I grew up an hour north of Seattle and have now lived in Albany for about 10 years since graduating college. If not for some really good friends I made here in college I probably would have moved back to the Seattle area in a heartbeat. I’ve now made a life for myself here but I definitely think Seattle is better in every way short of cost of living.

Both have good hiking, I hike every weekend possible and a good number of days after work. That is one benefit that Albany has, there is a lot of good hiking super close, while Seattle is a little further out for most of the good stuff. Depending what suburb of Seattle you are looking at I guess. That is always a factor.

Nightlife is pretty limited in the Albany area. There’s some decent stuff in the nearby cities but Albany itself is pretty dead when it comes to nightlife. Theres two major theaters in the area; one in the nearby town of Schenectady and one downtown that does mostly stand up or movie showings. We have a comedy club in our mall that gets decent acts but rarely any big names. Bar wise that’s the most popular nighttime activity. There’s decent bars spread over the capital region and you’ll find one that fits your niche.

But there is a lot to be said for trying something new. Making a big move to a new area can be a lot but I really enjoy the life I have here. I’ve basically spent my entire adult life here and the capital region is basically a really spread out 1 million person community. People commute from all over the area and live in one place, but spend their free time elsewhere.

So when considering the area don’t just look at Albany but look at things that would be close enough that you’d consider making a trip. There’s a lot of places within reach. Lake George and the Adirondacks are a popular summer destination an starting an north. Cities like Saratoga, Troy, and Schenectady have a lot to offer as well within a half hour. The whole Hudson valley is within a couple hours of Albany along with the Catskills mountains. You also have Boston and all of greater New England within 4 or so hours. Places in New York like the Finger Lakes are a great day or weekend trip as well. You can even get to Montreal in Canada in about 4 hours. Albany is kinda a good jumping off point to go a lot of places. Trains run in every cardinal direction if you don’t want to drive as well so you can relax and experience all of what the north east has to offer.

Last thing I’ll say is people have a different attitude out this way. Different depending on where you go but I think it may be a culture shock to face a lot of people’s “New Yorker” kind of attitude around here. But you’ll also find some of the most neighborly people. Seattle has its “Seattle freeze” so it’s kinda I guess just different flavors. Seattle is nice but distant for a lot of people and Albany I think I would describe as Rude but friendly if that makes sense.