510%20%
HOWE ELEMENTARY SCHOOLSCHENECTADY CITY SCHOOL DISTRICT39011.850%51%
YATES ELEMENTARY SCHOOLSCHENECTADY CITY SCHOOL DISTRICT32712.110%20%
LINCOLN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLSCHENECTADY CITY SCHOOL DISTRICT30610.910%20%
WILLIAM C KEANE ELEMENTARY SCHOOLSCHENECTADY CITY SCHOOL DISTRICT2799.010%19%
DESTINE PREPARATORY CHARTER SCHOOL · charterDESTINE PREPARATORY CHARTER SCHOOL21317.8

77.1% of students here are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. That describes the circumstances families arrive with rather than how the schools perform, which is why AreaProfile shows it and does not score it.

Public schools only, from the NCES Common Core of Data. Schools are placed by ZIP code, so this is which schools are in this place rather than which one a particular address is zoned for — district boundaries do not follow municipal ones, and enrollment zones change. Fully virtual schools are excluded: they enroll students from across the state while reporting one administrative address, and counting them here would describe a school population this place does not have. The assessment covers grades 3 through 8, so a high school shows no proficiency figure — a dash in those columns means the test was not given at that school, not that it performed badly. Proficiency is measured against New York’s own standard, so it compares cleanly within the state and only broadly against other states; AreaProfile therefore ranks it within state. The directory is current, while the proficiency figures are from the last school year with national coverage before the pandemic interrupted testing.

Housing & affordability

How it’s calculated →

Median rent of $1,145 takes 24% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 2.9 times median household income here, close to the historic benchmark for an affordable market.

Rent as a share of income
23.5%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
2.9×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$1,145
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$168,800
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Home price to income2.89Bottom 49%of 28,4732024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate45.6%Bottom 7%of 31,8432024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±73631,417Top 2%of 32,3302024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$33$1,145Top 36%of 23,4322024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$4,579$168,800Bottom 45%of 29,3422024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income23.5%Top 23%of 23,2012024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate7.1%Bottom 38%of 32,0012024 ACS 5-Year

Both affordability measures come from the same ACS release as the income they are compared with, so the comparison is like for like. They describe housing cost against local earnings and are not a cost-of-living index — transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes are not included, and a place can look affordable here and still be expensive to live in for reasons this does not capture.

Growth & development

How it’s calculated →
Development Momentum
29/ 100
Ranks 2498 of 2,973 published city profiles
Permitting is broadly steady, measured from 2020 to 2025.

An AreaProfile calculation combining permit volume per resident, its direction over one and three years, population change and employment growth. Permit volume alone is not the measure.

Population has grown 2% since 2020, reaching 69,495 in 2024.

At 0.0 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is below the median for measured US cities.

Units permitted
0
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
0.0
Bottom 1% nationally
Year over year
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
units in 5+ unit buildings
Population, annual estimates
2020202120222023202469k68k
Census Population Estimates Program, July 1 of each year. These annual estimates are designed for year-over-year comparison, unlike the ACS five-year figure shown as this profile's population.
Housing units permitted per year
2020202120222023202420251210.0
Annual totals from the Census Building Permits Survey. Permitting in 2025 was lower than 2020 (−100%).

Weather & climate

5 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 84°F and January a low of 16°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 40.7 inches, including 59.2 inches of snow.

0°20°40°60°80°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station ALBANY AP, 7.3 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND4.5"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
Annual precipitation40.7"1991-2020 Normals
Annual snowfall59.2"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low16°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high84°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months51991-2020 Normals
Seasonal temperature swing49°F1991-2020 Normals

Climate figures are thirty-year normals, not current conditions. They describe what a typical year looks like rather than what the weather is doing today.

Physical risk

84 / 100
Physical resilience

The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are inland flooding, hurricane and heat wave.

Inland floodingModerate
Ice stormModerate
HurricaneModerate
Heat waveModerate

Low or minimal exposure: lightning, tornado, earthquake, strong wind, hail, winter weather, cold wave, landslide, wildfire, avalanche.

Hazard ratings are AreaProfile calculations derived from the FEMA National Risk Index v1.20.0 (December 2025). FEMA publishes at county level. City values are the population-weighted mean of the counties the city overlaps, using AreaProfile place-to-county land-area weights. FEMA does not endorse this presentation. Higher physical resilience means lower exposure.

These are deaths, not offences. AreaProfile does not publish reported crime, and this is not a substitute for it — it says nothing about burglary, theft or assault.

Schenectady County records 2.4 homicide deaths per 100,000 residents a year, near the middle of counties measured. The CDC does not publish this below county level.

Firearm deaths of all intents run at 6.3 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 18.1 per 100,000 residents in Schenectady County.

Homicide
2.4
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Firearm deaths, all intents
6.3
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Drug overdose
18.1
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Suicide
11.3
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths

Firearm deaths count every intent together, and nationally the majority are suicides rather than homicides. The two columns overlap and should not be added.

Age-adjusted rates from provisional death certificate records, published by the CDC for Schenectady County as a whole — these rates are not published below county level. A county can hold both a dense city centre and a suburb whose experience of it is nothing alike, so this describes the county around Schenectady rather than Schenectady itself. That is why AreaProfile shows these figures and does not put them in the Area Score. Where fewer than ten deaths were recorded the count is suppressed at source, and a rate built on single figures moves sharply between releases. What this measure has that reported crime does not: a death certificate is filed whether or not the local police agency submitted a return that year, so the figures stay comparable between places and over time.

What this profile does not cover

Three things people look for are missing from every AreaProfile page, and each is missing for a reason rather than by oversight. The Area Score is calculated without them and the weighting is documented on the methodology page.

Reported crime
Offences reported to police are published by department rather than by town, and only where a department reported every month of the year. No municipal department reports for this place — many smaller communities are policed by the county — so there is no figure to show. A partial year is never scaled up to look complete, and arrest counts or news volume are never substituted for it.
Taxes and full cost of living
No public source publishes either with national coverage and a method open enough to check. Housing affordability above is computed from published rent, price and income, and excludes transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes — commuting cost in particular tends to offset suburban housing savings. Nothing here is individualised tax advice.
Anything about a specific address
Every figure describes an area, not a street or a house. School attendance zones, insurance pricing and the character of a neighbourhood all vary within the places measured here.

Access

5 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest 7 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Albany IntlALB7 mi8,500 ft
Westfield-Barnes RgnlBAF76 mi9,000 ft
Griffiss IntlRME80 mi11,820 ft

Airport identity, position and runway data come from the FAA. “Major airport” is an AreaProfile classification — a public-use civil airport with a paved runway of at least 8,000 feet — not an FAA hub designation. Distances are straight-line, not driving distance.

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Area Score
57
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Other cities in Albany-Schenectady-Troy, NY

Same metropolitan area, measured the same way
CityCountyPopulationArea ScoreCompare
AlbanyAlbany County100,49261vs Schenectady
TroyRensselaer County51,03355vs Schenectady
Saratoga SpringsSaratoga County28,63175vs Schenectady
RotterdamSchenectady County22,695vs Schenectady
NiskayunaSchenectady County21,227vs Schenectady
CohoesAlbany County18,15963vs Schenectady
LathamAlbany County13,802vs Schenectady
East GlenvilleSchenectady County11,914vs Schenectady
RoesslevilleAlbany County10,968vs Schenectady
LoudonvilleAlbany County10,527vs Schenectady
WatervlietAlbany County10,28759vs Schenectady

Every city here is measured on the same scale from the same source releases, so the comparison is like for like. A higher Area Score reflects AreaProfile’s standardized weighting rather than a judgment about which is the better place to live.

Data & methodology

Used forSourceSource periodUpdated
AccessFederal Aviation Administration
Airports (NASR) — Aeronautical Data Delivery Service
NASR current cycle28-day NASR cycle
Physical riskFederal Emergency Management Agency
National Risk Index
National Risk Index December 2025 (v1.20.0)Periodic dataset versions (v1.20.0 current)
ClimateNOAA National Centers for Environmental Information
U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020 (Monthly)
1991-2020 NormalsEvery ten years (next release follows the 2001–2030 period)
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Local Area Unemployment Statistics
June 2026Monthly
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics
2025 OEWSAnnual (spring release)
DemographicsU.S. Census Bureau
Population Estimates Program
July 1, 2024 estimateAnnual (vintage released each spring)
DevelopmentU.S. Census Bureau
Building Permits Survey
12 months ending July 2026Monthly, roughly three weeks after the reference month
Demographics, Housing, Income, JobsU.S. Census Bureau
American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (Table-Based Summary File)
2024 ACS 5-YearAnnual (5-year estimates released each December)
safetyU.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics
Provisional county-level mortality by intent
April, 2025 to March, 2026Quarterly, with a rolling twelve-month window alongside complete calendar years
schoolsU.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics
Common Core of Data and EDFacts assessments
2019-20 school year; 2024-25 school yearDirectory annually; assessment results as EDFacts releases them

Profile recalculated August 30, 2026. Recalculation is not the same as new source data — each figure above shows the period its source actually covers. Read the full methodology or browse every source.

ZIP codes in Schenectady

4 published ZIP profiles
ZIPPopulationMedian household incomeArea Score
1230422,403$69,23560
1230815,511$63,43459
123057,356$53,32659
123077,050$24,75849