Kingston, New York
Area Profile
23,911 residents. Public schools, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Kingston, in Ulster County.
How this area ranks
Data updated · 15 sourcesUnemployment is 4.0% and median household income $68,186, putting employment conditions in the middle range of cities measured. The unemployment rate is published for Ulster County, NY, which contains Kingston, rather than for Kingston alone.
In the public schools here, 55% of students met the state standard in mathematics, with 10.6 students for every teacher.
Residential permitting has slowed: 107 units authorized over the past twelve months, 64% below the prior year. That follows a longer stretch moving the other way, through 2025.
These sentences are written by fixed rules from the measurements below — a statement appears because a number crossed a stated threshold, and the values behind it are stored with it. No figure anywhere on this site is invented, estimated or inferred to fill a gap. How this works.
At a glance
Jobs & opportunity
Unemployment across Ulster County, NY, which contains Kingston, is 4.0%, lower than in 61% of the 4,226 measured US cities.
Employment across Ulster County, NY, which contains Kingston, fell 0.1% over the past year, to 86,355 employed residents.
33% of adults hold a four-year degree, higher than 73% of measured US cities.
| Metric | Value | Compared nationally | Source period |
|---|---|---|---|
| Income of new arrivalsUlster County, NY’s figurefiling years 2022–2023 | $113,747 | 90th percentileof 4,101 | filing years 2022–2023 |
| Income of those who leftUlster County, NY’s figurefiling years 2022–2023 | $79,605 | 64th percentileof 4,101 | filing years 2022–2023 |
| Median household income ±$4,8652024 ACS 5-Year | $68,186 | Top 48%of 29,223 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Per capita income ±$2,6752024 ACS 5-Year | $40,197 | Top 32%of 31,420 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Poverty rate ±3%2024 ACS 5-Year | 17.7% | Bottom 28%of 31,773 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Average commute ±1.6 min2024 ACS 5-Year | 24.5 min | Top 38%of 31,543 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Bachelor's degree or higher ±3%2024 ACS 5-Year | 32.6% | Top 27%of 31,919 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Drove alone to work ±4%2024 ACS 5-Year | 67.1% | 22nd percentileof 31,433 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| EmploymentUlster County, NY’s figureJuly 2026 | 86,355 | Top 45%of 4,226 | July 2026 |
| Employment change (3 years)Ulster County, NY’s figureJuly 2026 | +0.2% | Top 42%of 4,226 | July 2026 |
| Employment change (year over year)Ulster County, NY’s figureJuly 2026 | −0.1% | Top 36%of 4,226 | July 2026 |
| Labor forceUlster County, NY’s figureJuly 2026 | 89,909 | 55th percentileof 4,226 | July 2026 |
| Labor force participation ±3%2024 ACS 5-Year | 78.9% | Top 48%of 31,513 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Mean annual wageKingston, NY Metro Area’s figure2025 OEWS | $63,440 | Bottom 27%of 3,729 | 2025 OEWS |
| Median annual wageKingston, NY Metro Area’s figure2025 OEWS | $50,020 | Bottom 43%of 3,729 | 2025 OEWS |
| Public transit to work ±0.9%2024 ACS 5-Year | 1.5% | 87th percentileof 31,433 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Unemployment change (year over year)Ulster County, NY’s figureJuly 2026 | +0.1% | Bottom 39%of 4,226 | July 2026 |
| Unemployment rateUlster County, NY’s figureJuly 2026 | 4.0% | Top 39%of 4,226 | July 2026 |
| Worked from home ±2%2024 ACS 5-Year | 15.3% | 77th percentileof 31,433 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
Median household income, successive ACS releases
Largest occupations — Kingston, NY
| Occupation | People employed | Median annual wage |
|---|---|---|
| Home Health and Personal Care Aides | 2,110 | $37,750 |
| Retail Salespersons | 1,860 | $36,530 |
| Cashiers | 1,490 | $34,770 |
| Fast Food and Counter Workers | 1,440 | $35,460 |
| Stockers and Order Fillers | 1,320 | $37,910 |
| General and Operations Managers | 1,280 | $99,970 |
Searches the 40 largest occupations here that have a published wage.
Occupational employment and wages are published for metropolitan areas rather than for individual cities or ZIP areas, so these describe the wider labor market this location sits in. 2025 OEWS, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes city-level labor data only for places of 25,000 or more. This is the figure for Ulster County, NY, which contains this city.
55% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 52% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.
There are 10.6 students for every full-time teacher across 6 public schools, fewer than in most measured places.
| School | District | Students | Per teacher | Math | Reading |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kingston High School | KINGSTON CITY SCHOOL DISTRICT | 1,749 | 11.9 | 90% | 90% |
| J Watson Bailey Middle School | KINGSTON CITY SCHOOL DISTRICT | 936 | 9.6 | 33% | 34% |
| George Washington School | KINGSTON CITY SCHOOL DISTRICT | 492 | 11.7 | 12% | 12% |
| Harry L Edson School | KINGSTON CITY SCHOOL DISTRICT | 397 | 9.5 | 42% | 27% |
| John F Kennedy School | KINGSTON CITY SCHOOL DISTRICT | 322 | 9.2 | 27% | 12% |
| Chambers School | KINGSTON CITY SCHOOL DISTRICT | 306 | 9.0 | 37% | 32% |
46.7% of students here are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. That describes the circumstances families arrive with, not how the schools perform, so it is shown and not scored.
Public schools only, from the NCES Common Core of Data, placed by ZIP code — which schools are in this place, not which one a particular address is zoned for. A dash in a proficiency column is a gap in the federal file, not a bad result. Proficiency is measured against New York’s own standard, so it is ranked within state. How to read school figures.
Housing & affordability
How it’s calculated — housing affordability →Prices for everything a household buys run at about the national average — the Bureau of Economic Analysis index reads 99.6, against 100 for the nation. Nationally, housing drives most of the spread between places in this index; other goods vary far less.
The Federal Housing Finance Agency’s house price index for the Kingston, NY Metro Area is up 46% over five years, and up 2.6% over the last year. It follows repeat sales of the same homes, so it measures price change rather than which homes happened to sell.
Homeowners here who pay a tax bill pay a median of $5,935 a year in real estate taxes, about 1.88% of the median home value.
HUD’s Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom, set near the 40th percentile of recent new leases, is $1,818, some 24% above the $1,469 tenants already here pay.
At HUD’s Fair Market Rent of $1,818 a month for a two-bedroom, keeping rent to 30% of income takes a household income of about $72,700 a year, about 107% of the median household income here of $68,186.
The typical renter household here spends 35% of its income on rent, above the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened. Median gross rent runs $1,469 a month.
A median home at $315,500 costs 3.4 times the median income of its owner-occupied households, $93,589, above the historic benchmark of about 3 times income.
Prices here run at about the national average. Where places do differ, housing drives most of it — goods vary far less — and this excludes taxes.
Published for the Kingston, NY Metro Area as a whole. Prices are regional — people shop, commute and rent across a metropolitan area rather than within a city boundary — so this describes the cost of living around this place better than a figure drawn to its own limits would.
The figures above are measured against Kingston’s median household income of $68,186, which describes the place rather than you. Enter your own and the ratio is recomputed against it. It stays in this browser.
| Metric | Value | Compared nationally | Source period |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cost of living indexthe Kingston, NY Metro Area’s figure2023 | 99.6 | Top 42%of 3,700 | 2023 |
| Home price change (1 year)the Kingston, NY Metro Area’s figure2026 Q2 | +2.6% | 39th percentileof 4,154 | 2026 Q2 |
| Home price change (5 years)the Kingston, NY Metro Area’s figure2026 Q2 | +46.2% | 67th percentileof 4,154 | 2026 Q2 |
| Home price change (10 years)the Kingston, NY Metro Area’s figure2026 Q2 | +122.4% | 91st percentileof 4,154 | 2026 Q2 |
| Home price to income ±0.42024 ACS 5-Year | 3.4 | Bottom 27%of 26,815 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Homeownership rate ±4%2024 ACS 5-Year | 48.4% | 8th percentileof 31,717 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Housing units ±5102024 ACS 5-Year | 11,221 | 95th percentileof 32,177 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Market rent, one bedroomFY2026 | $1,386 | Top 49%of 4,072 | FY2026 |
| Market rent, three bedroomFY2026 | $2,245 | Bottom 47%of 4,072 | FY2026 |
| Market rent, two bedroomFY2026 | $1,818 | Bottom 41%of 4,072 | FY2026 |
| Median gross rent ±$912024 ACS 5-Year | $1,469 | Bottom 20%of 23,120 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Median home value ±$16,3272024 ACS 5-Year | $315,500 | 74th percentileof 29,111 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Median property taxes ±$2522024 ACS 5-Year | $5,935 | 93rd percentileof 26,440 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Owner household income ±$8,6002024 ACS 5-Year | $93,589 | Top 33%of 27,548 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Property tax rate ±0.13%2024 ACS 5-Year | 1.88% | 90th percentileof 20,543 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Rent as a share of income ±3%2024 ACS 5-Year | 34.5% | Bottom 22%of 22,950 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Seasonal and second homes ±1522024 ACS 5-Year | 236 | 95th percentileof 32,330 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Second homes2024 ACS 5-Year | 2.1% | 70th percentileof 31,895 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Vacancy rate2024 ACS 5-Year | 8.6% | 58th percentileof 31,769 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Vacant housing units ±2982024 ACS 5-Year | 1,201 | 96th percentileof 32,330 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
These measures come from the same ACS release as the income they are compared with. They compare housing cost with local earnings only: transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes are not in them. How to read affordability, the two rent figures and the cost-of-living index.
Growth & development
How it’s calculated — growth →Development Momentum
An AreaProfile calculation combining permit volume per resident, its direction over one and three years, population change and employment growth. Permit volume alone is not the measure.
Population has fallen 1% since 2020, to 23,748 in 2024.
Permit activity rose in each of the 3 calendar years through 2025. Over the twelve months since, it has turned the other way — 64% below the prior year.
77% of the 107 units permitted over the past twelve months are in buildings of five or more homes, so new supply is concentrated in apartments and condominiums rather than detached houses.
Federal tax returns show Ulster County, which contains Kingston, gained about 0.2% of its residents through moves within the US in the most recent year, counting those who arrived against those who left. Households that moved in reported an average income of $113,747, above the $79,605 of households that moved out.
At 4.5 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is above the median for measured US cities.
Population, annual estimates
People moving in and out
Where newcomers came from
- Orange County, NY 1,154 people · 16% of arrivals
- Dutchess County, NY 946 people · 13% of arrivals
- Kings County, NY 824 people · 11% of arrivals
- New York County, NY 412 people · 5.7% of arrivals
- Queens County, NY 258 people · 3.6% of arrivals
Where people who left went
- Orange County, NY 909 people · 13% of departures
- Dutchess County, NY 749 people · 11% of departures
- Kings County, NY 380 people · 5.5% of departures
- Greene County, NY 310 people · 4.5% of departures
- New York County, NY 239 people · 3.4% of departures
Based on the address on federal tax returns, compared with the same filers a year earlier. It counts people who file, and sees a move only when the address on a return changes. Domestic moves only: people arriving from abroad are left out. This is the figure for Ulster County, NY. IRS Statistics of Income, filing years 2022–2023.
Housing units permitted per year
Weather & climate
5 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 83°F and January a low of 16°F.
Normal annual precipitation is 45.8 inches.
Precipitation
| Metric | Value | Source period |
|---|---|---|
| Annual precipitation1991-2020 Normals | 45.8" | 1991-2020 Normals |
| Average January low1991-2020 Normals | 16°F | 1991-2020 Normals |
| Average July high1991-2020 Normals | 83°F | 1991-2020 Normals |
| Comfortable months1991-2020 Normals | 5 | 1991-2020 Normals |
| Seasonal temperature swing1991-2020 Normals | 46°F | 1991-2020 Normals |
Climate figures are thirty-year normals, not current conditions. How to read climate and air quality.
Physical risk
The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are inland flooding, tornado and hurricane, with inland flooding alone responsible for 68% of it. Tornado is independently rated low or minimal nationally, so this describes how the loss is composed, not how large that hazard is.
Low or minimal exposure: strong wind, tornado, lightning, ice storm, avalanche, winter weather, coastal flooding, wildfire, drought, tsunami, volcanic activity.
Hazard ratings are AreaProfile calculations derived from the FEMA National Risk Index v1.20.0 (December 2025). FEMA publishes at county level. City values are the population-weighted mean of the counties the city overlaps, using AreaProfile place-to-county land-area weights. FEMA does not endorse this presentation. Higher physical resilience means lower exposure.
Below these are deaths rather than offenses, published for the county. The two measure different things and are not comparable with each other.
Kingston's police department reported 414 violent offenses per 100,000 residents, higher than most places with a department reporting. Property crime runs at 1,676.
Ulster County has a modeled homicide rate of about 2.2 per 100,000 residents a year, because the CDC suppresses counts this small, near the middle of counties measured. The CDC does not publish this below county level.
Firearm deaths of all intents run at about 5.5 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, since the figure counts suicides and accidents as well as homicides.
Drug overdose deaths run at 14.3 per 100,000 residents in Ulster County.
Firearm deaths count every intent together, and nationally the majority are suicides rather than homicides, so the firearm figure and the homicide figure above it count some of the same deaths twice over. They overlap and should not be added together.
Offenses are reported to the FBI by Kingston’s own police department and shown only where it reported every month of the year; a partial year is withheld rather than scaled up. Reported crime is what police recorded, which is not the same as what happened. Death rates are crude rates — deaths divided by population, not adjusted for age — except where a count was too small for the CDC to publish and it modeled the rate, which the card marks. They come from provisional death certificate records, published by the CDC by county and not below it. So they describe the county around Kingston (Ulster County) rather than Kingston itself. Neither is part of the Area Score. How to read crime rates and death rates.
What this profile does not cover
Each of these is absent for a reason, not by oversight. The Area Score is calculated without them; the weighting is on the methodology page.
- Air quality
- The EPA publishes an air-quality index only where a monitor sits. There is none in this county, and a modeled value would be a different kind of number from the measured ones everywhere else on this page.
- Taxes
- Income and sales taxes are not published: no source covers them nationally with a method open enough to check. Property taxes are shown in the housing section but are not part of the score. The cost-of-living index above is a price level for all consumption, not a household budget, and it excludes taxes. Nothing here is individualized tax advice.
- Anything about a specific address
- Every figure describes an area, not a street or a house.
Access
7 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest New York Stewart Intl at 30 miles.
| Metric | Value | Compared nationally | Source period |
|---|---|---|---|
| Broadband access ±0.4%2024 ACS 5-Year | 92.6% | Top 37%of 31,588 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Distance to major airportNASR current cycle | 30 mi | Bottom 28%of 4,226 | NASR current cycle |
| Major airports within 100 milesNASR current cycle | 7 | Top 13%of 4,226 | NASR current cycle |
| No internet access ±2%2024 ACS 5-Year | 6.1% | Top 43%of 31,588 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Airport | Code | Distance | Longest runway |
|---|---|---|---|
| New York Stewart Intl | SWF | 30 mi | 11,817 ft |
| Albany Intl | ALB | 57 mi | 8,500 ft |
| Bradley Intl | BDL | 67 mi | 9,510 ft |
Airport identity, position and runway data come from the FAA. “Major airport” is an AreaProfile classification — a public-use civil airport with a paved runway of at least 8,000 feet — not an FAA hub designation. Distances are straight-line, not driving distance.
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Similar places
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Moving to Kingston from somewhere else?
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Data & methodology
| Used for | Source | Source period |
|---|---|---|
| Access | Federal Aviation Administration Airports (NASR) — Aeronautical Data Delivery Service | NASR current cycle |
| Safety | Federal Bureau of Investigation, Crime Data Explorer Summarized offense counts by law enforcement agency | 2025 calendar year |
| Physical risk | Federal Emergency Management Agency National Risk Index | National Risk Index December 2025 (v1.20.0) |
| Demographics, Income | Internal Revenue Service, Statistics of Income Division U.S. Population Migration Data (county to county) | filing years 2022–2023 |
| Climate | NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020 (Monthly) | 1991-2020 Normals |
| Housing | U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis Regional price parities and county personal income | 2023 |
| Jobs | U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics | 2025 OEWS |
| Jobs | U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Local Area Unemployment Statistics | July 2026 |
| Development | U.S. Census Bureau Building Permits Survey | 12 months ending July 2026 |
| Demographics | U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program | July 1, 2024 estimate |
| Access, Demographics, Housing, Income, Jobs | U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (Table-Based Summary File) | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Safety | U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics Provisional county-level mortality by intent | March 2025 to February 2026; May 2025 to April 2026 |
| Schools | U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics Common Core of Data and EDFacts assessments | 2018-19 school year; 2024-25 school year |
| Housing | U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Policy Development and Research Fair Market Rents | FY2026 |
| Housing | U.S. Federal Housing Finance Agency House Price Index (traditional, all-transactions) | 2026 Q2 |
| Current conditions | NOAA National Weather Service National Weather Service current conditions | Live observation, read when the page opens |
Profile recalculated October 8, 2026. Recalculation is not the same as new source data — each figure above shows the period its source actually covers. Read the full methodology, or every source with how often each updates.
ZIP codes in Kingston
1 ZIP areaEvery ZIP area in Kingston with census figures of its own, largest first. The ones linked below diverge enough from the city as a whole to carry a full profile; the rest track Kingston closely, so their figures are here rather than on a page that would repeat this one. An Area Score is calculated for published profiles only, which is why it is blank on those rows.
| ZIP | Population | Median household income | Median home value | Area Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12401 | 35,136 | $69,305 | $319,700 | — |