General Facts
- Long Island is the largest and most populous island on the U.S. mainland.
- It stretches 118 miles long (east-west), is 23 miles at its widest point (north-south) and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the south, Long Island Sound to the north and the East River to the west.
- “The Island” actually refers to Nassau and Suffolk counties, though the New York City counties of Queens and Brooklyn are located on the west end of the island’s land mass.
- The population of Nassau County is 1,339,532 while the population of Suffolk County is 1,493,350; if Long Island was a state, it would be the 13th biggest in the nation and have the highest population density.
- Nassau and Suffolk are comprised of 13 towns, 2 cities, 97 villages, and 173 hamlets and there are more than 120 public school districts operating 650 individual schools; overall, there are more than 900 taxing districts.
- Long Island is an economically vibrant, highly attractive region, in part because it combines into a single market two prosperous counties with large populations and successful economies in close proximity to New York City. As a result, it has relatively low unemployment and poverty rates, high household income and rate of home ownership, and a highly educated workforce.
- Long Island’s economy accounted for nearly 12 percent of the New York State’s Gross Product in 2015, second only to New York City
- Long Island is known as the nation’s “first suburb,” characterized by mass-built single-family homes developments collectively known as Levittown. Today, Long Island is comprised of high-density urban areas, suburban communities, and rural areas, including numerous areas dominated by farmland.
- Like many similar suburbs, Long Island faces many issues that are central to its quality of life, growth and prosperity, such as high cost of living, lack of affordable housing, high taxes, aging infrastructure, lack of economic opportunities, expensive energy, environmental threats and others.