Essex County, New York

Essex County is a county in New York, United States, on Lake Champlain about 120 miles north of
Albany. It had a population of 37,381 at the 2020 census, an estimated 36,438 by 2025, and covers
1,794 square miles (4,646 km2) of land centred near 44°07′N 73°46′W.

Elizabethtown is the county seat, a hamlet in the town of the same name; its postal code is 12932.
The county holds 18 towns, 2 villages and dozens of smaller hamlets, and it runs on Eastern
Time. Its FIPS code is 36031.

Towns & Villages in Essex County

Essex County has 24 named places on record here: 2 incorporated villages, 1 census-designated
place and 21 hamlets with no municipal government of their own. Every place sits inside one of
the county’s 18 towns, which act as New York’s primary local-government subdivision and are
listed in full in the Townships section below. CDP stands for census designated place; Hamlet
covers a named settlement with no incorporated boundary.

Saranac Lake straddles a county and a town line at once. The village’s total population, 4,887,
covers land in the towns of North Elba and St. Armand in Essex County and Harrietstown in
neighbouring Franklin County — the figure above is the whole village, not the Essex-side
share alone. Keeseville is the same kind of split: its built-up area crosses into Clinton County,
so only part of the hamlet lies in Essex.

Townships

New York has no further civil-township layer beneath the county — the 18 towns listed
below are themselves the primary unit of local government, each with its own elected town board.

ZIP Codes

• 12932 — Elizabethtown (also serves New Russia)
• 12946 — Lake Placid
• 12983 — Saranac Lake
• 12883 — Ticonderoga
• 12974 — Port Henry (also serves Moriah hamlet)
• 12961 — Moriah Center
• 12956 — Mineville
• 12998 — Witherbee
• 12944 — Keeseville
• 12912 — Au Sable Forks
• 12987 — Upper Jay
• 12996 — Willsboro
• 12936 — Essex
• 12993 — Westport
• 12928 — Crown Point
• 12870 — Schroon Lake
• 12858 — Paradox
• 12857 — Olmstedville
• 12851 — Minerva
• 12852 — Newcomb
• 12855 — North Hudson
• 12997 — Wilmington and North Pole (Santa’s Workshop shares Wilmington’s code)
• 12942 — Keene
• 12943 — Keene Valley

Ray Brook, inside North Elba, uses ZIP 12977 for the state correctional facility and forest
ranger school there rather than sharing Lake Placid’s code.

Geography

Essex County sits in the eastern Adirondacks, and along with neighbouring Hamilton County it is
one of only two New York counties entirely inside the Adirondack Park. Of its 1,916 square miles,
1,794 are land and 122 are water, about 6.4 percent — driven mostly by Lake Champlain, which
forms the county’s entire eastern edge and the New York–Vermont border. Mount Marcy, the
state’s highest peak at 5,344 feet, rises in the town of Keene, and the Hudson River’s official
source, Lake Tear of the Clouds, lies on Mount Marcy’s shoulder inside the town of Newcomb.

Clinton County lies to the north, Franklin County to the west, Hamilton County to the
southwest, and Warren and Washington counties to the south. Across Lake Champlain to the east are
Chittenden County and Addison County, Vermont. Clinton County, Franklin County, Hamilton County, Warren County and Washington County all border
Essex directly.

Demographics

Essex County had a population of 37,381 at the 2020 census, and the latest estimate puts the
county near 36,438 residents, a slight decline typical of the rural Adirondacks. North Elba, home
to Lake Placid, is the largest town at 7,480 people, followed by Ticonderoga at 4,789. Median
household income runs $71,661 (2024), below New York’s statewide figure of $82,095 (2023 ACS).
Population density works out to roughly 20 people per square mile of land, among the lowest of
any New York county, reflecting the Adirondack Park’s development restrictions across most of the
county’s area.

Economy & Local Life

Health care and social assistance employs the most workers in the county, about 2,724 people,
followed by educational services at 1,881 and manufacturing at 1,621. Tourism drives much of the
rest of the economy: Lake Placid’s Olympic venues, Whiteface Mountain’s ski slopes in Wilmington,
and the High Peaks trailheads around Keene Valley bring year-round visitors. The Adirondack
Correctional Facility and the state forest ranger school both operate out of Ray Brook. Moriah’s
mining heritage, once centred on the iron operations at Port Henry and Witherbee, is now
preserved at the Iron Center Museum rather than active industry. The county’s biggest annual
event is Lake Placid’s Winter Carnival tradition and the ten-day Saranac Lake Winter Carnival each
February, one of the oldest winter festivals in the country.

History

The New York Legislature formed Essex County on 1 March 1799, separating it from Clinton
County. It takes its name from Essex, England. Essex village served as the original county seat
until 1807, when the seat moved to Elizabethtown, where it has remained since.

Abolitionist John Brown bought a farm in North Elba in 1849 and settled there with his family;
after his execution in Virginia in 1859 he was buried on the farm, now the John Brown Farm State
Historic Site. Iron mining shaped Moriah and the Port Henry area through the nineteenth century,
and Lake Placid hosted the Winter Olympics twice, in 1932 and 1980 — the 1980 Games produced
the US hockey team’s “Miracle on Ice” win over the Soviet Union.

Getting There

No interstate highway crosses Essex County; Interstate 87, the Adirondack Northway, runs
through neighbouring Clinton and Warren counties but touches only the county’s western edge near
North Hudson. US 9 and NY 9N run the length of the county, along with NY 3, NY 22, NY 28, NY 30
and NY 73.

• Plattsburgh — about 30 miles north
• Glens Falls — about 45 miles south
• Burlington, Vermont — about 20 miles east via the Lake Champlain ferries
• Saratoga Springs — about 70 miles south

Plattsburgh International Airport, roughly 35 miles north of Elizabethtown, is the nearest
commercial airport with scheduled service. Adirondack Regional Airport in Lake Clear (Franklin
County) and Ticonderoga Municipal Airport handle general aviation. Amtrak’s Adirondack train,
running between New York City and Montreal, stops at Westport, Port Henry and Ticonderoga, with a
seasonal stop at Port Kent.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where is Essex County located?
It sits in the eastern Adirondacks on Lake Champlain, bordered by Clinton, Franklin, Hamilton,
Warren and Washington counties, with Vermont across the lake.

What is the population of Essex County?
37,381 at the 2020 census, with a 2025 estimate near 36,438.

How big is Essex County?
1,916 square miles (4,960 km2) total, of which 1,794 square miles are land.

What is the county seat of Essex County?
Elizabethtown, the county seat since 1807, is a hamlet in the town of Elizabethtown.

How many towns and villages are in Essex County?
18 towns, which function as New York’s primary local-government unit, plus the villages of Lake
Placid and Saranac Lake (partial) and numerous hamlets including Elizabethtown, Ticonderoga,
Port Henry and Willsboro.

What ZIP codes does Essex County use?
12932 for Elizabethtown, 12946 for Lake Placid, 12983 for Saranac Lake, 12883 for Ticonderoga,
and a separate code for nearly every other hamlet — see the ZIP Codes section above.

What is Essex County known for?
Lake Placid’s two Winter Olympics, Mount Marcy and the High Peaks, and being one of only two New
York counties lying entirely inside the Adirondack Park.

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