Albanyruns on a handful of strong industries. If you’re job-hunting or weighing a move, here’s where the opportunities (and the big-name employers) are.
Top industries & employers
State government
Executive Chamber, the Legislature, the Department of Health, Taxation and Finance, DOT, SUNY System Administration, the Court of Appeals
New York State is by a wide margin the region's largest employer, and the whole apparatus of a state of 19 million people sits here — agencies, the courts, the lobbying and law firms that orbit them. It makes Albany's labour market unusually counter-cyclical: the Plaza does not lay off in a downturn.
Semiconductors & nanotechnology
Albany NanoTech Complex (IBM, ASML, Applied Materials, Tokyo Electron, Lam Research, Samsung), GlobalFoundries Fab 8 at Malta
The NanoTech Complex is 1.65 million square feet across six buildings, with 300mm wafer cleanrooms and the world's first EUV Alpha Demo Tool from ASML. Thirty minutes north, GlobalFoundries runs the most advanced fab of its kind in the United States. This is the reason 'Tech Valley' is not purely a slogan.
Healthcare & life sciences
Albany Medical Center, St. Peter's Health Partners, Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, Regeneron (Rensselaer)
Albany Med is the region's academic medical centre, its medical school and its only level I trauma centre, so tertiary care does not mean a drive to New York City. Regeneron's manufacturing campus across the river in Rensselaer has grown into one of the largest biologics sites in the country.
Higher education
University at Albany (SUNY), Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (Troy), Union College (Schenectady), SUNY Poly, Albany Law School, Siena College
Six substantial institutions sit within half an hour of each other, which is why the region has an engineering and research labour pool out of proportion to its size. RPI in Troy is the oldest technological university in the English-speaking world.
Insurance, banking & professional services
MVP Health Care, CDPHP, KeyBank's regional operations, Marshall & Sterling, a large public-sector consulting and law sector
Two of the region's health insurers are headquartered here, and a government capital sustains a professional services sector — accounting, lobbying, public law, policy consulting — well beyond what the population would predict.
Logistics & the Hudson corridor
Port of Albany-Rensselaer, Albany International Airport, Amtrak Albany-Rensselaer, CSX
The Port of Albany is the head of navigation on the Hudson for ocean-going vessels and has taken on offshore wind component manufacturing. Albany-Rensselaer is one of the busiest Amtrak stations in the country, which is what makes a New York City day trip a genuine option rather than a theory.
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