Clinton County, New York

Clinton County is a county in New York, United States, on the shore of Lake Champlain along the Canadian border. It had a population of 79,843 at the 2020 census and covers 1,117.53 square miles (2,894.4 km2), of which 1,037.85 square miles are land and 79.67 square miles are water, centred near 44°44′N 73°41′W.

Plattsburgh is the county seat, and its postal code is 12901. The county has 1 city, 14 towns, 3 incorporated villages, and a scatter of unincorporated hamlets and census-designated places, all in the Eastern time zone.

Towns & Villages in Clinton County

Clinton County is organized into 14 towns, one city (Plattsburgh, which is independent of its surrounding town of the same name), 3 villages, and numerous hamlets and CDPs that sit inside the towns. Villages and CDPs below are grouped by the town that contains them; a legend follows the table (CDP = census-designated place, an unincorporated community the Census Bureau tracks for statistics; Unincorp. = an unincorporated hamlet with no census or municipal boundary of its own).

The city of Plattsburgh and the town of Plattsburgh are two separate municipalities that share a name and a border; the city is fully independent of the town, a common arrangement in New York. Keeseville is an unincorporated hamlet (it dissolved its village charter in 2014) that straddles the Clinton–Essex county line, with most of its built-up area in the town of Ausable on the Clinton County side.

ZIP Codes

• 12901 — Plattsburgh (also serves the city’s downtown)
• 12903 — Plattsburgh (a second Plattsburgh-area code)
• 12910 — Altona
• 12912 — Au Sable Forks
• 12918 — Cadyville
• 12919 — Champlain
• 12921 — Chazy
• 12923 — Churubusco
• 12924 — Keeseville (PO Box only)
• 12929 — Dannemora
• 12933 — Ellenburg
• 12934 — Ellenburg Center
• 12935 — Ellenburg Depot
• 12944 — Keeseville
• 12952 — Lyon Mountain
• 12955 — Lyon Mountain (a second Lyon Mountain code)
• 12958 — Mooers
• 12959 — Mooers Forks
• 12962 — Morrisonville
• 12972 — Peru
• 12978 — Redford
• 12979 — Rouses Point
• 12981 — Saranac
• 12985 — Schuyler Falls
• 12992 — West Chazy

Smaller hamlets such as Cumberland Head, Valcour, Plattsburgh West and South Plattsburgh do not carry their own ZIP code and are served by the Plattsburgh post office.

Geography

Clinton County sits in New York’s far northeastern corner, with the Adirondack foothills rising in its western towns and a flat, farmed lowland along Lake Champlain to the east. The Saranac River and the Ausable River both cross the county on their way to the lake, and Lyon Mountain, at 3,830 feet, is the county’s high point. Water covers roughly 7% of the county’s total area, most of it Lake Champlain itself.

Clinton County borders the Canadian province of Quebec directly to the north; Essex County to the south; Franklin County to the west; and, across Lake Champlain to the east, Vermont’s Grand Isle and Chittenden counties.

Demographics

Clinton County’s population was 79,843 at the 2020 census. Plattsburgh, the county seat, and the town of Peru are the two largest communities in the county. Median household income in the county runs below the New York median of $82,095, reflecting the region’s rural, manufacturing- and public-sector-driven economy. Population density works out to roughly 77 people per square mile of land.

Economy & Local Life

Clinton County’s economy centers on Plattsburgh, home to SUNY Plattsburgh and Clinton Community College, plus health care, government and light manufacturing. The Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora, one of New York’s oldest and largest maximum-security prisons, is a major employer for the village and surrounding towns. The county’s western towns remain agricultural, with dairy farming a mainstay, while Lake Champlain’s shoreline draws summer boating and tourism traffic.

History

Clinton County was organized in 1788, carved from a larger Washington County jurisdiction in New York’s northern frontier, and is named for George Clinton, New York’s first governor and later U.S. vice president. The county’s location on Lake Champlain and near the Canadian border made it a strategic corridor in the War of 1812; the naval Battle of Plattsburgh in September 1814 was fought on the lake just off the city, and the victory helped end British invasion plans from the north.

Getting There

Interstate 87 (the Adirondack Northway) runs the length of the county north–south, connecting Plattsburgh to Albany and to the Canadian border crossing at Champlain. U.S. Route 9 parallels it along the lake shore.

• Plattsburgh — the county seat, on I-87
• Champlain — about 20 miles north of Plattsburgh, on the Quebec border
• Rouses Point — about 22 miles north of Plattsburgh, on Lake Champlain
• Ausable Forks — about 20 miles southwest of Plattsburgh, toward the Adirondacks

Plattsburgh International Airport serves the county directly with limited commercial service; Burlington International Airport, across Lake Champlain in Vermont, is the region’s larger commercial hub.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where is Clinton County, New York?
It sits in New York’s far northeastern corner, on the western shore of Lake Champlain, directly on the border with Quebec, Canada.

What is the population of Clinton County?
79,843, according to the 2020 census.

How big is Clinton County?
1,117.53 square miles (2,894.4 km2) in total, of which 1,037.85 square miles is land.

What is the county seat of Clinton County?
Plattsburgh is the county seat.

How many towns and villages are in Clinton County?
The county has 1 city, 14 towns and 3 incorporated villages (Champlain, Dannemora and Rouses Point), plus numerous unincorporated hamlets.

What ZIP codes are in Clinton County?
ZIP codes range across the county from 12901 (Plattsburgh) to 12992 (West Chazy); see the ZIP Codes section above for the full list.

Why is Clinton County on the Canadian border significant?
The Champlain border crossing on I-87 is one of the busiest port-of-entry crossings between New York and Quebec, and the county’s proximity to Montreal shapes much of its cross-border trade and tourism.

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