Review of Albany, Oregon


Fantastic up and coming town!
Star Rating - 3/10/2019
I've lived in Oregon for almost 3 years and my family of four just bought a house in Albany 9 months ago. I love how close Albany is to the I5, and lots of locally owned stores, as well as plenty of grocery stores (and a Costco). The farmers market is awesome and one of our fave places to go on weekends during the summer! Albany has TWO libraries (one a Carnegie library, the other a very new, modern library) that offer multiple family friendly events. Albany has an awesome mall with a small free indoor play area, as well as an indoor bounce house place that my kids love. Our Walmart is big, clean and has new EV charging stations available. Albany has some great locally owned restaurants with fantastic gluten free menus (if you need that). The community of Albany bands together when the going gets tough and it's awesome to see. Yes there are transients and drug users, but you find that in every town, it just may be more noticeable in a small town like Albany compared to a larger city. There are tons of community centered events and many ways to volunteer or get involved with civic duties if you're interested. The police department is growing and on top of things, as is the fire department. Albany could use a little beautification, but it has a heart of gold!!!
Jennifer | Albany, OR
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"could use a little beautification" what an understatement. This is such a run down dirty city with a lack of good restaurants and clean cut neighborhoods. Even the Costco parking lot is not what a normal good looking Costco parking lot looks like. Millersburg is the only neighborhood in the whole area that looks like what a neighborhood is supposed to look like; but get ready to pay out the wazoo for a home. The place lacks playgrounds and the ones it does have are pathetic and you wouldn't feel safe going to them anyway. Also, not a single splash pad to be had in 20 mile radius. Education is not even an afterthought priority to the government here as evidenced by the low school ratings, 3rd highest drop out rate in the nation, and the fact that around 20% of the people in Linn County are on some sort of government assistance such as food stamps (that's about double to normal communities). Also the number of Mfg homes/mobile homes per 1000 people in the county are 4x higher than average probably due to the completely un-affordable housing market and a culture that does not take pride in how their communities look. Not a good place to raise a family. After spending almost a year here, I'm taking my family of 6 somewhere else. I don't say this to be mean, I'm just trying to warn others before they decide to move to Albany and surrounding area and let my voice be heard so that hopefully the community addresses this with their civic leaders to finally do something about it.
Scott | Lebanon, OR | Report Abuse
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