The county economy from official statistics, with source and year on every table.
Click any dot to open that city: jobs, pay, rent, commute, county economy and climate. Dot size follows population; colours follow the state flag.
By AtiveSite · Published 07/11/2026 · Updated 07/11/2026 · Every figure is linked to its source below.
Ulster County is a county of New York with 182,601 residents. Its economy produced $10,454 million in 2024 (ranked #22 of 62 counties) and had 59,330 jobs with an average annual pay of $61,154 (#35 for pay). The unemployment rate was 3.8% in 2026M09. It is part of the Kingston, NY metropolitan area (central county).
Ulster County produced about $10,454 million of goods and services in 2024, which is 0.5% of the combined output of the 62 counties of New York that BEA reports (about 0.9% of the state's population lives here), and ranks it 22nd of 62 on that measure. Per resident that is $57,251, 51% below the state average; the average for all counties of the state taken together is $116,970. In current dollars output grew 7.6% from 2023 to 2024, before adjusting for inflation. The gap between its output rank (22nd) and its output-per-resident rank (39th) shows that population is large relative to the value of what is produced here.
BLS counts 59,330 jobs located in Ulster County on average in 2024, spread over 5,871 employer sites (about 10 jobs per site). That is 0.32 jobs for every resident, below the 0.36 of the typical county in New York, which tells you whether the county is a place people mostly commute to for work or a place they commute from. The average annual pay per job was $61,154, 35% below the average of all counties in the state ($61,154 against $94,394). Average pay is total wages divided by jobs, so it is pulled up by high earners and counts part-time jobs as whole jobs; it is not the pay of a typical worker. The number of jobs rose 1.8% from 2023 to 2024.
The three largest private industries are health care and social assistance (19.4% of private jobs, $62,001 a year on average), retail trade (18.9% of private jobs, $40,729 a year on average), accommodation and food services (18.3% of private jobs, $33,622 a year on average). Together they hold 56.7% of private-sector jobs. Among industries with at least 3% of jobs, the best paying is professional and technical services at $77,220 a year, followed by construction ($73,547). The county is specialised in several industries: agriculture, forestry, fishing (2.1 times the US share, 1,034 jobs); accommodation and food services (1.4 times the US share, 7,822 jobs). A location quotient above 1 means an industry employs a larger share of workers here than in the whole country, so these are the industries where local employers compete hardest for skills. Several of the biggest employers pay well below the county average: retail trade ($40,729), accommodation and food services ($33,622), other services (except public administration) ($38,878). Jobs there are plentiful but the pay is lower than the headline average suggests.
In 2026M09 the unemployment rate in Ulster County was 3.8%, 15% below the average of the state's counties (3.8% against 4.5%). The labour force (people working or looking for work) numbered 90,042. Over the last 12 months it ranged from 3.4% (2025M11) to 4.5% (2026M02); the latest month is preliminary and BLS revises it. These county rates are not seasonally adjusted, so compare the same month across years.
The median household income was $86,271 (ACS 2020–2024), about the same as the state median ($86,271 against $85,974). The guide covers 1 city with this as the main county: Kingston. Open any of them for rent, home values, commuting and climate.
Counties close to Ulster County in output are Schenectady County, Broome County, Oswego County, Ontario County. Compare their jobs, pay and unemployment on their own pages.
| Measure ⇅ | Value ⇅ | Rank among the 62 counties of New York ⇅ |
|---|---|---|
| Population | 182,601 | 20 of 62 |
| GDP 2024 | $10,454 million | 22 of 62 |
| GDP per resident | $57,251 | 39 of 62 |
| Jobs (QCEW 2024) | 59,330 | 20 of 62 |
| Average annual pay | $61,154 | 35 of 62 |
| Job change vs 2023 | +1.8% | 16 of 62 |
| Unemployment rate (lower is better) | 3.8% | 22 of 62 |
| Median household income | $86,271 | 12 of 62 |
Federal jobs in New York (1,186) →All cities of New YorkState guide: New York
These links go to official sources and open in a new window. The first one is the government's or company's own site as listed in Wikidata (property "official website"); check it before relying on it.
Cities of this guide whose main county is Ulster County.
| City ⇅ | Population ⇅ | Median household income ⇅ | Median rent ⇅ | Median home value ⇅ | Bachelor's+ ⇅ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kingston | 23,911 | $68,186 | $1,469 | $315,500 | 32.6% |
| Industry ⇅ | Jobs ⇅ | Share of private jobs ⇅ | Average annual pay ⇅ | Concentration vs US (location quotient) ⇅ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Health care and social assistance | 8,279 | 19.4% | $62,001 | 0.97 |
| Retail trade | 8,073 | 18.9% | $40,729 | 1.36 |
| Accommodation and food services | 7,822 | 18.3% | $33,622 | 1.45 |
| Manufacturing | 3,388 | 7.9% | $66,089 | 0.70 |
| Construction | 2,909 | 6.8% | $73,547 | 0.93 |
| Other services (except public administration) | 2,217 | 5.2% | $38,878 | 1.24 |
| Administrative and waste services | 2,132 | 5.0% | $61,821 | 0.61 |
| Professional and technical services | 1,652 | 3.9% | $77,220 | 0.40 |
| Finance and insurance | 1,265 | 3.0% | $86,068 | 0.53 |
| Agriculture, forestry, fishing | 1,034 | 2.4% | $43,355 | 2.15 |
| Information | 874 | 2.0% | $77,321 | 0.79 |
| Arts, entertainment, recreation | 859 | 2.0% | $37,574 | 0.86 |
| Educational services | 844 | 2.0% | $42,573 | 0.69 |
| Real estate and rental | 660 | 1.5% | $66,045 | 0.72 |
| Management of companies | 540 | 1.3% | $75,830 | 0.54 |
| Mining, oil and gas | 110 | 0.3% | $81,093 | 0.49 |
A location quotient above 1 means the industry is more concentrated here than in the US. BLS withholds sectors with too few employers.
| Measure ⇅ | Value ⇅ |
|---|---|
| Labour force | 90,042 |
| Employed residents | 86,577 |
| Unemployed residents | 3,465 |
| Unemployment rate | 3.8% |
| Jobs located in the county (QCEW) | 59,330 |
| Employer sites | 5,871 |
Residents employed and jobs located here differ: many residents commute to other counties.
| County ⇅ | Population ⇅ | GDP 2024 ⇅ | GDP per resident ⇅ | Jobs ⇅ | Average annual pay ⇅ | Unemployment ⇅ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kings County | 2,631,580 | $145,934 million | $55,455 | 923,681 | $59,980 | 5.3% |
| Queens County | 2,323,052 | $143,131 million | $61,613 | 770,653 | $67,719 | 4.7% |
| New York County | 1,629,477 | $1,006,673 million | $617,789 | 2,466,798 | $165,086 | 4.7% |
| Suffolk County | 1,530,146 | $139,014 million | $90,850 | 679,594 | $79,121 | 3.8% |
| Bronx County | 1,404,779 | $58,323 million | $41,518 | 332,669 | $70,650 | 7.0% |
| Nassau County | 1,389,591 | $130,222 million | $93,712 | 631,563 | $77,454 | 3.7% |
| Westchester County | 999,677 | $120,154 million | $120,193 | 429,582 | $94,317 | 3.8% |
| Erie County | 950,622 | $81,132 million | $85,346 | 466,138 | $66,971 | 4.2% |
| Monroe County | 753,753 | $65,111 million | $86,383 | 382,138 | $66,838 | 4.2% |
| Richmond County | 494,956 | $23,779 million | $48,043 | 137,006 | $68,887 | 4.7% |
| Onondaga County | 471,129 | $42,500 million | $90,209 | 245,375 | $69,444 | 4.0% |
| Orange County | 406,616 | $27,748 million | $68,243 | 155,524 | $62,619 | 4.2% |
| Rockland County | 341,883 | $24,442 million | $71,491 | 138,317 | $64,814 | 3.7% |
| Albany County | 317,018 | $46,129 million | $145,509 | 233,390 | $82,387 | 3.9% |
| Dutchess County | 298,220 | $20,302 million | $68,077 | 112,897 | $70,950 | 3.7% |
| Saratoga County | 238,284 | $16,620 million | $69,747 | 92,800 | $67,685 | 3.2% |
| Oneida County | 229,124 | $14,680 million | $64,070 | 102,542 | $61,102 | 4.1% |
| Niagara County | 210,721 | $13,570 million | $64,399 | 68,068 | $55,707 | 4.3% |
| Broome County | 197,378 | $12,159 million | $61,604 | 82,881 | $61,392 | 4.4% |
| Ulster County | 182,601 | $10,454 million | $57,251 | 59,330 | $61,154 | 3.8% |
| Schenectady County | 160,369 | $12,310 million | $76,763 | 58,509 | $73,794 | 4.0% |
| Rensselaer County | 160,332 | $15,508 million | $96,726 | 56,791 | $78,789 | 3.8% |
| Chautauqua County | 125,544 | $6,275 million | $49,983 | 46,319 | $52,960 | 4.4% |
| Oswego County | 117,953 | $9,256 million | $78,474 | 32,163 | $62,152 | 4.2% |
| Jefferson County | 115,040 | $8,276 million | $71,936 | 40,308 | $55,545 | 4.1% |
| Ontario County | 112,625 | $8,917 million | $79,178 | 53,913 | $64,047 | 3.6% |
| Saint Lawrence County | 107,226 | $6,588 million | $61,444 | 34,764 | $62,502 | 4.6% |
| Tompkins County | 104,537 | $7,966 million | $76,205 | 48,051 | $69,770 | 4.4% |
| Putnam County | 98,107 | $5,494 million | $56,003 | 27,122 | $67,541 | 3.4% |
| Steuben County | 92,588 | $5,787 million | $62,506 | 34,564 | $72,111 | 3.9% |
| Wayne County | 90,929 | $5,130 million | $56,417 | 28,230 | $56,984 | 3.4% |
| Chemung County | 82,147 | $4,774 million | $58,117 | 33,739 | $61,216 | 4.0% |
| Sullivan County | 79,721 | $4,504 million | $56,495 | 30,393 | $58,182 | 3.8% |
| Clinton County | 78,493 | $4,929 million | $62,793 | 32,264 | $59,550 | 4.0% |
| Cattaraugus County | 76,145 | $3,919 million | $51,464 | 27,671 | $54,047 | 4.1% |
| Cayuga County | 75,102 | $4,063 million | $54,094 | 24,605 | $62,623 | 3.6% |
| Madison County | 67,328 | $3,091 million | $45,915 | 20,886 | $56,324 | 3.9% |
| Warren County | 65,517 | $6,768 million | $103,297 | 36,956 | $59,589 | 3.5% |
| Livingston County | 61,498 | $3,092 million | $50,273 | 19,670 | $56,835 | 3.9% |
| Columbia County | 61,100 | $3,465 million | $56,710 | 20,888 | $56,241 | 3.3% |
| Washington County | 60,522 | $2,641 million | $43,632 | 14,838 | $62,139 | 3.3% |
| Otsego County | 60,108 | $3,518 million | $58,533 | 22,197 | $60,346 | 4.3% |
| Herkimer County | 59,757 | $2,360 million | $39,489 | 15,519 | $51,384 | 4.0% |
| Genesee County | 57,787 | $3,487 million | $60,345 | 22,999 | $56,701 | 3.3% |
| Fulton County | 52,487 | $2,446 million | $46,600 | 16,102 | $54,770 | 4.1% |
| Montgomery County | 49,528 | $2,632 million | $53,136 | 19,149 | $53,762 | 4.1% |
| Tioga County | 47,864 | $2,022 million | $42,240 | 13,093 | $67,197 | 3.6% |
| Greene County | 47,409 | $3,657 million | $77,133 | 14,167 | $61,727 | 3.9% |
| Allegany County | 47,159 | $1,955 million | $41,450 | 13,565 | $53,004 | 4.6% |
| Franklin County | 46,696 | $2,709 million | $58,017 | 17,453 | $68,442 | 3.9% |
| Chenango County | 46,321 | $3,066 million | $66,199 | 17,279 | $64,170 | 3.3% |
| Cortland County | 46,246 | $2,372 million | $51,293 | 16,911 | $55,778 | 4.2% |
| Delaware County | 44,487 | $3,118 million | $70,091 | 14,276 | $66,992 | 4.1% |
| Wyoming County | 39,753 | $2,368 million | $59,573 | 12,534 | $63,261 | 3.0% |
| Orleans County | 39,608 | $1,871 million | $47,237 | 11,492 | $59,202 | 3.7% |
| Essex County | 36,973 | $2,335 million | $63,164 | 14,768 | $58,601 | 3.2% |
| Seneca County | 32,920 | $2,064 million | $62,703 | 10,274 | $63,386 | 3.6% |
| Schoharie County | 30,049 | $1,320 million | $43,940 | 8,062 | $54,611 | 4.0% |
| Lewis County | 26,607 | $1,659 million | $62,341 | 6,956 | $54,649 | 3.3% |
| Yates County | 24,526 | $1,340 million | $54,633 | 7,028 | $49,380 | 3.0% |
| Schuyler County | 17,562 | $709 million | $40,376 | 5,066 | $51,379 | 3.5% |
| Hamilton County | 5,089 | $297 million | $58,440 | 1,634 | $49,916 | 4.0% |
182,601 (Census Bureau ACS 2020–2024).
$10,454 million in 2024 (BEA, current dollars).
3.8% in 2026M09 (BLS, not seasonally adjusted; the latest month may be revised).
59,330 jobs on average in 2024 with an average annual pay of $61,154 (BLS QCEW).