Schenectady County vs Ulster County

A side-by-side comparison of Schenectady County and Ulster County: population, income, housing, and more.

Schenectady County and Ulster County are counties in New York. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Ulster County has the higher population (182,109 vs 159,603 in Schenectady County). Ulster County has the higher median household income ($81,804 vs $76,989 in Schenectady County). Ulster County has the higher median home value ($315,100 vs $223,100 in Schenectady County).

Population, income & housing

	Schenectady County	Ulster County
Population	159,603	182,109
Median age	39.6 yrs	44.2 yrs
Median household income	$76,989	$81,804
Median home value	$223,100	$315,100
Median gross rent	$1,159	$1,335
Housing units	71,051	86,178
Homeownership rate	63.8%	70.0%
Bachelor's degree or higher	35.1%	37.1%
Unemployment rate	5.8%	5.1%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Schenectady County	Ulster County
Population	154,859 → 159,603 (+3.1%)	178,665 → 182,109 (+1.9%)
Median household income	$65,499 → $76,989 (+17.5%)	$64,304 → $81,804 (+27.2%)
Median home value	$169,600 → $223,100 (+31.5%)	$230,500 → $315,100 (+36.7%)
Median gross rent	$945 → $1,159 (+22.6%)	$1,112 → $1,335 (+20.1%)

Schenectady County

Population

154,859159,603

Median household income

$65,499$76,989

Median home value

$169,600$223,100

Median gross rent

$945$1,159

Ulster County

Population

178,665182,109

Median household income

$64,304$81,804

Median home value

$230,500$315,100

Median gross rent

$1,112$1,335

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Schenectady County	Ulster County
Under 5	5.8%	4.4%
5 to 17	15.8%	13.0%
18 to 24	9.5%	8.9%
25 to 34	13.2%	12.5%
35 to 44	12.7%	12.3%
45 to 54	12.1%	12.8%
55 to 64	13.4%	15.4%
65 to 74	10.3%	12.3%
75 and over	7.3%	8.4%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Schenectady County	Ulster County
White (non-Hispanic)	68.7%	73.5%
Black or African American	10.1%	5.7%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.0%
Asian	4.8%	2.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	1.7%	1.2%
Two or more races	6.5%	5.7%
Hispanic or Latino	8.1%	11.8%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Schenectady County	Ulster County
No high school diploma	8.2%	8.3%
High school graduate	26.3%	28.0%
Some college or associate's	30.5%	26.7%
Bachelor's degree	19.4%	20.2%
Graduate or professional degree	15.7%	16.9%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Schenectady County	Ulster County
Drove alone	72.2%	70.9%
Carpooled	8.1%	6.7%
Public transit	3.5%	2.1%
Walked	2.8%	3.0%
Bicycle	0.2%	0.4%
Worked from home	12.3%	15.4%
Other means	0.9%	1.4%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Schenectady County	Ulster County
1-unit, detached	59.9%	68.6%
1-unit, attached	2.1%	3.3%
2 to 4 units	21.3%	12.9%
5 to 19 units	8.4%	6.1%
20 or more units	7.6%	3.2%
Mobile home & other	0.7%	5.8%

Poverty & households

	Schenectady County	Ulster County
Poverty rate	12.5%	14.3%
Average household size	2.33	2.31
Mean commute (minutes)	23	28
Median year structure built	1955	1966