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Westchester County, New York

Westchester County is a county located in the southeastern portion of the U.S. state of New York, bordering the Long Island Sound to its east and the Hudson River on its west. The county is the seventh most populous county in the State of New York and the most populous north of New York City. According to the 2020 United States Census, the county had a population of 1,004,456, its highest decennial count ever and an increase of 55,344 (5.8%) from the 949,113 counted in 2010. Westchester covers an area of 450 sqmi, consisting of six cities, 19 towns, and 23 villages. Established in 1683, Westchester was named after the city of Chester, England. The county seat is the city of White Plains, while the most populous municipality in the county is the city of Yonkers, with 211,569 residents per the 2020 census. The county is part of the Hudson Valley region of the state.

The annual per capita income for Westchester was $67,813 in 2011. The 2011 median household income of $77,006 was the fifth-highest in New York (after Nassau, Putnam, Suffolk, and Rockland counties) and the 47th highest in the United States. By 2021, the county's median household income had risen to $105,387. Westchester County ranks second in the state after New York County for median income per person, with a higher concentration of incomes in smaller households. Simultaneously, Westchester County had the highest property taxes of any county in the United States in 2013.

Westchester County is one of the centrally located counties within the New York metropolitan area. The county is positioned with New York City, plus Nassau and Suffolk counties (on Long Island, across the Long Island Sound), to its south; Putnam County to its north; Fairfield County, Connecticut, to its east; and Rockland County and Bergen County, New Jersey, across the Hudson River to its west. Westchester was the first suburban area of its scale in the world to develop, due mostly to the upper-middle-class development of entire communities in the late 19th century and the subsequent rapid population growth.

Westchester County has numerous road and mass transit connections to New York City, and the county is home to the headquarters of large multinational corporations including IBM, Mastercard, PepsiCo, and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals. Westchester County high school students often feature prominently as winners of the International Science and Engineering Fair and similar STEM-based academic awards.

History
At the time of European contact in the 16th and 17th centuries, the Native American inhabitants of present-day Westchester County were part of the Algonquian peoples, whose name for themselves was Lenape, meaning the people. They called the region Lenapehoking, which consisted of the area around and between the Delaware and Hudson Rivers. Several different tribes occupied the area, including The Manhattans, and the Weckquaesgeek and Siwanoy bands of the Wappinger in the south, and Tankiteke, Sintsink and Kitchawank Wappinger in the north.

The first European explorers to visit the Westchester area were Giovanni da Verrazzano in 1524 and Henry Hudson in 1609. Dutch settlers began arriving in the 1620s, followed by settlers from England in the 1640s. Westchester County was one of the original twelve counties of the Province of New York, created by an act of the New York General Assembly in 1683. At the time it included present-day Bronx County, and abutted then-Dutchess County to the north. By 1775, Westchester was the richest and most populous county in the colony of New York. Although the Revolutionary War devastated the county, recovery after the war was rapid. In 1788, five years after the end of the war, the county was divided into 20 towns. In 1798, the first federal census recorded a population of 24,000 for the county.

Two developments in the first half of the 19th century—the construction of the first Croton Dam and Aqueduct, and the coming of the railroad—had enormous impacts on the growth of Westchester. The Croton Dam and Aqueduct was begun in 1837 and completed in 1842; now a National Historic Landmark, the Croton Aqueduct is considered one of the great engineering achievements of the 19th century. In the 1840s, the first railroads were built in Westchester, and included the New York and Harlem Railroad, the Hudson River Railroad, and the New York and New Haven Railroad. The railroads often determined the growth of a town, and the population shifted from Northern to Southern Westchester. By 1860, the total county population was 99,000, with the most populated city being Yonkers.

The period following the American Civil War enabled entrepreneurs in the New York area to create fortunes, and many built large estates, such as Lyndhurst, in Westchester. During the latter half of the 19th century, Westchester's transportation system and labor force attracted a manufacturing base, particularly along the Hudson River and Nepperhan Creek. In 1874, the western portion of the present Bronx County was transferred to New York County, and in 1895 the remainder of the present Bronx County was also transferred to New York County. These would later split from Manhattan to form a county.

During the 20th century, the rural character of Westchester would transform into the suburban county known today. The Bronx River Parkway, completed in 1925, was the first modern, multi-lane limited-access roadway in North America. The development of Westchester's parks and parkway systems supported existing communities and encouraged the establishment of new ones, transforming the development pattern for Westchester. With the need for homes expanding after World War II, multistory apartment houses appeared in the urbanized areas of the county, while the market for single-family houses continued to expand. By 1950, the total county population was 625,816. Major interstate highways were constructed in Westchester during the 1950s and 1960s. The establishment of these roadways, along with the construction of the Tappan Zee Bridge, led to further growth in the county.

Geography
Westchester County is located in the New York metropolitan area and Downstate New York, north of New York City and south of Upstate New York. It shares its southern boundary with New York City and its northern border with Putnam County. It is bordered on the west side by the Hudson River and on the east side by the Long Island Sound and Fairfield County, Connecticut. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 500 sqmi, of which 430 sqmi is land and 69 sqmi (14%) is water.

Where Pelham Manor meets Pelham Bay Park in the Bronx, the southern border of Westchester is just under 11 mi from Columbus Circle in Manhattan. At over 2700 acre, Pelham Bay Park is the largest of New York City's parks, forming a substantial buffer between suburban Westchester and the urban Bronx, while Van Cortlandt Park to the west acts as a similar buffer.

Long Island Sound shore
Westchester's Long Island Sound shore is generally rocky, interspersed with tidal mud flats, marshes and wetlands, as well as several natural and artificially-maintained sand beaches. Municipal and county owned parks provide access to beaches, nature preserves and passive and active waterfront recreational facilities. Several large harbors lie along the shore including Milton Harbor in Rye, Mamaroneck Harbor, Larchmont Harbor, and Echo Bay, and the upper and lower harbors in southern New Rochelle.

A number of islands can be found off the Long Island Sound shore, most of which are located in New Rochelle. Davids Island, the former location of the U.S. Army's Fort Slocum, is currently unoccupied but is slated for use as passive parkland; Glen Island, currently a Westchester Parks Department run beach and park, was one of the first amusement parks in the country serving as a summer resort at the turn of the twentieth century; Huckleberry Island is largely undeveloped, and has one of the largest rookeries in western Long Island Sound; Echo Island is owned and used by a private yacht club; Execution Rocks is the site of a 19th-century lighthouse listed on the National Register of Historic Places; Columbia, Pea, and Goose Islands are undeveloped; Clifford, Harrison and Tank Islands are part of the "Five Islands Park" and nature preserve; while Oak and Pine Islands are used as private residences.

Hudson River
The widest section of the Hudson River, at 3.6 mi, is found between the Westchester and Rockland County shorelines immediately north of Croton Point. In Colonial times, this area was called the Tappan Zee or Sea. The Hudson River is tidal and brackish through Westchester and contains a small number of estuarine marshes. Two bridges span the Hudson in Westchester: the Bear Mountain Bridge crosses at Cortlandt and the Tappan Zee Bridge at Tarrytown. Municipal, county and state-owned parks provide access to waterfront landmarks and sites, including Croton Point in Croton, Kingsland Point in Sleepy Hollow and JFK Memorial Marina in Yonkers.

The Hudson River waterfront in Westchester is in a transitional period, converting from primarily industrial uses to mixed residential, commercial, retail, and recreational uses. This transformation is most notable in Yonkers, Hastings-on-Hudson, Dobbs Ferry, Irvington, Tarrytown, Sleepy Hollow, Ossining, and Peekskill, where redevelopment projects are in various stages of design and completion. In 2004, the county began a project to create Westchester RiverWalk, a walkway along the Hudson River of 51.5 mi which will provide pedestrian access between New York City and Putnam County. 32.9 miles of the route are complete and accessible.

At 987 feet, the highest elevation in the county is a U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey benchmark known as "Bailey" in Mountain Lakes Park near the Connecticut state line. The lowest elevation is sea level, along both the Hudson and Long Island Sound.

Watersheds

Westchester County is divided into six primary drainage basins or watersheds: the Upper and Lower Long Island Sound; and the Bronx, Upper Hudson, Lower Hudson, and Croton River basins. Within these primary drainage basins are approximately 60 smaller basins, or subwatersheds. The principal streams draining the southern part of the county include Beaver Swamp Brook, Blind Brook, Bronx River, Hutchinson River, Mamaroneck River, Saw Mill River, Sheldrake River, Stephenson Brook and Tibbetts Brook. The primary streams draining the central part of the county include Byram River, Kisco River, Mianus River, Mill River, Pocantico River and Silvermine River. The principal streams draining the northern part of the county include Dickey Brook, Furnace Brook, Hallocks Mill Brook, Hunter Brook, Muscoot River, Peekskill Hollow Brook, and Titicus River. The county contains several major reservoirs; The Croton system and the Kensico Reservoir are important components of the New York City water supply system. The system is a series of interconnected reservoirs and lakes in northern Westchester and Putnam Counties that provide 10% of New York City's water under normal conditions and up to 30% in times of drought. The components of the system include the New Croton Reservoir, the Cross River Reservoir, the Titicus Reservoir, the Amawalk Reservoir, and the Muscoot Reservoir. Other major reservoirs are the Kensico and Byram Lake Reservoir, while there are a number of smaller reservoirs throughout the county.

The Westchester County Department of Planning divides the county into North, Central and South sub-regions.

Geology
The rock that underlies Manhattan and Westchester is chiefly gneiss and mica-schist, with layers of dolomitic marble and serpentine.

Climate
The climate of Westchester County is borderline humid subtropical and humid continental (Köppen: Cfa/Dfa). Winters are cold, wet, and occasionally snowy throughout the county, with more snow inland in higher elevations. Summers are hot inland but cooler towards the coast, with somewhat of a relative dryness in the early part of summer. Precipitation is plentiful and in some elevated areas reaches over 50 inches. Snowfall is more common in Westchester than in New York City, with the exception of the southeast of the county where snowfall is often between 20 and 25 inches. In January, inland areas have a low of 21–26 °F and a high of 34–37 °F while coastal areas have a low of 27–30 °F and a high of 38–41 °F. In the summer, this effect is much milder. Coastal areas, including Mamaroneck, New Rochelle, Rye, and Port Chester have highs of 81–83 °F and lows of 68–73 °F, while inland highs will be 84–87 °F and lows will be 65–70 °F. Winds can be heavy, especially by the coast.

2010
As of 2010, there were 949,113 residents at an average density of 807 /sqmi. The racial makeup of the county was 57.4% non-Hispanic White, 15.6% African American, 0.4% Native American, 5.4% Asian, 0.1% Pacific Islander, 7.6% from other races, and 3.2% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 21.8% of the population. 71.7% spoke only English at home, while 14.4% spoke Spanish, 3.5% Italian, 1.1% Portuguese and 1.1% French at home.

There were 337,142 households, of which 34% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 53.9% were married couples living together, 12.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 30.2% were non-families. Of all households 25.7% were made up of individuals, and 10.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.67 and the average family size was 3.21.

Age distribution was 25% under the age of 18, 7.2% from 18 to 24, 30.4% from 25 to 44, 23.5% from 45 to 64, and 14% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females, there were 91.70 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 87.30 males.

According to census data, the per capita income for the county in 1999 was $36,726. The American Community Survey lists Westchester in 2011 with the median household income of $77,006, the 47th highest in the country. The U.S. Census Bureau reports that 6.4% of families and 8.7% (2003) of the population were below the poverty line, including 26.53% of those under age 18 and 7.60% of those age 65 or over.

2018
At the American Community Survey's 2018 estimates 967,612 people inhabited the county, up 18,499 from 2010's census. 53.1% of the county was non-Hispanic white, 16.6% Black or African American, 1.0% American Indian or Alaska Native, 6.4% Asian, 0.1% Pacific Islander, 2.5% from two or more races, and 25.1% Hispanic or Latino of any race. 25.6% of the population were foreign-born. 4.2% of the population was West Indian.

From 2014 to 2018 there were 375,852 housing units and 347,332 households. The owner-occupied housing rate was 61.3% and the median monthly owner costs of a house were $3,398 with a mortgage and $1,426 without. The median gross rent in 2018 was $1,493, up $517 from the monthly owner cost without a mortgage. The average persons per household in 2018 was 2.71 and 33.3% of residents spoke a language other than English at home. 21.9% of Westchester was under 18 and 17.1% were aged 65 and older.

Westchester County's median income was $92,758 and the per capita income was $54,572. The Census Bureau reported 65.4% of the county's residents aged 16 and older were employed in the civilian labor force, and 59.5% of women worked in the labor force. 8.3% of the county lived below the poverty line from 2014 to 2018.

2020
According to the 2020 American Community Survey, the county's Latino population was: 5.12% Puerto Rican, 4.46% Dominican, 4.14% Mexican, 2.73% Ecuadorian, 1.73% Guatemalan, 1.26% Colombian.

Expatriates
As of 2000, several different expatriate populations lived in Westchester County. Notable French communities are located in Larchmont, Mamaroneck, and New Rochelle; while Scarsdale, Tarrytown and Bronxville are the preferred locations for Japanese immigrants and Japanese Americans.

Health
In March 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, the state government ordered a one square mile "containment zone" in the northern part of the city of New Rochelle. Part of New Rochelle is adjacent to the Bronx, where the majority of New York State's COVID-19 positive cases were (as of May 8, 350,000 out of 20 million residents). As of April 22 there were a total of 25,276 cases, 838 deaths, and 9,371 recoveries. As of May 22, 2020, there were between 30 and 35,000 cases going both by COVID-19 testing and serological samples, constituting the highest number of highest per capita infections in the world: 3% out of 1 million residents. On May 26, 2020, the area started their first phase of reopening after being placed on lockdown for two months.

Communities
Westchester County has six cities, 19 towns, and 23 villages.

Cities in Westchester have many well established sub-areas within the municipal boundaries. Many of these are similar to hamlets and date back to as early as the late 1600s such as Cooper's Corners in New Rochelle. These areas also include some of the first planned communities in the country such as New Rochelle's Residence Park, Rochelle Park and Heights and Sutton Manor.

The six cities in the county are:

Any land area in the county that is not contained in one of the cities is in a town. A town may have from zero to multiple villages. The largest city in the county by population is Yonkers with over 211,000 residents. The city with the highest population density is Mount Vernon with a density of 15,564 individuals per square mile.

The towns of Harrison, Mount Kisco, and Scarsdale are coterminous with the village of the same name. Two villages are split between two towns: Briarcliff Manor crosses the border between Ossining town and Mount Pleasant, and Mamaroneck village straddles the boundary between Mamaroneck town and Rye town.

With the exception of the towns of Rye, Pelham, Harrison, Mount Kisco, and Scarsdale, all the towns contain area and residents which do not belong to any village. These areas may contain communities referred to as hamlets, or "unincorporated areas". Hamlets have no legal status and depend upon the town for all municipal government and services. There are also areas called census-designated places (CDPs), which are defined by the U.S. Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. A CDP may or may not correspond to a hamlet.

Because some municipalities have the same name, it is often necessary to indicate whether one is referring to the city, town, village, or hamlet. For example, the town of Rye is completely separate from the city of Rye. Pelham is the name of a town and also of a village in the town. The village of Mamaroneck is located partially in the town of Mamaroneck and partially in the town of Rye, but has nothing to do with the city of Rye.

ZIP Codes in Westchester often are not coterminous with the actual municipality borders, causing mailing addresses to sometimes differ from the actual municipal location in which a property resides. For instance, the ZIP Codes for Bronxville, Larchmont, Rye, and Scarsdale contain large areas that lie outside of those municipalities.

All of the towns have justice courts, and some of the villages do as well.

The towns are listed as follows:

 * Town
 * Villages (if any), one per bullet
 * CDPs (if any), all listed on a single bullet
 * Communities not in a village or CDP (if any), all listed on a single bullet
 * (The list of towns, villages, and CDPs is complete. The listing of additional communities should not be considered complete.)

 * Bedford, containing no villages:
 * (contains the CDPs of Bedford, Bedford Hills and Katonah)
 * (plus additional area belonging to no CDP)
 * Cortlandt, containing two villages:
 * Buchanan
 * Croton-on-Hudson
 * (contains the CDPs of Crugers, Montrose and Verplanck)
 * (plus additional area belonging to no village or CDP, including the community of Cortlandt Manor)
 * Eastchester, containing two villages:
 * Bronxville
 * Tuckahoe
 * (contains the CDP of Eastchester, which encompasses all area outside the villages)
 * Greenburgh, containing six villages:
 * Ardsley
 * Dobbs Ferry
 * Elmsford
 * Hastings-on-Hudson
 * Irvington
 * Tarrytown
 * (contains the CDPs of Fairview, Greenville and Hartsdale)
 * (plus additional area belonging to no village or CDP)
 * Harrison, coterminous with the village of the same name (includes the communities of Purchase and West Harrison)
 * Lewisboro, containing no villages:
 * (contains the CDP of Goldens Bridge)
 * (plus additional area belonging to no CDP, including the communities of Cross River, Lewisboro, South Salem, Vista and Waccabuc)
 * Mamaroneck, containing two villages:
 * Larchmont
 * Mamaroneck (shared with the Town of Rye)
 * (plus additional area belonging to no village (or CDP))
 * Mount Kisco, coterminous with village of same name
 * Mount Pleasant, containing three villages:
 * Briarcliff Manor (This village is shared with the Town of Ossining.)
 * Pleasantville
 * Sleepy Hollow (formerly named North Tarrytown)
 * (contains the CDPs of Hawthorne, Thornwood and Valhalla)
 * (plus additional area belonging to no village or CDP, including the community of Pocantico Hills)
 * New Castle, containing no villages:
 * (contains the CDPs of Chappaqua and Millwood)
 * (plus additional area belonging to no CDP)
 * North Castle, containing no villages:
 * (contains the CDP of Armonk)
 * (plus additional area belonging to no CDP, including the communities of Banksville and North White Plains)
 * North Salem, containing no villages:
 * (contains the portion of the CDP of Peach Lake that is not in Putnam County)
 * (plus additional area belonging to no CDP, including the communities of Croton Falls, Purdys and Salem Center)
 * Ossining, containing two villages:
 * Briarcliff Manor (This village is shared with the Town of Mount Pleasant.)
 * Ossining (The village of Ossining is contained within the Town of Ossining.)
 * (plus additional area belonging to no village or CDP, including the community of Crotonville)
 * Pelham, containing two villages:
 * Pelham (The Village of Pelham is contained within the Town of Pelham.)
 * Pelham Manor
 * (The villages cover the entire area of the town.)
 * (The village of North Pelham existed from 1896 to 1975, when it was merged into the village of Pelham.)
 * Pound Ridge, containing no villages:
 * (contains the CDP of Scotts Corners)
 * (plus additional area belonging to no CDP, including the community of Pound Ridge)
 * Town of Rye (Rye is also the name of a city.), containing three villages:
 * Mamaroneck (This village is shared with the Town of Mamaroneck. The portion in Rye is unofficially also called "Rye Neck". The city of Rye separates Mamaroneck from the rest of the town of Rye.)
 * Port Chester
 * Rye Brook (Prior to 1982, Rye Brook was the unincorporated area of the Town of Rye, and still shares the same ZIP Code as Port Chester.)
 * (The villages cover the entire area of the town.)
 * Scarsdale, coterminous with village of same name
 * Somers, containing no villages:
 * (contains the CDPs of Heritage Hills, Lincolndale and Shenorock)
 * (plus additional area belonging to no CDP, including the communities of Amawalk, Baldwin Place, Granite Springs, and Somers)
 * Yorktown, containing no villages:
 * (contains the CDPs of Crompond, Jefferson Valley-Yorktown, Lake Mohegan, Shrub Oak and Yorktown Heights)
 * (plus additional area belonging to no CDP, including the community of Kitchawan)

Economy
Due to its proximity to New York City, many Fortune 500 companies are headquartered in Westchester county, including:
 * MasterCard in the hamlet of Purchase
 * PepsiCo in the hamlet of Purchase
 * IBM in the hamlet of Armonk
 * ITT Corporation in the city of White Plains
 * Jarden in the city of Rye
 * Universal American in the city of White Plains
 * Regeneron Pharmaceuticals in the village of Tarrytown

High technology
Tech Valley is a marketing name for the eastern part of New York State, including the Hudson Valley and the Capital District. The term originated in 1998 to promote the Greater Albany metropolitan area as a competitor to regions such as Silicon Valley and Boston. It has since grown to represent the counties in New York between IBM's Westchester County plants in the south and the Canada–U.S. border to the north.

Biotechnology
Westchester County has also developed a burgeoning biotechnology sector in the 21st century, with over $1 billion in planned private investment as of 2016, spurring Westchester Magazine to nickname the county Biochester. In April 2017, county officials unveiled plans for an 80-acre, 3 million square-foot biotechnology hub to be built with US$1.2 billion in private investment on vacant land adjacent to Westchester Medical Center in Valhalla; the bioscience center, a public-private partnership, is anticipated to create 12,000 new jobs and include over 2.25 million square feet of biotechnology research space.

Education
Westchester County contains 48 public school districts, nearly 120 private college-preparatory and parochial schools, and 14 colleges and universities. Many public and private high schools are continuously ranked among the best in New York State and the United States. Public schools in the county are largely funded by local property taxes, and the median annual property tax bill for Westchester County residents was $13,842 in 2013, the highest in the United States. According to the 2018 rankings provided by the education website Niche, taking into account public comments, 28 of the top 100 school districts in the state of New York were located in Westchester County.

Historic sites
The Timothy Knapp House, built around 1670, is the oldest standing building in Westchester. Philipse Manor Hall and the Old Dutch Church of Sleepy Hollow are also among the oldest, built around 1682 and 1685 respectively. Philipse Manor Hall is located in Getty Square, Yonkers, and is operated by the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation.

Current National Historic Landmarks in the county are:

 * The Aaron Copland House
 * The Armour-Stiner House
 * The Boston Post Road Historic District which includes the Jay Estate and Rye Golf Club
 * The Elephant Hotel
 * The John Hartford House
 * The John Jay Homestead
 * The John William Draper House
 * Kykuit
 * Lyndhurst
 * Old Croton Aqueduct
 * Old Dutch Church of Sleepy Hollow
 * Philipse Manor Hall
 * Philipsburg Manor House
 * Playland
 * St. Paul's Church
 * Stepping Stones
 * Sunnyside
 * Thomas Paine Cottage
 * Van Cortlandt Manor
 * Villa Lewaro

The former Edwin H. Armstrong House is the only delisted National Historic Landmark in Westchester.

Libraries
Westchester County is served by the Westchester Library System, established in 1958. The system comprises 38 public libraries and 25 college and special libraries in the county. The Westchester Library Association is an organization which advocates on behalf of libraries and their personnel and support systems within Westchester County.

Other attractions

 * Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts, Katonah
 * Donald M. Kendall Sculpture Gardens, Purchase
 * The Emelin Theatre, Mamaroneck
 * The Hudson River Museum, Yonkers
 * The Jacob Burns Film Center, Pleasantville
 * Katonah Museum of Art, Katonah
 * Neuberger Museum of Art, Purchase
 * New Roc City, New Rochelle
 * Teatown Lake Reservation, Ossining
 * Westchester Jazz Orchestra, Chappaqua
 * Westchester Philharmonic, White Plains
 * Westchester County Center, White Plains
 * Mianus River Gorge, Bedford

African American history
There are 14 sites on Westchester County's African American Heritage Trail. The Trail was created in 2004.

Government
The Westchester County Government is headed by County Executive George Latimer. The district attorney is Miriam E. Rocah, and the County Clerk is Timothy C. Idoni. All three are Democrats.

Board of Legislators
The Westchester County Board of Legislators is the legislative branch of Westchester County. Currently, there are fifteen Democrats, one Republican, and one Conservative who caucuses with the Republicans. The current chair of the board is Vedat Gashi.

Politics

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Westchester County generally leans toward the political left in recent decades. The Republican nominee for president last won a majority in 1988.

Historically, Westchester County was a classic "Yankee Republican" county. It supported Republican presidential candidates in all but two elections from 1896 to 1988. The only exceptions were 1912, when the GOP was divided between William Howard Taft and Theodore Roosevelt, and 1964, when Lyndon B. Johnson won a national landslide and swept every county in New York. As a measure of how Republican the county was for years, it was one of the few counties where Franklin D. Roosevelt of neighboring Dutchess County was completely shut out in all four of his campaigns for president.

However, it swung Democratic in the early 1990s—much like other New York City suburbs. In the most recent national elections, Westchester voters tended to be far more Democratic than the national average. In fact, Westchester, after New York City and Albany County, has produced the biggest margins for statewide Democrats in recent years. Democratic voters are mainly concentrated in the more populated southern and central parts of the county. More than 63 percent of Westchester County voters voted for Barack Obama in the 2008 presidential race, the seventh-highest percentage of any New York county.

Currently, Westchester County is represented in the U.S. House by Republican and Democrat. Lawler's district covers most of the county's northern half. It also includes all of Rockland and Putnam Counties and a portion of Dutchess. Bowman's district includes most of the southern half of the county, including Yonkers, Mount Vernon, White Plains, New Rochelle and Rye along with a sliver of the Bronx.

Additionally, Republicans remain competitive with Democrats in state and local elections. For instance, it voted for Republican George Pataki, by a margin of 23.07% against Democratic candidate, Carl McCall in the gubernatorial race of 2002, and by 26.22% in 1998. Pataki hails from Westchester; he previously served as mayor of Peekskill and represented part of the county in the state Assembly and state Senate prior to being elected governor.

In 1998, County Executive Andrew Spano became just the second Democrat to hold the post in at least a half-century. In 2006, county legislator Andrea Stewart-Cousins defeated 20-year incumbent Nicholas Spano for a seat in the New York State Senate in a rematch of the 2004 race, which she had lost by only 18 votes. His brother, Assembly Member Mike Spano, switched parties in July 2007 to become a Democrat. District attorney Janet DiFiore also switched parties from Republican to Democratic in August 2007. In 2009, Republican Rob Astorino ousted three-term county executive Andy Spano, who had the endorsement of the New York Conservative Party, winning in a landslide. Astorino became the first Republican county executive since Andrew O'Rourke left the post in 1997. In 2011, the GOP broke the Democratic two-thirds majority in the county legislature by picking up two seats. However, two of the Democrats formed a coalition with the Republicans to control the board, with a Republican becoming vice-chair. In 2017 Democrats gained three seats to take outright control of the board. In 2019 Democrats gained two seats and in 2020 the last remaining Republican switched parties to become a Democrat. As of the 2021 elections the current composition is fifteen Democrats, one Republican and one Conservative.

Westchester County was the home of U.S. Vice President Nelson Rockefeller, who occupied the Kykuit mansion near the hamlet of Pocantico Hills.

The county is also home to 42nd U.S. President Bill Clinton and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who live in Chappaqua. Former First Lady Barbara Bush grew up in Rye.

Former U.S. President Donald Trump owns a home in Bedford. The 230-acre Seven Springs estate was acquired by Trump in 1996.

Law enforcement and emergency services
There are currently 42 local police agencies located in Westchester County. These agencies frequently work with one another and with other agencies, including county, state, and federal law enforcement agencies responsible for protecting Westchester County.

Westchester County has a wide array of emergency services and is the home to 58 municipal fire departments, one federal fire department, 42 ambulance services, three Haz-Mat teams, a volunteer technical rescue team, a fire academy and a fire investigations unit. Each department has career, volunteer or a combination of personnel. Westchester County Department of Emergency Services operates the main dispatching system for EMS and fire departments, located in Valhalla. The department also provides numerous support services for the various agencies throughout the county.

The Career Chief's Association, a cooperative of career fire departments, also operates the Special Operations Task Force. The force consists of six squad companies that can be rapidly assembled for a major hazardous materials incident, CBRNE event, collapse or confined space rescue, or other incident requiring a large number of HazMat or rescue technicians. Over 700 firefighters, police officers and EMS providers were trained to be part of this effort and serve over half the population of Westchester County including Yonkers, Mount Vernon, New Rochelle, White Plains, Scarsdale, Eastchester, and the Fairview, Hartsdale, and Greenville Fire Departments in the Town of Greenburgh.

Media
Notable county-wide media outlets include:

 * Print
 * The Daily Voice, a news website for Fairfield and Westchester Counties.
 * El Sol, a Spanish news website covering Connecticut and Westchester.
 * The Hudson Independent, a monthly newspaper serving Tarrytown, Sleepy Hollow and Irvington.
 * The Journal News, a daily newspaper and news website for Westchester, Rockland, and Putnam.
 * The Westchester County Press, a print newspaper produced in White Plains, part of the National Newspaper Publishers Association.
 * The Westchester Guardian, a print and online newspaper, distributed three days a week.
 * The Rivertowns Enterprise, a print and online newspaper covering Hastings-on-Hudson, Dobbs Ferry, Ardsley and Irvington.
 * The Scarsdale Inquirer, a weekly newspaper that serves the residents of Scarsdale and Greenburgh.* El Sentir Hispano Kaffury Latin Magazine, a magazine and website that covers news, culture, lifestyle, nightlife, shopping, and other local information within Westchester, New York. It is published monthly by Today Media, website https://www.kaffurymagazine.com
 * Westchester Magazine, a magazine and website that covers news, culture, lifestyle, nightlife, shopping, and other local information within Westchester County, New York. It is published monthly by Today Media, LLC, a company located in Rye, NY. Its circulation in 2010 was over 800,000.
 * Television and radio
 * FiOS1 Lower Hudson Valley, a television news station available on Verizon FiOS.
 * News 12 Westchester, a television news station.
 * WHUD (100.7 FM), a Peekskill station that focuses on the Hudson Valley.
 * WFAS (1230 AM), a White Plains talk radio station
 * WRNN-TV, a television news station in Rye Brook.
 * WVBN (103.9 FM), a Hartsdale radio station focusing on Westchester.
 * WVIP (93.5 FM, formerly known as WRTN), a Whitney Radio-owned New Rochelle radio station with varied programming.
 * WVOX (1460 AM), a Whitney Radio-owned New Rochelle radio station with varied programming.
 * WXPK (107.1 FM), a White Plains/Briarcliff Manor radio station for music.

Transportation
The combination of the county's numerous roadways and bridges, proximity to New York City, and the county's large population all lead to substantial traffic enforcement and busy local courts.

Transportation routes have been responsible for the county's development patterns, with city and town growth being most pronounced along these corridors. There are five mostly north–south corridors and three which traverse the county in the east–west direction. The north–south routes are (going from west to east): S. Route 9/Albany Post Rd/Broadway Corridor, the Saw Mill River Parkway Corridor, the Sprain Brook Parkway, the Hutchinson River Parkway, and the I-95/New England Thruway. The east–west corridors are, from south to north: the Cross County Parkway, the Cross Westchester Expressway/I-287, and the U.S. 202 corridor.

Major bridges
The Tappan Zee Bridge bridges the Hudson River between Tarrytown in Westchester and South Nyack in Rockland County; costing $4 billion, it was constructed during 2013–2017 to replace an earlier bridge at the same location and was renamed the Governor Mario M. Cuomo Bridge upon its opening. About 20 mi upstream, the Bear Mountain Bridge crosses the Hudson between Cortlandt and Orange County.

Public transit
Westchester County Airport serves the county, and is adjacent to White Plains. Bus service is provided by the Bee-Line Bus System (owned by the Westchester County Department of Public Works and Transportation) within Westchester and to/from the Bronx, Manhattan, and Putnam County. Additionally, the MTA Bus Company runs to and from Getty Square in Yonkers to Midtown Manhattan. The Hudson Link operates express bus routes from city centers and train stations in Tarrytown and White Plains to Nyack, Nanuet, Spring Valley in Rockland County on the opposite side of the Hudson River.

Additionally, NY Waterway operates a water ferry service between Ossining in Westchester and Haverstraw in Rockland County.

Railroads
Amtrak serves Croton-Harmon, New Rochelle, and Yonkers. Commuter rail service in Westchester is provided by Metro-North Railroad (operated by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority). Metro-North operates three lines in the county; west to east, they are the Hudson, the Harlem, and the New Haven lines. These are former operations of the New York Central and the New York, New Haven and Hartford railroads (and their successors, Penn Central and Conrail), each of which stops in the Bronx between Westchester and Manhattan.

In popular culture
Westchester County has been the home of many novelists, including Washington Irving. His most famous work is "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow", which is set at the Old Dutch Church of Sleepy Hollow among other locations in Sleepy Hollow, New York. The story has inspired a variety of works, including the 2013 television series Sleepy Hollow, set in the modern village.

In the X-Men multimedia series, the X-Mansion is located on the Titicus Reservoir, on Graymalkin Lane, outside of Salem Center. At the mansion, Professor Charles Xavier runs the Xavier "School for Gifted Youngsters" to educate mutant children and keeps a headquarters for the X-Men.

One of the most successful films shot in the county was the 1988 film Big. While the majority of the film takes place in New York City, the amusement park scenes were filmed in Rye Playland in Westchester.

American singer and songwriter Loudon Wainwright III recorded a song titled "Westchester County" for his 1983 LP record Fame and Wealth. It recounts his postwar upbringing in Bedford, Westchester County, New York.

In print media, the area is a frequent setting of the Nero Wolfe detective stories by Rex Stout, which ran from 1934 to 1975. An early documented mention of Westchester County is in the Trixie Belden series (which ran from 1948 to 1986). The series was set in Sleepyside-on-Hudson, a fictional village in the Hudson Valley. The original author, Julie Campbell Tatham, modeled the fictional Crabapple Farm in Sleepyside after her own home at Wolf Hollow on Glendale Road in Ossining. She also mentioned it in her last work in the series: Cherry Ames, Country Doctor's Nurse. Westchester is the primary setting and residence of the main characters in The Clique young adult novel series by Lisi Harrison. In Edward Lewis Wallant's novel The Pawnbroker, the main character Sol Nazerman lives in Mount Vernon.

In television, an early broadcast media presentation of Westchester County was on The Dick Van Dyke Show (1961–1966), whose main characters live in New Rochelle. Much was made of their suburban setting and Rob's separate world from New York City. The 1970s sitcom Maude was set in Tuckahoe. In the final season of the American sitcom Friends, the characters Monica and Chandler moved from New York City to live in Westchester. In the CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother, Future Ted and his family live in Westchester. In the AMC show Mad Men, Ossining is home to main characters Don Draper and his family. From season 4, Don lives in Manhattan and Betty lives with Henry Francis and the children in Rye. The animated show Big Mouth is also set in Westchester County, where creator Nick Kroll grew up.

E. L. Doctorow's novel Ragtime and the subsequent musical adaptation Ragtime: The Musical are both partially set in New Rochelle. The town serves as a setting that represents the affluence of white suburbanites in the early stages of the 20th century.

title: Westchester County, New York


text:
Talk:Software development process

Agile, Waterfall, Spiral – Frameworks or Models rather than Methodologies
I don't feel comfortable calling Agile, Waterfall and even Spiral a "methodology". These approaches of software development are rather frameworks or models than methodologies. Agile makes that particularly clear: It provides a number of values, philosophies and principles, and advocates certain development approaches, but nonetheless doesn't prescribe (or dictate) them in a way that a methodology such as Scrum does. If there are no objections, I'd like to change that in the article. – invenio t c 05:57, 7 August 2017 (UTC)

Sadly, nobody changed the article. And they certainly aren't "methodologies" by Wikipedia's definition of the term. They're methods.

Gypsydave5 (talk) 21:26, 12 October 2021 (UTC)

I suggest that the ISO/IEC definition of "methodology" should be our reference definition for improvements on this article. see ISO 24744 - Preview --Dobinator (talk) 09:20, 1 May 2022 (UTC)

Content overlap
Isn't there too much overlap with Software development? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 60.181.12.28 (talk) 07:27, 21 November 2017 (UTC)

Software development is not a compound word
My edit summary was incorrect, but this is about software development, which is not a compound word. A discussion should be undertaken before assumptions like this are made again. Walter Görlitz (talk) 14:29, 21 March 2019 (UTC)

Extreme programming "other than agile"?
The following paragraph describes extreme programming as "other than agile", but extreme programming is widely (also according to Wikipedia) regarded as a type of agile software development.

"Most modern development processes can be vaguely described as agile. Other methodologies include waterfall, prototyping, iterative and incremental development, spiral development, rapid application development, and extreme programming." Olaeld (talk) 08:59, 20 September 2023 (UTC)

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Talk:Software development process


text:
Nassau County, New York

Nassau County is a suburban county located on Long Island, immediately to the east of New York City, bordering the Long Island Sound on the north and the open Atlantic Ocean to the south. As of the 2020 United States census, Nassau County's population was 1,395,774, making it the sixth-most populous county in the State of New York, and reflecting an increase of 56,242 (+4.2%) from the 1,339,532 residents enumerated at the 2010 census. Its county seat is Mineola, while the county's largest and most populous town is Hempstead. As with the remainder of Long Island, Nassau County lies in the southeastern region of New York State.

Situated on western Long Island, the County of Nassau borders New York City's borough of Queens to its west, and Long Island's Suffolk County to its east. It is the most densely populated and second-most populous county in the State of New York outside of New York City, with which it maintains extensive rail and highway connectivity, and is considered one of the central counties within the New York metropolitan area.

Nassau County comprises two cities, three towns, 64 incorporated villages, and more than 60 unincorporated hamlets. Nassau County has a designated police department, fire commission, and elected executive and legislative bodies. A 2012 Forbes article based on the American Community Survey reported Nassau County as the most expensive county and one of the highest income counties in the U.S., and the most affluent in New York state, with four of the nation's top ten towns by median income located in the county. As of 2024, the median home price overall in Nassau County is approximately US$750,000, and the Gold Coast of Nassau County features some of the world's most expensive real estate.

Nassau County high school students often feature prominently as winners of the International Science and Engineering Fair and similar STEM-based academic awards. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in the Town of Oyster Bay; the Old Westbury campus of New York Institute of Technology; Zucker School of Medicine in the Village of Hempstead; and the Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research in Manhasset, are prominent life sciences research and academic institutions in Nassau County. The presence of numerous prominent health care systems has made Nassau County a central hub for advanced medical care and technology. Eight cricket matches of the 2024 ICC Men's T20 World Cup were played at the cricket stadium in East Meadow in June 2024.

Etymology
The name of Nassau County originated from an old name for Long Island, which was at one time named Nassau, after the Dutch family of King William III of England, the House of Nassau, itself named after the German town of Nassau. The county colors (orange and blue) are also the colors of the House of Orange-Nassau.

Several alternate names had been considered for the county, including "Bryant", "Matinecock" (a village within the county currently has that name), "Norfolk" (presumably because of the proximity to Suffolk County), and "Sagamore". However, "Nassau" had the historical advantage of having at one time been the name of Long Island itself, and was the name most mentioned after the new county was proposed in 1875.

History
The area now designated as Nassau County was originally the eastern 70% of Queens County, one of the original twelve counties formed in 1683, and was then contained within two towns: Hempstead and Oyster Bay. In 1784, the Town of North Hempstead, was formed through secession by the northern portions of the Town of Hempstead. Nassau County was formed in 1899 by the division of Queens County, after the western portion of Queens had become a borough of New York City in 1898, as the three easternmost towns seceded from the county.

When the first European settlers arrived, among the Native Americans to occupy the present area of Nassau County were the Marsapeque, Matinecoc, and Sacatogue. Dutch settlers in New Netherland predominated in the western portion of Long Island, while English settlers from Connecticut occupied the eastern portion. Until 1664, Long Island was split, roughly at the present border between Nassau and Suffolk counties, between the Dutch in the west and Connecticut claiming the east. The Dutch did grant an English settlement in Hempstead (now in western Nassau), but drove settlers from the present-day eastern Nassau hamlet of Oyster Bay as part of a boundary dispute. In 1664, all of Long Island became part of the English Province of New York within the Shire of York. Present-day Queens and Nassau were then just part of a larger North Riding. In 1683, the colonial territory of Yorkshire was dissolved, Suffolk County and Queens County were established, and the local seat of government was moved west from Hempstead to Jamaica (now in New York City).

By 1700, virtually none of Long Island's area remained unpurchased from the Native Americans by the English colonists, and townships controlled whatever land had not already been distributed. The courthouse in Jamaica was torn down by the British during the American Revolution to use the materials to build barracks.

In 1784, following the American Revolutionary War, the Town of Hempstead was split in two, when Patriots in the northern part formed the new Town of North Hempstead, leaving Loyalist majorities in the Town of Hempstead. About 1787, a new Queens County Courthouse was erected (and later completed) in the new Town of North Hempstead, near present-day Mineola (now in Nassau County), known then as Clowesville. * The Long Island Rail Road reached as far east as Hicksville in 1837, but did not proceed to Farmingdale until 1841 due to the Panic of 1837. The 1850 census was the first in which the population of the three western towns (Flushing, Jamaica, and Newtown) exceeded that of the three eastern towns that are now part of Nassau County. Concerns were raised about the condition of the old courthouse and the inconvenience of travel and accommodations, with the three eastern and three western towns divided on the location for the construction of a new one. Around 1874, the seat of county government was moved to Long Island City from Mineola. As early as 1875, representatives of the three eastern towns began advocating the separation of the three eastern towns from Queens, with some proposals also including the towns of Huntington and Babylon (in Suffolk County).
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In 1898, the western portion of Queens County became a borough of the City of Greater New York, leaving the eastern portion a part of Queens County but not part of the Borough of Queens. As part of the city consolidation plan, all town, village, and city (other than NYC) governments within the borough were dissolved, as well as the county government with its seat in Jamaica. The areas excluded from the consolidation included all of the Town of North Hempstead, all of the Town of Oyster Bay, and most of the Town of Hempstead (excluding the Rockaway Peninsula, which was separated from the Town of Hempstead and became part of the city borough). In 1899, following approval from the New York State Legislature, the three towns were separated from Queens County, and the new county of Nassau was constituted.

In preparation for the new county, in November 1898, voters had selected Mineola to become the county seat for the new county (before Mineola incorporated as a village in 1906 and set its boundaries almost entirely within the Town of North Hempstead), winning out over Hicksville and Hempstead. The Garden City Company (founded in 1893 by the heirs of Alexander Turney Stewart) donated four acres of land for the county buildings in the Town of Hempstead, just south of the Mineola train station and the present day village of Mineola. The land and the buildings have a Mineola postal address, but are within the present day Village of Garden City, which did not incorporate, nor set its boundaries, until 1919. In 1917, the hamlet of Glen Cove was granted a city charter, making it independent from the Town of Oyster Bay. In 1918, the village of Long Beach was incorporated in the Town of Hempstead. In 1922, it became a city, making it independent of the town. These are the only two administrative divisions in Nassau County identified as cities.

From the early 1900s until the Depression and the early 1930s, many hilly farmlands on the North Shore were transformed into luxurious country estates for wealthy New Yorkers, with the area receiving the "Gold Coast" moniker and becoming the setting of F. Scott Fitzgerald's 1925 novel The Great Gatsby. One summer resident of the Gold Coast was President Theodore Roosevelt, at Sagamore Hill. In 1908, William Kissam Vanderbilt constructed the Long Island Motor Parkway as a toll road through Nassau County. With overpasses and bridges to remove intersections, it was among the first limited access motor highways in the world, and was also used as a racecourse to test the capabilities of the fledgling automobile industry.

Nassau County, with its extensive flat land, was the site of many aviation firsts. Military aviators for both World Wars were trained on the Hempstead Plains at installations such as Mitchel Air Force Base, and a number of successful aircraft companies were established. Charles Lindberg took off for Paris from Roosevelt Field in 1927, completing the first non-stop trans-Atlantic flight from the United States. Grumman (which in 1986 employed 23,000 people on Long Island ) built many planes for World War II, and later contributed the Apollo Lunar Module to the Space program.

The United Nations Security Council was temporarily located in Nassau County, from 1946 till 1951. Council meetings were held at the Sperry Gyroscope headquarters in the village of Lake Success, near the border with Queens County. It was here that on June 27, 1950, the Security Council voted to back U.S. President Harry S Truman and send a coalition of forces to the Korean Peninsula, leading to the Korean War.

Until World War II, most of Nassau County was still farmland, particularly in the eastern portion. Following the war, the county saw an influx of people from the five boroughs of New York City, especially from Brooklyn and Queens, who left their urban dwellings for a more suburban setting. This led to a massive population boom in the county. In 1947, William Levitt built his first planned community in Nassau County, in the Island Trees section (later renamed Levittown; this should not be confused with the county's first planned community, which in general is Garden City). In the 1930s, Robert Moses had engineered curving parkways and parks such as Jones Beach State Park and Bethpage State Park for the enjoyment of city-dwellers; in the 1950s and 1960s the focus turned to alleviating commuter traffic.

In 1994, Federal Judge Arthur Spatt declared the Nassau County Board of Supervisors unconstitutional and directed that a 19-member legislature be formed. Republicans won 13 seats in the election and chose Bruce Blakeman as the first Presiding Officer (Speaker).

According to a Forbes magazine 2012 survey, residents of Nassau County have the 12th highest median household annual income in the country and the highest in the state. In the 1990s, however, Nassau County experienced substantial budget problems, forcing the county to near bankruptcy. Thus, the county government increased taxes to prevent a takeover by the state of New York, leading to the county having high property taxes. Nevertheless, on January 27, 2011, a State of New York oversight board seized control of Nassau County's finances, saying the wealthy and heavily taxed county had failed to balance its $2.6 billion budgets.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 453.2 sqmi, of which 284.7 sqmi is land and 168.5 sqmi (37%) is water.

Nassau County borders the Long Island Sound on the north and the open Atlantic Ocean on the south. The county occupies a portion of Long Island immediately east of the New York City borough of Queens. It is divided into two cities and three towns, the latter of which contain 64 villages and numerous hamlets. The county borders Connecticut across the Long Island Sound.

Between the 1990 U.S. census and the 2000 U.S. census, the Nassau County exchanged territory with Suffolk County and lost territory to Queens County. Dozens of CDPs had boundaries changed, and 12 new CDPs were listed.

Climate
Nassau County has a climate similar to other coastal areas of the Northeastern United States; it has warm, humid summers and cool, wet winters. The county's climate is classified as humid subtropical (Cfa) according to the Köppen climate classification. According to the Trewartha climate classification the climate is oceanic (Do) since six to seven months average above 50″F (10″C). The Atlantic Ocean helps bring afternoon sea breezes that temper the heat in the warmer months and limit the frequency and severity of thunderstorms. Nassau County has a moderately sunny climate, averaging between 2,400 and 2,800 hours of sunshine annually. The hardiness zone is 7b.

Adjacent counties
Nassau County borders the following counties:
 * Fairfield County, Connecticut – north (maritime boundary)
 * Queens County – west
 * Suffolk County – east
 * Westchester County – northwest (maritime boundary)
 * Bronx County— northwest (maritime boundary)

Transportation
In July 2017, the approval was granted by state legislators to the plan proposed by New York Governor Andrew Cuomo to add a third railroad track to the Long Island Rail Road corridor between the communities of Floral Park and Hicksville in Nassau County. The nearly US$2 billion transportation infrastructure enhancement project was expected to accommodate anticipated growth in rail ridership and facilitate commutes between New York City and Nassau and Suffolk counties on Long Island.

The Long Island Expressway, Northern State Parkway, and Southern State Parkway are the primary east–west controlled-access highways in Nassau County. Northern Boulevard (New York State Route 25A), Hillside Avenue (New York State Route 25B), Jericho Turnpike (New York State Route 25), New York State Route 24, and Sunrise Highway (New York State Route 27) are also major east–west commercial thoroughfares across the county. The Meadowbrook State Parkway, Wantagh State Parkway, and Seaford-Oyster Bay Expressway (New York State Route 135) are the major north–south controlled-access highways traversing Nassau County.

Nassau County also has a public bus network known as NICE (Nassau Inter-County Express, formerly MTA Long Island Bus) that operates routes throughout the county into Queens and Suffolk counties. 24 hour service is provided on the n4, n6, and most recently the n40/41 lines.

National protected areas

 * Oyster Bay National Wildlife Refuge
 * Sagamore Hill National Historic Site
 * Lido Beach Wildlife Management Area, a part of the Long Island National Wildlife Refuge Complex

Demographics
At the 2019 American Community Survey, the population of Nassau County stood at 1,356,924, an increase of 17,392 since the 2010 census. At the 2010 U.S. census, there were 1,339,532 people, 448,528 households, and 340,523 families residing in the county. The population of Nassau County was estimated by the U.S. Census Bureau to have increased by 2.2% to 1,369,514 in 2017, representing 6.9% of the census-estimated State of New York population of 19,849,399 and 17.4% of the census-estimated Long Island population of 7,869,820. At the 2000 United States census, there were 1,334,544 people, 447,387 households, and 347,172 families residing in the county.

In 2010, there were 340,523 family households. 33.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them. 60.0% were married couples living together. 11.7% had a female householder with no husband present. 24.1% were non-families. 20.1% of all households were made up of individuals. 15.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.94. The average family size was 3.38.

In 2010, the population was 23.3% under the age of 18. 18.7% were 62 years of age or older. The median age was 41.1 years. For every 100 females, there were 93.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 90.4 males. In 2019, there were 474,165 housing units and 446,977 family households. From 2015 to 2019, there was an average of 2.99 persons per household, and 21.4% of the population was under 18 years of age.

At the 2019 American Community Survey, Nassau had a median household income of $116,100. The per capita income was $51,422. About 5.6% of the population lived at or below the poverty line. The median income for a household in the county in 2010 was $72,030. and the median income for a family was $81,246. These figures had risen to $87,658 and $101,661 respectively according to a 2007 estimate. Males had a median income of $52,340 versus $37,446 for females. The per capita income for the county was $32,151. About 3.50% of families and 5.20% of the population were below the poverty line, including 5.80% of those under age 18 and 5.60% of those age 65 or over.

The population density in 2010 was 4,700 /mi2. In 2000, the population density was 4,655 PD/sqmi. In the 2010 census, there were 468,346 housing units at an average density of 1,598 /sqmi.

Race and ethnicity
In 2010, the racial makeup of the county was 73.0% White (65.5% non-Hispanic white), 10.1% African American, 0.2% Native American, 7.6% Asian (3.0% Indian, 1.8% Chinese, 1.0% Korean, 0.7% Filipino, 0.1% Japanese, 0.1% Vietnamese, 0.9% Other Asian), 0.03% Pacific Islander, 5.6% from other races, and 2.4% from two or more races. Hispanics or Latinos of any race were 15.6% of the population. In 2019, Nassau County's racial and ethnic makeup was 58.2% non-Hispanic white, 11.3% Black or African American, 0.2% American Indian or Alaska Native, 10.3% Asian, 0.7% some other race, and 1.9% two or more races. The Hispanic and Latin American population increased to 17.5% of the population. In 2011, there were about 230,000 Jewish people in Nassau County, representing 17.2% of the population, (as compared to 2% of the total U.S. population). Italian Americans also made up a large portion of Nassau's population. The five most reported ancestries were Italian (23%), Irish (14%), German (7%), Indian (5%), and Polish (4%). The county's population was highest at the 1970 U.S. census. More recently, a Little India community has emerged in Hicksville, Nassau County, spreading eastward from the more established Little India enclaves in Queens. Rapidly growing Chinatowns have developed in Brooklyn and Queens, as did earlier European immigrants, such as the Irish and Italians. As of 2019, the Asian population in Nassau County had grown by 39% since 2010, to an estimated 145,191 individuals. There were approximately 50,000 Indian Americans and 40,000 Chinese Americans. Nassau County has become the leading suburban destination in the U.S. for Chinese immigrants. Likewise, the Long Island Koreatown originated in Flushing, Queens, and is expanding eastward along Northern Boulevard    and into Nassau County. The New York Times cited a 2002 study by the non-profit group ERASE Racism, which determined that Nassau, and its neighboring county, Suffolk, as the most de facto racially segregated suburbs in the United States.

Law enforcement
County police services are provided by the Nassau County Police Department. The cities of Glen Cove and Long Beach, as well as a number of villages, are not members of the county police district and maintain their own police forces. The following village police departments exist in Nassau County: Brookville (Brookville P.D. provides police protection for Brookville, Matinecock, Mill Neck and Cove Neck), Centre Island, Floral Park, Freeport, Garden City, Great Neck Estates, Hempstead, Kensington, Kings Point, Lake Success, Lynbrook, Malverne, Muttontown-Upper Brookville, Old Brookville, Old Westbury, Oyster Bay Cove, Rockville Centre and Sands Point.

The Port Washington Police District is not a village department but is authorized by a special district, the only such district in the State of New York. These smaller forces make use of such specialized county police services as the police academy and the aviation unit. All homicides in the county are investigated by the county police, regardless of whether or not they occur within the police district.

In June 2011, the Muttontown Police Department commenced operations. The Old Brookville Police had formerly provided police services to the Village of Muttontown.

On June 1, 2022, the Old Brookville Police Department reverted to serving only the Village of Old Brookville and moved its headquarters to the grounds of the Old Brookville village hall. The Village of Brookville formed a new police department, established headquarters on the grounds of the Brookville Nature Park and assumed policing duties for the villages of Brookville, Matinecock, Mill Neck and Cove Neck, that were formerly served by the Old Brookville Police Department. The Village of Upper Brookville joined the Muttontown Police Department which was subsequently renamed the Muttontown-Upper Brookville (MUB) Police Department. The former Old Brookville Police headquarters is now the Upper Brookville village hall and also a substation for the Muttontown-Upper Brookville Police Department.

In 2006, village leaders in the county seat of Mineola expressed dissatisfaction with the level of police coverage provided by the county force and actively explored seceding from the police district and having the village form its own police force. A referendum in December 2006 decisively defeated the proposal.

Since the Long Island State Parkway Police was disbanded in 1980, all of Nassau County's state parkways have been patrolled by Troop L of the New York State Police. State parks in Nassau are patrolled by the New York State Park Police. In 1996, the Long Island Rail Road Police Department was consolidated into the Metropolitan Transportation Authority Police. The MTA Police patrol Long Island Rail Road tracks, stations and properties. The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Police provides enforcement of state environmental laws and regulations. The State University of New York Police provides enforcement for SUNY Old Westbury.

The Nassau County Police Department posts the mug shots of DWI offenders as press releases on their website. This practice has come under the scrutiny of residents, media, and those pictured in these press releases. This practice has been criticized as being able to cost potential employees, students, or public figures their positions.

County correctional services and enforcement of court orders are provided by the Nassau County Sheriff's Department. New York State Court Officers provide security for courthouses.

The Nassau County Auxiliary Police are a unit of the Nassau County Police Department. These volunteer police officers are assigned to 1 of 38 local community units and perform routine patrols of the neighborhood. They provide traffic control for local parades, races and other community events. Auxiliary Police officers are empowered to make arrests for crimes that occur in their presence.

Nassau County Auxiliary Police are required to complete a 42-week training course at the Nassau County Police Academy. Qualified officers are offered Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) training. Auxiliary Police officers are certified and registered by the New York Division of Criminal Justice Services as full-time "peace officers". The City of Long Beach has an independent auxiliary police force which is part of its municipal police force. These officers are represented by the Auxiliary Police Benevolent Association of Long Island.

Fire departments
Nassau County is currently protected and served by 71 independent volunteer or combination paid/volunteer fire departments, organized into 9 battalions. The Nassau County Fire Commission also provides logistical support to all 71 departments.

Law and government
The head of the county's governmental structure is the county executive, a post created in Nassau County in 1938. The current county executive is Bruce Blakeman, a Republican who was elected in 2021. The chief deputy county executive is Republican Arthur Walsh. The district attorney is Republican Anne T. Donnelly, who was elected in 2021, replacing Acting District Attorney Joyce Smith. Smith succeeded Madeline Singas after she was nominated and confirmed as an associate judge on the New York Court of Appeals in June 2021.

The county comptroller is Elaine Phillips, a Republican who formerly served in the New York State Senate. The county clerk is Republican Maureen O'Connell. Former elected offices chairman of the County Board of Assessors, county treasurer, and county sheriff were made appointed and serve at the pleasure of the county executive (county assessor in 2008 via referendum, changing it from a six-year term to appointed).

County executive
The current Nassau County executive is Bruce Blakeman, a Republican.

Chief deputy county executive
The chief deputy county executive is the highest appointed official in the Nassau County government, serving second-in-command under the auspice of the county executive. The Chief Deputy is responsible for managing the activities of all departments of the Nassau County government, which provides services to its 1.36 million residents. The chief deputy also officially serves as the acting county executive in the absence of, or disability of the County Executive. The current chief deputy county executive is Arthur T. Walsh, who was appointed by Executive Bruce Blakeman in 2022.

Comptroller
The comptroller of Nassau County is the chief fiscal officer and chief auditing officer of the County who presides over the Nassau County Comptroller's Office. The comptroller is elected countywide to a four-year term and has no term limit.

* George Maragos was originally elected as a Republican, but became a Democrat in September 2016.

County legislature
The county legislature has 19 members. There are twelve Republicans and seven Democrats.

Politics

 * }

For most of the twentieth century, residents of Nassau County and neighboring Suffolk County primarily supported the Republican Party in national elections. In presidential elections during the first half of the century, the Republican candidate often received more than twice as many votes as the Democratic candidate. Between the county's incorporation in 1899 and the 1980s, Democrats only won Nassau County in the elections of 1912 (where Theodore Roosevelt's Progressive Party split the Republican vote) and 1964 (where Lyndon B. Johnson won in a landslide).

The county began trending Democratic in the 1990s, like many of New York City's suburbs. It has voted for a Democrat in every presidential election since 1992. Bill Clinton carried the county in 1992 and 1996, as did Al Gore in 2000, the latter two times by margins of nearly 20 points. John Kerry's margin in Nassau County was considerably slimmer (5.6%) in 2004, as he won the towns of Hempstead and North Hempstead but lost the town of Oyster Bay. The county went solidly for Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012, both times by around 8%. Hillary Clinton did marginally worse in 2016, winning by 6.2%. Joe Biden in 2020 fared better than Obama at 9.5%, but still not as well as Bill Clinton and Gore.

Democratic strength is chiefly concentrated in both the wealthier and lower income sections of the county. Liberal voters dominate many of the wealthy communities of the North Shore, particularly in the Town of North Hempstead where affluent villages such as Sands Point, Old Westbury, Roslyn, Kensington, Thomaston, Great Neck Plaza, and Great Neck Estates as well as the neighboring City of Glen Cove vote consistently Democratic. Democratic strongholds also include several low income municipalities in the central portion of the county, such as the Village of Hempstead, Roosevelt, Uniondale and New Cassel, as well as in a few waterfront communities on the South Shore, such as the City of Long Beach and the Village of Freeport.

Republican voters are primarily concentrated in the middle to upper middle class southeastern portion of the county, which developed during the "post-war boom era". Heavily Republican communities such as Massapequa, Massapequa Park, Seaford, Wantagh, Levittown, Bethpage, and Farmingdale are the political base of many county GOP officials such as former Congressman Peter T. King and former County Executive Edward P. Mangano. In the western portion of the county, wealthy Garden City is solidly Republican, as is the middle-class community of Floral Park. Additionally, some of the more rustic areas of the North Shore, particularly in the Town of Oyster Bay usually vote for the GOP.

Areas of the county containing large numbers of swing voters include East Meadow, Oceanside, and Rockville Centre on the South Shore and Mineola on the North Shore. Several areas have changed in partisan affiliation. Formerly Democratic strongholds such as the Five Towns and parts of Great Neck have trended to the GOP while previously Republican areas such as Elmont, Valley Stream and Baldwin have become Democratic bastions.

Although the county leans Democratic at the national level, Republicans swept all three of its U.S. House seats in the 2022 elections. The House seat of the North Shore, New York's 3rd Congressional District, is represented by Democrat Tom Suozzi. Anthony D'Esposito represents the South Shore along with Hempstead in the 4th district, and Andrew Garbarino represents Massapequa in the 2nd district.

Nassau County is split across five state senate districts, four of which are represented by Republicans and one of which is represented by a Democrat:
 * District 5 is represented by Senator Steven Rhoads (R) and covers Wantagh and North Wantagh, Merrick and North Merrick, Levittown, Salisbury, Farmingdale, Hicksville, and Bethpage.
 * District 6 is represented by Senator Kevin Thomas (D) and is a majority-minority district that covers Freeport, Rockville Centre, Hempstead (village), Uniondale, Garden City, and Westbury.
 * District 7 is represented by Senator Jack Martins (R) and covers the northern half of the county.
 * District 8 is represented by Senator Alexis Weik (R) and covers Massapequa and North Massapequa and parts of southwestern Suffolk County.
 * District 9 is represented by Senator Patricia Canzoneri-Fitzpatrick (R) and covers Valley Stream, Elmont, Floral Park, Malverne, Lynbrook, the Five Towns, East Rockaway, and Long Beach.

Education
Nassau County has 58 public school districts, which like post office districts use the same names as a city, hamlet, or village within them, but each sets the boundaries independently. School district and community are not the same, and residences often have postal addresses that differ from the hamlet and/or school district in which they are located. Several of Nassau County's school districts are among the highest ranked public school systems in the country, including the Jericho Union Free School District, Great Neck Public Schools, and the Syosset Central School District.

School districts include:

K-12:

 * Amityville Union Free School District
 * Baldwin Union Free School District
 * Bethpage Union Free School District
 * Carle Place Union Free School District
 * Cold Spring Harbor Central School District
 * East Meadow Union Free School District
 * East Rockaway Union Free School District
 * East Williston Union Free School District
 * Farmingdale Union Free School District
 * Freeport Union Free School District
 * Garden City Union Free School District
 * Glen Cove City School District
 * Great Neck Union Free School District
 * Hempstead Union Free School District
 * Herricks Union Free School District
 * Hewlett-Woodmere Union Free School District
 * Hicksville Union Free School District
 * Island Park Union Free School District
 * Island Trees Union Free School District
 * Jericho Union Free School District
 * Lawrence Union Free School District
 * Levittown Union Free School District
 * Locust Valley Central School District
 * Long Beach City School District
 * Lynbrook Union Free School District
 * Malverne Union Free School District
 * Manhasset Union Free School District
 * Massapequa Union Free School District
 * Mineola Union Free School District
 * North Shore Central School District
 * Oceanside Union Free School District
 * Oyster Bay-East Norwich Central School District
 * Plainedge Union Free School District
 * Plainview-Old Bethpage Central School District
 * Port Washington Union Free School District
 * Rockville Centre Union Free School District
 * Roosevelt Union Free School District
 * Roslyn Union Free School District
 * Seaford Union Free School District
 * Syosset Central School District
 * Uniondale Union Free School District
 * Wantagh Union Free School District
 * West Hempstead Union Free School District
 * Westbury Union Free School District

Secondary:
 * Bellmore-Merrick Central High School District
 * Sewanhaka Central High School District
 * Valley Stream Central High School District

Elementary:

 * Bellmore Union Free School District
 * Elmont Union Free School District
 * Floral Park-Bellerose Union Free School District
 * Franklin Square Union Free School District
 * Merrick Union Free School District
 * New Hyde Park-Garden City Park Union Free School District
 * North Bellmore Union Free School District
 * North Merrick Union Free School District
 * Valley Stream Union Free School District 13
 * Valley Stream Union Free School District 24
 * Valley Stream Union Free School District 30

Colleges and universities

 * United States Service Academy
 * United States Merchant Marine Academy – Kings Point
 * State University of New York
 * Nassau Community College – Garden City
 * SUNY Old Westbury – Old Westbury
 * Private
 * Adelphi University – Garden City
 * Five Towns College – Dix Hills
 * Hofstra University – Hempstead
 * Zucker School of Medicine
 * Maurice A. Deane School of Law
 * LIU Post – Brookville
 * Molloy University – Rockville Centre
 * New York Institute of Technology – Old Westbury
 * New York Institute of Technology College of Osteopathic Medicine
 * Webb Institute – Glen Cove

Sports
Nassau County is home to the New York Islanders of the National Hockey League, who played at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Uniondale from their inception in 1972. However, the Islanders announced in 2012 that starting in the fall of 2015, the team would be moving to Brooklyn and would play at the Barclays Center. Due to issues with Barclays Center being unable to adequately support ice hockey and declining attendance, the Islanders announced that for the 2018–19 season they would split their home games between Barclays Center and the newly renovated Nassau Coliseum. In December 2017, the Islanders won a bid to build a new 18,000-seat arena near Belmont Park in Elmont, returning them to Nassau County; UBS Arena opened in 2021.

The Brooklyn Nets of the National Basketball Association, then known as the New York Nets, formerly played their home games in Nassau County at the now-demolished Island Garden arena in West Hempstead from 1969 to 1972 and then at the Coliseum from 1972 to 1977, before the franchise moved to New Jersey—its original home for several years before coming to Long Island in the late 1960s – and eventually, to Brooklyn.

The New York Cosmos (1970–1985) of the former North American Soccer League (1968–1984) played for two seasons, 1972 and 1973, at Hofstra Stadium at Hofstra University in Hempstead. The team's name was revived in 2010 with the New York Cosmos (2010) of the new North American Soccer League to also play at Hofstra Stadium, which had been renamed James M. Shuart Stadium in 2002. Nassau County is also the home of the New York Lizards of Major League Lacrosse, who play at Shuart Stadium. The county also operates several sports events for student-athletes, such as the Nassau County Executive Cup College Showcase.

Belmont Park in Elmont is a major horse racing venue which annually hosts the Belmont Stakes, the third and final leg of the prestigious Triple Crown of thoroughbred racing. The now-demolished Roosevelt Raceway in Westbury hosted auto racing and, from 1940 through 1988, was a popular harness racing track. Nassau is home to some famous and historic golf courses. Rockaway Hunting Club, founded in 1878, is the oldest country club in the country. The U.S. Open has been held in Nassau five times, once each at Garden City Golf Club, Inwood Country Club, and Fresh Meadow Country Club, and twice at Bethpage Black Course, the first ever municipally owned course. Courses consistently ranked in the top 100 in the U.S. such as Bethpage Black, Garden City Golf Club, Piping Rock Club, and The Creek are located in the county. Nassau County hosted the 1984 Summer Paralympics, marking the first Paralympic Games to be held in the United States.

Nassau County was chosen by the International Cricket Council (ICC) to host eight cricket matches of the 2024 ICC Men's T20 World Cup at Eisenhower Park in East Meadow during June 2024. The county will receive $2.7 million in direct revenue from the tournament, which will leave Eisenhower Park with a legacy of permanent improvements to host large cricket tournaments henceforth.

Health
The first case of COVID-19 was reported in March 2020. As of January 12, 2021, there have been 104,078 cases, 3,044 deaths, 2,102,900 tests conducted, and a 4.9% positivity rate. According to The New York Times' COVID-19 tracker, Nassau County's average daily case count is 1,567 (116 per capita), with 1 in 13 testing positive (the third-worst of any county in the state) and 1 in 545 dying.

Communities
Figures in parentheses are 2019 population estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau.

Cities

 * Glen Cove (27,166)
 * Long Beach (33,454)

Towns

 * Hempstead (766,980)
 * North Hempstead (230,933)
 * Oyster Bay (298,391)

Villages

 * Atlantic Beach (1,902)
 * Baxter Estates (1,049)
 * Bayville (6,732)
 * Bellerose (1,162)
 * Brookville (3,605)
 * Cedarhurst (6,633)
 * Centre Island (409)
 * Cove Neck (301)
 * East Hills (7,233)
 * East Rockaway (9,814)
 * East Williston (2,550)
 * Farmingdale (9,002)
 * Floral Park (15,844)
 * Flower Hill (4,889)
 * Freeport (42,956)
 * Garden City (22,454)
 * Great Neck (10,209)
 * Great Neck Estates (2,879)
 * Great Neck Plaza (7,027)
 * Hempstead (55,113)
 * Hewlett Bay Park (429)
 * Hewlett Harbor (1,272)
 * Hewlett Neck (472)
 * Island Park (4,886)
 * Kensington (1,189)
 * Kings Point (5,292)
 * Lake Success (3,144)
 * Lattingtown (1,764)
 * Laurel Hollow (2,033)
 * Lawrence (6,556)
 * Lynbrook (19,448)
 * Malverne (8,485)
 * Manorhaven (6,627)
 * Massapequa Park (17,143)
 * Matinecock (833)
 * Mill Neck (967)
 * Mineola (19,207)
 * Munsey Park (2,710)
 * Muttontown (3,668)
 * New Hyde Park (9,807)
 * North Hills (5,969)
 * Old Brookville (2,187)
 * Old Westbury (4,614)
 * Oyster Bay Cove (2,254)
 * Plandome (1,466)
 * Plandome Heights (1,018)
 * Plandome Manor (902)
 * Port Washington North (3,199)
 * Rockville Centre (24,550)
 * Roslyn (2,902)
 * Roslyn Estates (1,233)
 * Roslyn Harbor (1,108)
 * Russell Gardens (946)
 * Saddle Rock (988)
 * Sands Point (2,905)
 * Sea Cliff (5,020)
 * South Floral Park (1,760)
 * Stewart Manor (1,956)
 * Thomaston (2,613)
 * Upper Brookville (1,744)
 * Valley Stream (37,431)
 * Westbury (15,351)
 * Williston Park (7,253)
 * Woodsburgh (780)

Census-designated places

 * Albertson
 * Baldwin
 * Barnum Island
 * Bay Park
 * Bellerose Terrace
 * Bellmore
 * Bethpage
 * Carle Place
 * East Atlantic Beach
 * East Massapequa
 * East Meadow
 * East Norwich
 * Elmont
 * Franklin Square
 * Garden City Park
 * Garden City South
 * Glen Head
 * Glenwood Landing
 * Great Neck Gardens
 * Greenvale
 * Harbor Hills
 * Harbor Isle
 * Herricks
 * Hewlett
 * Hicksville
 * Inwood
 * Jericho
 * Lakeview
 * Levittown
 * Lido Beach
 * Locust Valley
 * Malverne Park Oaks
 * Manhasset
 * Manhasset Hills
 * Massapequa
 * Merrick
 * New Cassel
 * North Bellmore
 * North Lynbrook
 * North Massapequa
 * North Merrick
 * North New Hyde Park
 * North Valley Stream
 * North Wantagh
 * Oceanside
 * Old Bethpage
 * Oyster Bay
 * Plainedge
 * Plainview
 * Point Lookout
 * Port Washington
 * Roosevelt
 * Roslyn Heights
 * Saddle Rock Estates
 * Salisbury
 * Seaford
 * Searingtown
 * South Farmingdale
 * South Hempstead
 * South Valley Stream
 * Syosset
 * Uniondale
 * University Gardens
 * Wantagh
 * West Hempstead
 * Woodbury
 * Woodmere

Former CDPs

 * Baldwin Harbor (now part of Baldwin)
 * East Garden City (now part of Uniondale)
 * Locust Grove (now part of Syosset)

County symbols

 * County bird: Osprey
 * County flower: Birdsfoot Violet (Viola pedata)

Notable people

 * Sean Hannity — conservative media host; grew up in Franklin Square, now lives in Centre Island
 * Rupert Murdoch — lived in Centre Island
 * MJF – professional Wrestler and current AEW World Champion, was born and lives in Plainview
 * Matt Cardona – professional Wrestler, Lived in Nassau County
 * Brian Myers – professional Wrestler, lived in Nassau County
 * Jon Gabrus — lived in Nassau County, worked at Jones Beach State Park as a lifeguard
 * Bob Keeshan — (Captain Kangaroo) was born in Lynbrook
 * Ben Cohen & Jerry Greenfield – (of Ben & Jerry Ice Cream) both grew up in Merrick
 * Kevin James – was born in Mineola
 * Tatyana Ali – from North Bellmore
 * Carol Alt – lived in the Willistons
 * Criss Angel – from East Meadow
 * Carmelo Anthony – is said to have a home in Hewlett Harbor
 * Marc Anthony – had a home in Brookville, with Jennifer Lopez
 * Judd Apatow – raised in Syosset
 * Fred Armisen – grew up in Valley Stream
 * Ashanti (singer) – native of Glen Cove
 * Dave Attell – raised in Rockville Centre
 * Ruth Bader Ginsburg – lived in Rockville Centre after getting married
 * John Barry (composer) – lived in Oyster Bay
 * The Baldwin brothers-in age order: Alec Baldwin (b. 1958), Daniel Baldwin (b. 1960), William Baldwin (b. 1963), and Stephen Baldwin (b. 1966) – were raised in the Nassau Shores area of Massapequa
 * Bruce Blakeman – first Presiding Officer, Port Authority Commissioner, Councilman, County Executive. From Valley Stream, now lives in Atlantic Beach.
 * Nikki Blonsky – grew up in Great Neck
 * Stephen Boyd (American football) – native of Valley Stream
 * Lorraine Bracco – grew up in Hicksville
 * Nicholas Braun – native of Bethpage
 * Jim Breuer – grew up in Valley Stream
 * Jim Brown – grew up in Manhasset
 * Lenny Bruce – native of Mineola and Bellmore
 * William Cullen Bryant – lived at Cedarmere in Roslyn Harbor
 * Edward Burns – grew up in Valley Stream
 * Steve Buscemi and Michael Buscemi– grew up in Valley Stream
 * Cab Calloway – lived in Long Beach for a time
 * Eddie Cantor – lived in Great Neck
 * Theresa Caputo – lives in Hicksville
 * William J. Casey – lived in Bellmore and Roslyn Harbor
 * Vernon and Irene Castle – lived in Long Beach
 * Elaine Chao – grew up in Syosset
 * Harry Chapin – lived in Jericho
 * Michael Cimino – grew up in Westbury
 * Speedy Claxton – from Hempstead
 * Billy Crystal – is from Long Beach
 * Anthony Cumia – radio host, owns a home in Roslyn Heights
 * Chuck D – grew up in Roosevelt
 * Al D'Amato – US Senator, former Hempstead Supervisor, lived in Island Park and Lido Beach
 * Michelle DaRosa – also known as Michelle Nolan, grew up in Rockville Centre
 * Carson Daly – resides in Flower Hill
 * Tony Danza – Native of Malverne
 * Candy Darling – lived in Massapequa Park
 * Taylor Dayne – grew up in Baldwin
 * Dave DeBusschere – lived in Garden City
 * Gary Dell'Abate – native of Uniondale
 * Nelson DeMille – lives in Garden City
 * Ted Demme – native of Rockville Centre
 * Jonathan Demme – grew up in Baldwin
 * Brian Dennehy – grew up in Mineola
 * Tim Dillon – grew up in Island Park
 * Mort Drucker – lived in Syosset
 * Julius Erving – native of Roosevelt
 * Everlast – grew up in Valley Stream
 * Perry Farrell – grew up in Woodmere
 * D'Brickashaw Ferguson – grew up in Freeport
 * WC Fields – lived in Great Neck
 * Flavor Flav – grew up in Freeport
 * Whitey Ford – lived in Glen Cove
 * Mike Francesa – radio host. Born in Long Beach, lives in Flower Hill
 * Bev Francis – IFBB professional Australian female bodybuilder, powerlifter, and national shot put champion; lives in Syosset
 * William Gaddis – grew up in Massapequa; later lived in East Hampton
 * John R. Gambling – radio host; lifelong county resident
 * Joe Gatto (comedian) – lives in Lynbrook
 * Pamela Geller – blogger, author, political activist, and commentator
 * Debbie Gibson – grew up in Merrick
 * Danny Green – played high school basketball in Manhasset
 * Ellie Greenwich – lived in Levittown
 * Bill Griffith – raised in Levittown
 * Steve Guttenberg – raised in North Massapequa
 * Tobias Harris – basketball player for the Philadelphia 76ers, lives in Syosset
 * George "Gabby" Hayes – lived in Baldwin
 * Joey Heatherton – grew up in Rockville Centre
 * Ray Heatherton – lived in Rockville Centre
 * William S. Hofstra – lived in Hempstead
 * Red Holzman – lived in Cedarhurst
 * Al Iaquinta – grew up in Valley Stream
 * Dan Ingram – native of Oceanside
 * Joan Jett – lives in Long Beach
 * Billy Joel – grew up in Hicksville, and has a home in Centre Island
 * Christine Jorgensen – lived in Massapequa Park
 * JWoww – lived in Franklin Square
 * Donna Karen – raised in Woodmere
 * Andy Kaufman – raised in Great Neck and Westbury
 * Charlie Kaufman – grew up in Massapequa
 * Wendy Kaufman – lived in North Woodmere
 * Doris Kearns Goodwin – lived in Rockville Centre
 * Greg Kelly – native of Rockville Centre
 * Alicia Keys – once had a home in Muttontown
 * Jack Kirby – lived in Hewlett Harbor
 * Aline Kominsky-Crumb – native of Long Beach
 * Michael Kors – grew up in Merrick
 * Sandy Koufax – lived in Rockville Centre
 * Ron Kovic – from Massapequa
 * Ed Kranepool – lives in Old Westbury
 * Paul Krugman – grew up in Merrick
 * Tim Kubart – of Postmodern Jukebox is from Farmingdale
 * Jesse Lacey – native of Levittown
 * Erik Larson (author) – lived in Freeport
 * Cyndi Lauper – briefly lived in Valley Stream
 * Adam Lazzara – lived in Bellmore
 * Stan Lee – lived in Hewlett Harbor
 * Carol Leifer – grew up in East Williston
 * The Lemon Twigs – based out of Hicksville
 * John Lennon – briefly lived in Laurel Hollow
 * Alan Jay Lerner – lived in Centre Island
 * Wendy Liebman – grew up in East Hills
 * Scott Lipsky (born 1981) – tennis player, born in Hempstead
 * Peggy Lipton – raised in Lawrence
 * Lindsay Lohan – her family resides in North Merrick
 * Guy Lombardo – lived in Freeport
 * Jennifer Lopez – had a home in Brookville, with Marc Anthony
 * Susan Lucci – soap opera star grew up and still has a residence in Garden City
 * Chuck Lorre – native of Plainview
 * Lori Loughlin – raised in Oceanside
 * Elliot S. Maggin – DC Comics writer lived in Merrick
 * The Marx Brothers – lived in Great Neck
 * Jackie Martling – grew up in Mineola
 * Christopher Masterson and Danny Masterson are from East Williston
 * John McEnroe – lived in Cove Neck
 * Michael McKean – raised in Sea Cliff
 * Kate McKinnon of Saturday Night Live – grew up in Sea Cliff
 * Anne Meara – raised in Rockville Centre
 * John Melendez – Stuttering John from Howard Stern show – from Massapequa
 * Idina Menzel – from Syosset
 * Method Man – lived in Hempstead
 * Steve Madden – grew up in Lawrence
 * Larry Miller – grew up in Valley Stream
 * Harvey Milk – native of Woodmere and Hewlett
 * MF Doom – lived in Long Beach
 * Eddie Money lived in Levittown
 * Les Moonves – grew up in Valley Stream
 * Rita Moreno – lived in North Valley Stream
 * Errol Morris – grew up in Hewlett
 * Sterling Morrison – native of East Meadow
 * John Moschitta Jr. – native of Uniondale
 * Charlie Murphy – grew up in Roosevelt
 * Eddie Murphy – grew up in Roosevelt
 * Elliott Murphy – from Rockville Centre
 * Billy Murray (singer) – lived in Freeport
 * John Nolan (musician) – grew up in Rockville Centre
 * Ole Olsen (comedian) – lived for a time in Malverne
 * Momina Mustehsan – Pakistani singer, engineer; lives part-time in Nassau County
 * Bill O'Reilly – resides in Plandome; grew up in Westbury
 * Daryl Palumbo – lived in Bellmore
 * Adam Pascal – lived in Woodbury
 * Slim Jim Phantom – grew up in Massapequa
 * Natalie Portman – actress, grew up in Syosset
 * Gary Portnoy – lived in North Woodmere
 * C.W. Post and his daughter Marjorie Merriweather Post lived in Brookville. Her daughter, actress Dina Merrill spent time there too
 * Thomas Pynchon – born in Glen Cove and grew up in Oyster Bay
 * pH-1 — singer and rapper, grew up on Long Island
 * Prodigy (rapper) – native of Hempstead
 * Sheryl Lee Ralph — graduated from Uniondale High School
 * Lee Ranaldo – native of Glen Cove
 * Lou Reed – Grew up in Freeport
 * Busta Rhymes – from Uniondale
 * Joel Rifkin – lived in East Meadow
 * Theodore Roosevelt, 26th US president, lived on Oyster Bay during his presidency. His estate, Sagamore Hill, is now a US National Historic Site
 * Eleanor Roosevelt and her father Elliott Roosevelt lived in Salisbury
 * Jeff Rosenstock – from Baldwin
 * Lonny Ross – native of Wantagh
 * Bob Rozakis and Laurie Rozakis live in the town of Oyster Bay
 * Rick Rubin – grew up in Lido Beach
 * Scott Rudin – from Baldwin
 * Chris Russo – from Syosset
 * Telly Savalas – native of Garden City
 * Shaggy – lives in Valley Stream
 * Jerry Seinfeld – grew up in Massapequa
 * Brian Setzer – grew up in Massapequa
 * Amy Schumer – from Oceanside
 * Adrienne Shelly – grew up in Jericho
 * Kevin Shinick – native of Merrick
 * Jamie-Lynn Sigler – native of Jericho
 * Helen Slater – from Bethpage
 * Elinor Smith – lived in Freeport
 * Greg Smith (American musician) – grew up in Valley Stream
 * Dee Snider – native of Baldwin
 * Lara Spencer – native of Garden City
 * Frank Springer – grew up in Malverne
 * Howard Stern – grew up in Roosevelt
 * Jim Steinman – native of Hewlett
 * Laura Stevenson – lived in Rockville Centre
 * Brandon Tartikoff - raised in Freeport
 * Taz (wrestler) – lived in Massapequa
 * John Tesh – native of Garden City
 * Vinny Testaverde – grew up in Elmont
 * LaMarcus Adna Thompson – lived in Glen Cove
 * Louis Comfort Tiffany – lived in Laurel Hollow
 * Moe Tucker – grew up in Levittown
 * Reginald VelJohnson – lives in Oceanside
 * Frank Viola – native of East Meadow
 * James Watson – lives in Laurel Hallow
 * Chris Weidman – Mixed martial artist and former middleweight champion in the UFC (honored with 'Chris Weidman Day' on July 17 in Nassau County)
 * Leslie West – grew up in East Meadow and Lawrence
 * Walt Whitman – lived in Hempstead
 * Robin Wilson (musician) – lives in Valley Stream
 * Paul Zaloom – native of Garden City
 * Alan Zweibel – lived in Woodmere and Wantagh
 * Levar Stoney – mayor of Richmond, Virginia; was born in Nassau County

title: Nassau County, New York