Ulster County, New York

Ulster County is a county in New York, United States, about 90 miles north of New York City on
the west side of the Hudson River. It had a population of 181,851 at the 2020 census, an
estimated 183,330 by 2025, and covers 1,124 square miles (2,910 km2) centred near 41°53′N 74°16′W.

Kingston is the county seat and the county’s only city; its postal code is 12401. The
county holds 20 towns, 3 incorporated villages and dozens of smaller hamlets across its towns,
and it runs on Eastern Time. Its FIPS code is 36111.

Towns & Villages in Ulster County

Ulster County has one city, three incorporated villages nested inside their own towns, and a
handful of unincorporated hamlets large enough to carry their own ZIP code and census count.
CDP stands for census designated place, an unincorporated community the Census Bureau tracks as
if it were a town but which has no local government of its own.

Two name pairs on this page confuse newcomers. The City of Kingston, the county seat with
24,018 residents, is a separate government from the Town of Kingston, a rural district of 933
people a few miles to its north — the two share a name but not a border with each other’s
downtown. Likewise the Town of Ulster, home to Lake Katrine, is one of twenty towns inside
Ulster County and not a stand-in name for the county itself.

Towns

New York calls its county subdivisions towns rather than townships, but they do the same job
— each runs its own local government and can contain one or more villages or hamlets. All
twenty are listed below, sorted by population, with each town’s best-known settlements.

Beyond these places, the old town-by-town settlement rolls for Ulster County also carry
several dozen smaller hamlets, rural crossroads and manufactured-home communities —
places like Cherrytown, Krumville and Samsonville — that have no ZIP code or population
count of their own; mail there is delivered under the nearest post office town.

ZIP Codes

• 12401 — Kingston (the county seat and largest ZIP)
• 12561 — New Paltz
• 12477 — Saugerties
• 12428 — Ellenville
• 12528 — Highland
• 12466 — Port Ewen
• 12449 — Lake Katrine
• 12446 — Kerhonkson (also serves parts of Wawarsing and Olive)
• 12484 — Stone Ridge
• 12464 — Phoenicia

Hardenburgh has no ZIP code of its own; its northern half is served by Arkville in Delaware
County and its southern half by Lew Beach in Sullivan County, since Dry Brook Ridge splits mail
delivery across the county line.

Geography

Ulster County sits in the mid-Hudson Valley, straddling two distinct landscapes: flat river
terrace along the Hudson to the east and the rugged Catskill Mountains, including Slide
Mountain at 4,180 feet, the tallest peak in the range, across its western half. Of the county’s
1,124 square miles of land, 37 square miles are water, most of it the Hudson River itself and
the Ashokan Reservoir, a New York City water-supply reservoir built in 1917 that submerged parts
of the towns of Olive and Hurley. The Shawangunk Ridge, a quartz-conglomerate escarpment
popular with rock climbers, runs along the county’s southern edge through Minnewaska State
Park and Sam’s Point Preserve.

Greene County lies to the north, Columbia County to the northeast across the Hudson, Dutchess
County to the east across the Hudson, Orange County to the south, Sullivan County to the west,
and Delaware County to the northwest. Greene
County, Columbia County, Dutchess County, Orange County, Sullivan County and Delaware County all border
Ulster directly.

Demographics

Ulster County had a population of 181,851 at the 2020 census, and the latest estimate puts the
county near 183,330 residents. The Town of Saugerties and the Town of New Paltz are the two
most populous towns, followed by the City of Kingston itself. New York’s statewide median
household income was $82,095 in the 2023 ACS. Population density works out to roughly 163
people per square mile of land, concentrated along the Hudson River corridor and thinning out
sharply toward the mostly empty Catskill towns of Denning and Hardenburgh.

Economy & Local Life

Healthcare, higher education, tourism and agriculture anchor the county’s economy.
HealthAlliance Hospital, part of the WMCHealth network, is Kingston’s major hospital
employer. SUNY New Paltz and SUNY Ulster, a community college campus in Stone Ridge, are among
the county’s largest institutional employers. The Hudson Valley’s fruit belt runs
through the towns of Marlborough, Plattekill and Lloyd, where apple and stone-fruit orchards
have operated for generations. Saugerties hosts HITS-on-the-Hudson, a 200-acre, ten-ring
Olympic-standard horse show venue that opened in 2003 and draws competitors from across the
country each spring and summer. Woodstock, despite never hosting the 1969 festival that carries
its name, remains a year-round arts destination built around the Byrdcliffe Colony, one of the
country’s oldest Arts and Crafts communities, founded in 1902.

History

New York’s colonial government organized Ulster County on 1 November 1683, one of the
state’s original twelve counties, and named it for the Irish province held by the earldom
of James, Duke of York. French Huguenot refugees founded New Paltz in 1678, five years before
the county itself existed, and their stone houses on Huguenot Street survive as one of the
oldest intact streets in the United States. Kingston served as New York’s first state
capital starting in 1777, until British troops burned the city on 16 October 1777 following the
Battles of Saratoga; the state government relaunched briefly in nearby Marbletown before Albany
became the permanent capital in 1797. Rosendale’s natural cement industry, mined starting
in 1825, supplied material for the Brooklyn Bridge, the Statue of Liberty pedestal and the U.S.
Capitol.

Getting There

Interstate 87, the New York State Thruway, crosses the county north to south with exits at
New Paltz, Kingston and Saugerties. US Route 9W runs along the Hudson through Highland, Milton
and Saugerties; US Route 209 crosses the western towns through Kerhonkson and Ellenville; and NY
Route 28 runs deep into the Catskills through Phoenicia and Big Indian.

• Poughkeepsie — about 10 miles east, across the Hudson
• Newburgh — about 15 miles south
• Albany — about 50 miles north
• New York City — about 90 miles south

Stewart International Airport, in New Windsor about 25 miles south of Kingston, is the
nearest commercial airport. Amtrak’s Rhinecliff-Kingston station, across the Hudson in
Dutchess County and reachable via the Kingston-Rhinecliff Bridge, serves the county on the
Empire Service and Maple Leaf lines.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where is Ulster County located?
It sits in New York’s mid-Hudson Valley, about 90 miles north of New York City, bordered by
Greene, Columbia, Dutchess, Orange, Sullivan and Delaware counties.

What is the population of Ulster County?
181,851 at the 2020 census, with a 2025 estimate near 183,330.

How big is Ulster County?
1,124 square miles (2,910 km2) of land, plus 37 square miles of water.

What is the county seat of Ulster County?
Kingston, the county’s only city and New York’s first state capital in 1777, is the
county seat.

How many towns and villages are in Ulster County?
Twenty towns and three incorporated villages — New Paltz, Ellenville and Saugerties —
each nested inside its own town.

What ZIP codes does Ulster County use?
12401 for Kingston, 12561 for New Paltz, 12477 for Saugerties, 12428 for Ellenville, plus
separate codes for Highland, Port Ewen, Lake Katrine, Kerhonkson, Stone Ridge and Phoenicia.

What is Ulster County known for?
The Catskill Mountains and Minnewaska State Park, the Huguenot Street historic district in New
Paltz, and Woodstock’s arts colony heritage.

More counties in this state: Towns and villages in New York.