Kaser: The Most Densely Populated Town in New York State

Kaser is a village of less than a fifth of a square mile in Rockland County, completely surrounded by the hamlet of Monsey, and it holds an unusual distinction: according to the census, it is the most densely populated municipality in New York State, denser than New York City as a whole, and one of the five most densely populated places in the entire United States. Members of the Viznitz Hasidic denomination established Kaser in nineteen ninety specifically to build denser housing than surrounding communities allowed. The village's population is almost entirely ultra-Orthodox Jewish families, with large households, no cars on the Sabbath, and an eruv, a symbolic boundary wire, enclosing the community. In a region already known for large Hasidic communities at Monsey and Kiryas Joel, Kaser represents perhaps the most concentrated expression of intentional community design in the Hudson Valley.