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This is a list of notable people whose lives were significantly associated with Albany County, New York.

Chronological list

18th century

Peter Van Brugh Livingston (1710–1792), born in Albany; politician who supported the American Revolution; presiding officer of the first New York provincial congress in 1775^[1]
Philip Livingston (1716–1778), born in Albany; local merchant; delegate to the Continental Congress; signer of the Declaration of Independence^[1]
William Livingston (1723–1790), born in Albany; newspaper publisher; member of the Continental Congress; first Governor of New Jersey^[1]
Henry Bogart (1729–1821), signer of the Sons of Liberty Constitution in 1766; elected representative of the first ward on the Albany Committee of Correspondence
Abraham Cuyler (1742–1810), born in Albany; former mayor of Albany, merchant, land owner and British loyalist
John Tayler (1742–1829), businessman and politician; represented Albany County in the New York State Assembly (1777–1779, 1780–1781, and 1785–1787); appointed City Recorder (Deputy Mayor) of Albany in 1793; justice of the Court of Common Pleas in 1797; represented Albany in the New York Senate 1802–1813; Lieutenant Governor (1811-1822); Acting Governor in 1817; died in Albany and is buried in Albany Rural Cemetery in Menands
Peter W. Yates (1747–1826), lawyer and Continental Congressman; grew up in Albany and developed a prosperous legal practice there; served on the Albany City Council and in the county militia at the start of the American Revolution; represented Albany in the New York State Assembly and the Continental Congress
Peter Gansevoort (1749–1812); colonel in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War; born and died in Albany^[1]
Isaac Mitchell (1759–1812), born in Albany; journalist, author, and editor of the Poughkeepsie Guardian, Albany Republican Crisis, and Poughkeepsie Republican Herald^[1]
Alexander Boyd (1764–1857), U.S. Congressman; born in Albany^[1]
James Cochran (1769–1848), U.S. Congressman from New York; journalist; born in Albany^[1]
Jacob Cuyler (1773–1854), born in Albany; British officer involved in the settlement of the 1820 Settlers to the Eastern Cape, South Africa
Harmanus Bleecker (1779–1849), U.S. Congressman; born in Albany^[1]
Herman Knickerbocker (1779–1855), U.S. Congressman; born in Albany^[1]
John Duer (1782–1858), born in Albany; jurist; author; chief judge of New York Superior Court^[1]
Harmanus Peek (1782–1838), born in Albany; U.S. Congressman from New York^[1]
Gerrit Y. Lansing (1783–1862), born in Albany; U.S. Congressman; bank and insurance company president^[1]
John K. Kane (1795–1858), born in Albany; politician, attorney, and jurist^[1]
Joseph Henry (1797–1878), born in Albany; inventor of low- and high-resistance galvanometers; first secretary of the Smithsonian Institution^[1]
Robert Sanders (1705–1765), mayor of Albany from 1750 to 1754^[2]

19th century

James Montgomery Bailey (1841–1894), journalist and author; founder of newspapers Danbury News and Danbury Evening News; native of Albany^[1]
William Bliss Baker (1856–1886), landscape artist in the Realism movement
William Barnes Sr., attorney and Republican Party organizer^[3]
Herman Bendell (1843–1932), physician; Civil War surgeon; Superintendent of Indian Affairs Arizona Territory; American Consul Elsinore, Denmark; native of Albany
James H. Blessing (1837–1910), mayor of Albany from 1900 to 1901^[4]
William Henry Bogart (1810–1888), member of the New York Legislature; author^[1]
Joseph Bradford Carr (1828–1895), born in Albany; Union Army general; Secretary of State of New York^[1]
Robert Carter (1819–1879), born in Albany; author and editor; involved in the foundation of the Republican Party^[1]
Nanette Comstock (1866–1942), born in Albany, stage actress^[5]
Roscoe Conkling (1829–1888), United States Congressman and United States Senator from New York; born in Albany^[1]
William Jermyn Florence (1831–1891), born in Albany; actor; comedian; improvisationalist^[1]
Joseph R. Grismer (1849–1922), actor, playwright and theatrical producer; born in Albany^[6]
Abraham Oakey Hall (1826–1898), born in Albany; mayor of New York City; author^[1]
Learned Hand (1872–1961), United States judge and judicial philosopher
Henry James Sr. (1811–1882), born in Albany; Swedenborgian theologian; father of William James, Henry James, and Alice James^[1]
Lucy Stedman Lamson (1857–1926), businesswoman, educator
Daniel Manning (1831–1887), born in Albany; journalist and later United States Secretary of the Treasury^[1]
Homer Dodge Martin (1836–1897), born in Albany; painter whose talent was not recognized until his death^[1]
James Campbell Matthews (1844–1930), New York's first African-American law school graduate and judge of Albany's Recorder's Court^[7]
John McKeon (1808–1883), born in Albany; district attorney for New York County and Southern New York; US Congressman from New York^[1]
Henry B. Metcalfe (1805–1881), born in Albany; prosecuting attorney, judge, and US Congressman from New York^[1]
John Pitkin Norton (1822–1852), born in Albany; chemist and educator; helped found the Sheffield Scientific School^[1]
Emily Sullivan Oakey (1829–1883), born in Albany; educator, author, poet, hymnist^[8]
John Rathbone Oliver (1872–1943), born in Albany; psychiatrist, medical historian, author, and priest
Annie L. Y. Orff (1861–1914), journalist; magazine editor and publisher
William Page (1811–1885), born in Albany; considered the leading American painter of his time^[1]
Rufus Wheeler Peckham (1809–1873), lawyer, judge, and U.S. congressman; born in Rensselaerville; the county's district attorney, 1838–1841; served on the New York Supreme Court, Third Judicial District (1861–1869) seated in Albany, then on the New York Court of Appeals (1870–1873); was lost at sea; his cenotaph is in Albany Rural Cemetery in Menands
Rufus Wheeler Peckham (1838–1909), New York state court judge and U.S. Supreme Court justice; son of Rufus Wheeler Peckham (1809–1873)
Wheeler Hazard Peckham (1833–1905), lawyer and defeated nominee to the U.S. Supreme Court; son of Rufus Wheeler Peckham (1809-1873)
Cy Seymour (1872–1919), native of Albany, major league baseball player^[9]
Theobald Smith (1859–1934), born in Albany; epidemiologist, bacteriologist, pathologist and professor
Gilbert R. Spalding (1812–1880), showman and circus owner
Frances E. Townsley (1850–1909), Baptist minister
Luther Tucker (1802–1873), Publisher of The Cultivator and Country Gentleman
Oren Elbridge Wilson (1844–1917), mayor of Albany from 1894 to 1895^[10]
Alice Ames Winter (1865–1944), litterateur, author and clubwoman

20th century

Philip Amelio (1977–2005), actor and teacher; graduated from the University at Albany and received a master's degree in education from The College of Saint Rose in Albany
Norman C. Armitage (1907, as Norman Cudworth Cohn–1972), Olympic medalist saber fencer
Rita Chatterton (b.1957), professional wrestling referee^[11]
William Barnes Jr. (1866–1930), Newspaper publisher and Republican Party leader^[12]
Talor Battle (b.1988), basketball player who is currently an assistant coach for Northwestern Wildcats
Ann Curless (b. 1963), Exposé singer
Edmund L. Daley (1883–1968), U.S. Army major general^[13]
Kirsten Gillibrand (b. 1966), current U.S. Senator from New York since 2009; born in Albany
Kevin Huerter (b.1998), National Basketball Association (NBA) player for the Sacramento Kings
Thomas D. Kinley (b. 1945), US Army major general^[14]^[15]
Mary Mellish (1890–1955), soprano at the Metropolitan Opera; born and died in Albany^[16]
Howard C. Nolan Jr. (1932–2023), former member of the New York State Senate
Martha Quinn (b. 1959), an original video jockey on MTV
Emanuel Rackman (1910–2008), born in Albany, Modern Orthodox rabbi; President of Bar-Ilan University
Andy Rooney (1919–2011), radio and television writer; 60 Minutes
Shoenice, (b. 1969 as Christopher Schewe), American YouTuber and competitive eater
Israel Tsvaygenbaum (b. 1961), Russian-American artist
Anthony Vinciquerra (b.1954), former CEO of Fox Networks and current CEO of Sony Pictures Entertainment, born in Albany.
William Kennedy (b. 1928), writer and journalist; wrote several books based in Albany, including Pulitzer Prize-winning Ironweed.