POUGHKEEPSIE — Dutchess County Comptroller Gregg Pulver has published the second Popular Annual Financial Report for the year ending in December 2023, a listing of statistical, demographic, economic and government information that creates a summary snapshot of the county.
The report provides an overview that residents can point to for many facts and figures. For example, Dutchess County is the 26th largest county in New York state by area at 795.6 square miles.
It also paints a picture of the county’s demographics, its business and economy, educational institution and its agriculture and environment.
Current demographic data “enable communities to plan for hospitals and schools, advance economic development, improve emergency services, construct roads, inform businesses looking to add jobs, and more,” the report notes.
Most demographic data remains steady from year to year, Pulver notes in an introduction to the report. His predecessor, Robin Lois, who gave the 2022 report before stepping down as Comptroller, noted in that report Dutchess County’s population has remained steady in the 12 years since 2010. Then, 297,488 people lived in the county. The latest data (2022) lists 297,545 people in the county.
The county includes two cities, 20 towns and eight villatges and is 66.3% white, 14.5 % Hispanic or Latino, 9.2% Black, 3.3% Asian with 6.7% identified as other.
Almost 20% of the population is 65 years of age or older, about the same percentage for those under 18 years of age; everyone else, from 19 to 65 makes up 62% of the county’s population. In the U.S., the 2022 Census counted 17.3% of the population at 65 or older.
Dutchess County household economics are summarized in the report: the median household income in 2023 was $87,112. The unemployment rate was 3.3%.
The report shows 3.3% for persons in poverty; however, the U.S. Census lists the county’s poverty rate at approximately 9%.
Affordable housing remains an issue. There are 2,223 subsidized housing units in the county, but that amounts ot less than 1% for the county’s current population.
The median sale price of homes in the county was $420K in 2023, compared to $398K in 2022. But going back to 2018, the median sale price was $280K, meaning that the increase over a five-year period is close to 50%.
The biggest employer in the county is Nuvance Health, with three hospitals in New York and four in Connecticut, including Sharon Hospital on the New York/Connecticut border. The report lists Nuvance with 5,000 employees and is followed in ranking by IBM (4,100), Amazon (4,000), GAP Inc. (2,000) and Mid-Hudson Regional Hospital (1,500).
Next in terms of number of employees are the Culinary Institute of America, Bard College, Vassar College, Marist College and onsemi, a semiconductor company.
Dutchess Community College, a unit of the State University of New York with more than 7,200 students enrolled in 2023, also stands out in the report. In 2022-2023 acadmic year, 380 degrees were awarded and two out of three students graduated without student debt. The county contributed $20.6 million to DCC in 2023, and approximately 3,500 jobs are supported by the community college.
The report catalogues the county’s agriculture and environment, noting that while it has become a largely non-rural residential county, there still are an estimated 620 farms in the county that contribute $50 million in sales to the economy and 93% of those farms are family farms. The top crops are hay, corn, vegetables and soybeans, and the inventory of livestock is led by chickens, cattle, horses, goats and sheep.
In addition to the farms, there are 11 farmers’ markets and mreo than 50 farm stores and seasonal stands across the county.
On climate impact, the county holds a Bronze-Level certification by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and the report cites the NYS Climate Smart Communities program — an initiative that supports a network of communities’ resliiency to climate change.
Climate’s impact on agriculture in the report notes that average temperatures have increased annually since 1960 and are expected to rise and feature extreme temperatures. While the report mentions flash droughts that hie in 2017 and 2022, it sees a future with longer periods without precipitation.
The report can be found at: www.dutchessny.gov/Departments/Comptroller/Office-...
Dick Hermans in the Oblong Bookstore on Millerton’s Main Street in 1985.Provided
Fall storage crop harvests amid soil building cover crops at Adamah Farm in Falls Village. Janna Siller 
