Capital District or Capital Region: What's the difference?

Do you use Capital District or Capital Region? Is there a difference? Does it matter?

We put that burning question to our readers, and here’s what they told us:

The majority of folks (69.5%) don’t see much difference between the two names. They often use the terms interchangeably.

But history tells us there IS a difference. According to Wikipedia, the earliest known reference to the name "Capital District" stems from a Capital Police District that was created in the Albany area in the late 1860s. By the turn of the century, the name was widely used by local groups and government.

The name “Capital Region” was a later variant. Many people believe the Times Union invented this phrase, but more likely, the newspaper popularized it by using it regularly in their pages.

The history of “Capital District” vs. “Capital Region” seems to have vanished with time. The majority of people now use them to mean the same thing.

Nonetheless, there are folks that beg to differ. Here’s what some of our readers told us:

• “The Capital District includes Albany, Schenectady and Troy, while the Capital Region has a much broader geographical reach."

• “Capital District is Albany, Schenectady, Troy. Capital Region includes Saratoga.”

• “The region encompasses a larger geographic area, spanning as far as you see fit 😉”

• “The district is the area of about 30ish mins around the Albany area. And the region is beyond that including Glens Falls and Amsterdam.”

• “Capital District is Albany, Troy, and Schenectady…..I think of the Capital Region as the areas surrounding and/or in between the Capital District cities!”

• “My impression from natives (I’m a transplant here) is the CD is the tri-cities of Alb, Troy, Schny."

Jesse Sommer of New Scotland Spirits gave us the most comprehensive response:

"Technically, they're the same. The term "Capital Region" was an invention of the Times Union in order to replace the term "Capital District" which no longer referenced the original police district. HOWEVER, I use them differently. The "Capital Region" consists of 11 counties, to wit: CENTRAL (1) Albany, (2) Schenectady, (3) Renssealaer NORTH (4) Saratoga, (5) Warren, (6) Washington SOUTH (7) Greene, (8) Columbia WEST (9) Schoharie, (10) Montgomery, (11) Fulton On the other hand, the "Capital District" to me is much closer to home... the "Albany-Schenectady-Troy" tri-city area including Watervliet, Cohoes... principally just the three central counties."

Whatever name you use, we call it home 🫶