Albany Metro Inter-County Commuting Surpasses Pre-COVID level
The Albany-Schenectady-Troy metropolitan statistical area (MSA) last year saw its number of inter-county commuters surpass pre-pandemic levels as the ranks of Saratoga County residents working from home decreased and those working in other counties increased, according to a Center for Economic Growth analysis of new one-year estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey.
Compared to upstate New York’s 11 other metro areas, the five-county Albany-Schenectady-Troy MSA heavily relies on inter-county commuting. More than a third of the metro’s resident workers 16 years and older (36.1 percent) work in counties other than the ones in which they live. That is the second highest inter-county commuting rate among the upstate metros, following the two-county Glens Falls MSA at 37.3 percent. These statistics do not include residents in counties outside the MSAs who commute into them.
In 2024, an estimated 166,871 workers in the Albany-Schenectady-Troy MSA worked outside their county of residence – up 11,196 from the previous year. That pushed the Albany-Schenectady-Troy MSA above its pre-COVID (2019) inter-county commuting level by 896. Saratoga County accounted for 54,034 of the area’s inter-county commuters in 2024 (32.2 percent) – more than any other county in the MSA.
Between 2023 and 2024, the number of Saratoga County residents working in another county increased by 6,857 while the number of county residents working from home decreased by -3,701. In contrast, the number of Albany, Rensselaer, and Schenectady County residents working from home increased slightly during the same period. Among those counties, only Schenectady County had surpassed its pre-pandemic level of inter-county commuters, as of 2024.
CEG Initiatives
To better familiarize young professionals with the employment and cultural opportunities in various Capital Region counties, CEG in 2022 launched its Summer Internship Engagement Program. In 2025, the program included five events: Intern Night at the ValleyCats, a street tour of Albany’s historic crimes, a kayaking and paddleboarding adventure in Saratoga Springs, a meetup the Jahnel Group headquarters in downtown Schenectady, and a headshot happy hour at Launchbox‘s flexible warehouse space in Colonie.
The 2025 Summer Internship Engagement Program ended on July 28. This cohort included 142 unique interns who attended the events, up 9 percent from the previous year. Those interns came from 20 Capital Region companies, compared to 13 in summer 2024. About 40 percent of the interns came from outside the Capital Region or outside the state or country. The 2025 CEG Summer Internship Engagement Program’s supporting sponsors were Goldman Sachs Ayco, Northeast Shared Services, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, and Turner Construction. Monaco Cooper Lamme & Carr, PLLC was a contributing sponsor.
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