Best PlacesUlster County, NY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Ulster County, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Ulster County ranks 616th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It does not top any single list, but it lands above the national middle on big-city access and good schools. The weaker spots are an overheated housing market, property taxes, and childcare costs.
The best neighborhoods in Ulster County
BestNeighborhood is the only ranking that scores 40 measures of daily life neighborhood by neighborhood and lets you re-weight every one of them yourself.
The best areas in Ulster County
The parts of Ulster County, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the county.
Woodstock & West Hurley
Tree cover is thicker, more adults hold degrees, and it is quieter.
New Paltz & Wallkill
Fewer homes sit empty.
Hurley & Tillson
More residents vote, though streets are more car-dependent.
Highland, Marlboro & Milton
More households have young kids and local pay stretches further.
Kingston
Biking is better and commutes are shorter.
Ellenville, Pine Bush & Napanoch
Health care is harder to reach.
Kerhonkson & Accord
Incomes run higher, though crime runs higher.
Saugerties
Advertised internet is faster.
Scores across Ulster County run from about the 16th to the 96th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Ulster County's strengths and weaknesses
Ulster County ranks where it does because the parts of life that are hardest to change mostly work here. Big-city access, good schools, and tree cover carry most of that.
The one real hole is an overheated housing market, near the bottom of the country. Property taxes and childcare costs also cost it ground. The measures below break that down, and the map shows how much of it holds street by street.
Where Ulster County ranks high
- Big-city accessBetter than 97% of counties
- School gradeA−, better than 94% of counties
- Tree shadeBetter than 93% of counties
- Educational attainmentBetter than 92% of counties
- Household income$91,580 median, better than 88% of counties
Where Ulster County ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 1% of counties
- Low property taxBetter than only 4% of counties
- Cheap childcare$1,308 a month, better than only 6% of counties
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 8% of counties
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 11% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Ulster County
A household needs to earn about $106,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Ulster County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $91,580, so buying stretches a typical household.
Where the monthly payment goes
Assumes a 20% down payment, a 6.6% 30-year fixed rate, and a 28% share of income going to the payment. The rate is the 2026-07-23 30-year fixed average, series MORTGAGE30US from the St. Louis Fed, which publishes Freddie Mac's weekly survey. Against the median home value, property tax uses Ulster County's effective rate of 1.74%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Ulster County
Ulster County runs older than the country, and households here run smaller than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Ulster County.
Who works in Ulster County, and how
Work in Ulster County centers on health care & social and education. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 74%
- Work from home 17%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in Ulster County
Ulster County has more parkland per resident than 71% of counties and more late-night spots per resident than 66% of counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Ulster County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Ulster County growing, and who is moving in?
Ulster County has grown about 1% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from New York, NY.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Ulster County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Ulster County, month by month
Ulster County sees roughly 82 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 37, with lows near 21. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 37° | 28° | 21° |
| April | 61° | 48° | 38° |
| July | 85° | 73° | 62° |
| October | 65° | 53° | 44° |
Flying in and out of Ulster County
The nearest airport, New York Stewart International, is about 23 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Bradley International, about 73 miles away.
The best schools in and around Ulster County
Schools across Ulster County average an A−, better than 94% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Robert R Graves SchoolA+ · 80% proficient
- Livingston Manor Elementary SchoolA+ · 75% proficient
- Woodstock Elementary SchoolA+ · 75% proficient
Top middle schools
- Bulkeley Middle SchoolA+ · 83% proficient
- Jhs 259 William MckinleyA+ · 68% proficient
- New Paltz Middle SchoolA− · 55% proficient
Top high schools
- Red Hook Senior High SchoolA+ · 98% proficient
- New Paltz Senior High SchoolA+ · 97% proficient
- Wallkill Senior High SchoolA+ · 95% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Ulster County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Ulster County measure by measure
Cards are ordered by how much each measure matters to you, so the ones you weighted highest come first. Expand to see every measure. Percentages compare Ulster County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Ulster County suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 17% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Ulster County
Is Ulster County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Ulster County ranks 616th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on big-city access, good schools, and tree cover, and lowest on an overheated housing market and property taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Ulster County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $359,912. The overall cost of living runs about 6% above the national average. Set against a $91,580 median income, cost of living beats 68% of counties.
Is Ulster County safe?
Yes, Ulster County is safer than 74% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $288 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Ulster County?
July highs average about 85 degrees, and January highs near 37 with lows near 21. That works out to about 82 pleasant days a year, more than 42% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Ulster County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Woodstock & West Hurley, New Paltz & Wallkill, and Hurley & Tillson. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Ulster County good for families?
Schools beat 94% of counties, crime safety beats 74%, and childcare runs $1,308 a month.
Is Ulster County good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 68% of counties, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 74% of counties. About 17% of workers already work from home.
Compare Ulster County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Ulster County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Ulster County represents the same real quantity as a 60 anywhere else, and the ranking is a weighted average of those absolutes. The map colors come from a national scale calibrated against a population weighted random sample of 5,000 neighborhoods. That absolute scoring is what no other places-to-live ranking does: it puts a single neighborhood, a town, a metro, and a state on one scale, so the same 40 measures answer both which metro to move to and which street inside it to buy on. Read the full methodology.
Ulster County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Ulster County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Ulster County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Ulster County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Ulster County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Ulster County detail on related sites:
- CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
- ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
- CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.
Federal and public data:
- U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey: income, home value, rent, vacancy, commute time and mode, educational attainment, home age, age structure, household type, industry, and race.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
- FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
- Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
- FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
- U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
- FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
- CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
- National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
- FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
- Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.
Your priorities
Move a slider to say how much a measure matters. Zero turns it off.