In many areas, the demographic makeup of Ulster County closely resembles the composition of the entire Mid-Hudson Valley population. Income is one example. As with Mid-Hudson Valley households, more than half of all people living in Ulster County are in households with an annual income of more than $50,000. 54% of county households have a yearly income of $50,000 or more compared with 58% of the region’s households.
Additionally, the average household size of 2.8 in Ulster County is exactly the same as that of the Mid-Hudson region. Five years ago, the average household size in Ulster County was 2.7. Among households with children, the average household size in Ulster County is 4.2 the same as it is in the Mid-Hudson Valley as a whole.
As is found regionally, Ulster County residents without a college education do continue to outnumber residents with a college degree by a wide margin. 63% of county residents have not completed college compared with 65% of Mid-Hudson Valley residents.
But there are some ways in which residents of Ulster County differ from residents of the region as a whole. For instance, the racial and ethnic composition of the county is more homogenous than the Mid-Hudson region as a whole. 88% of Ulster County residents are white compared with 83% of the region’s residents. 7% of Ulster County residents identify themselves as Latino compared with one in ten Mid-Hudson Valley residents. 4% of Ulster County residents are African American compared with 7% of the region as a whole.
Ulster County households are less likely to have children than the average household in the Mid-Hudson region. 38% of Ulster County households include children compared with 44% of households regionally. 12% of Ulster County households include a child who is under age five which is comparable to the regional proportion of 15%. About three in ten Ulster County households include school age children which compares with 38% of households in the region overall that have children age five to eighteen.
As is true for children living in the region as a whole, about two in ten Ulster County households with children have a total household yearly income of less than $30,000. 17% of Ulster County households with children are headed by one parent. This compares with 11% of households with single parents in the entire Mid-Hudson region.
One of the highest proportions of uninsured households in the region has persisted in Ulster County. 31% of all households have at least one person who has encountered a gap in health insurance coverage over the past year, and 15% of households in the county have at least one adult or child who is not currently insured. These figures have remained fairly stable since 2002.
In addition, the proportion of Ulster County’s uninsured children has not diminished since 2002. 19% of all households with children have at least one child who has not had continuous coverage over the past year compared with 15% five years ago. 8% are presently without insurance compared with 6% who were uninsured in 2002. The proportion of children without coverage in Ulster County is similar to the overall Mid-Hudson region.
