Ulster County is located in southern New York. It is part of the Hudson Valley region and it's the northernmost county within the New York Metropolitan area. Ulster County has a total area of approximately 1161 square miles of which 97% is land and 3% water. As of the census of 2000, there were 177,749 people, 67,499 households, and 43,536 families residing in Ulster County, making the sixteenth most populous county in New York state. Most of Ulster county is within the Catskill Mountains with the Hudson River on the county's eastern border.