As The Overlook tells stories about life in our six towns, I thought it would be informative to look at key data points that are representative of Hunter, Hurley, Olive, Saugerties, Shandaken and Woodstock. Eight key highways — 23A, 28, 28A, 32, 42, 209, 212 and 214 — connect these communities in northern Ulster County and southern Greene County. A deep dive into the latest census data reveals the changing demographics of what we’re calling The Overlook Region.
Our six towns represent a total population of 41,749 with Saugerties being the largest at 19,133 and Shandaken the smallest town at 2,902 (others: Hunter, 3,044; Hurley, 6,160; Olive, 4,246 and Woodstock, 6,264). Based on projections by World Population Review, an online database that provides up-to-date information and statistics about the global population, only Saugerties and Olive are on track to show small population gains in the 2030 census. The six towns span 430 square miles which is about the same as Westchester County. Shandaken is the most expansive at 120 square miles and Hurley is the smallest at 30 square miles. One other interesting fact: Saugerties is the most densely populated with 296 people per square mile.
In terms of age, Hunter is the youngest with a median age of 37 compared to a U.S. median age of 39. Woodstock is the town with the most seniority with a median age of 61 (41% of its population is 65+). The median age of Shandaken is 55 and Hurley, Olive, and Saugerties all hover around 48. According to Census Reporter, our six coverage towns are predominantly White averaging 84% compared to a U.S. average of 57%.
The 6-town average on per capita income for 2023 was $51,673 which is higher than the U.S. mark of $43,289 and the average poverty rate stood at 13.2% which was slightly higher than the U.S. at 12.5%. Median home values varied across the towns, with Hunter at $284,000, Hurley at $339,900, Olive at $342,300, Saugerties at $286,500, Shandaken at $307,800, and Woodstock at $550,100.
No matter where we live in the Catskills, we tend to spend a good bit of our time in the car commuting to work, going to school, and all around. In terms of mean commute time, residents of our six towns spend an average of 25.5 minutes each day for work travel which is slightly under the U.S. average of 26.8 minutes. For the six towns, Shandaken residents have the longest commute at 34 minutes and Hunter has the shortest at 18. The other four towns average 24-27 minutes.
Another statistic that I looked at covered the makeup of housing stock in the six towns and how they compare against one another but also to national figures. The median value of owner-occupied homes in the six towns came in at $351,767 which compares favorably to the U.S. median of $340,200. One data point that raises concern is around the low number of “occupied” housing units in the six towns where we learned that in Hunter only 31% of housing units are occupied and in Shandaken only 55% were occupied. This compares unfavorably to the U.S. average of 90%.
Other interesting data points that tell a story about the six towns are the level of education completed, the percentage of veterans and foreign-born citizens living here, and how the region voted in the recent presidential election.
The town of Woodstock comes in first with 62.5% of its residents holding a Bachelor’s degree or higher with Hunter coming in the lowest at 28.5%. The U.S. average is 36.2%.
On the election front, we had limited data to interpret. What we do know is that Ulster County—home to five of our coverage towns—voted 59% for Kamala Harris and 41% for Donald Trump in 2024. Whereas Greene County, which is home to Hunter, voted 58% for Trump and 41% for Harris.
Yes, I am a numbers nerd, but in all sincerity, I hope our readers find the data presented here to be useful. As we build out The Overlook, fact-based data will be critical in telling more accurate, compelling, and insightful stories about our communities. Our goal is to understand the identity of our communities, and at the same time, highlight trends and changes along with disparities and inequities. In making this information more accessible to everyone, we create the opportunity and become a vehicle for citizens to take actionable steps in the towns they live in as well as The Overlook Region.
Scott Widmeyer is the co-founder of The Overlook. You can reach him at scott@theoverlooknews.com
