Long Island Housing Data Profiles

These metrics provide a deeper look into the makeup of the community. The living situations, the financial and racial diversity, and the age of the population owning or renting homes in the community are all illustrated here. The demographics of a community are shaped by many factors, but zoning and housing supply are among the most influential.

Income and inequality

Over the last two decades, incomes have failed to keep up with housing costs, for both owners and renters. When adjusted for inflation, the median income for Long Island has fallen slightly since 2000, while median housing costs have increased by 24%.

Housing cost burden is defined as households that are spending more than 30% of their income on housing costs, whether rent or mortgages and upkeep. Households with lower incomes are more likely to be cost-burdened, but even more affluent families can experience housing cost burden. The chart below compares the number of cost-burdened households in each income bracket for the selected community and for Long Island as a whole, for both renters and owners.

Aging Households

Housing needs differ with age, with younger and older adults typically requiring smaller housing units than families. Long Island’s housing stock is helping drive a demographic shift toward older households. With a lack of appropriate housing for younger adults and difficulties in attracting new businesses, the percentage of Long Island’s population over 65 is increasing rapidly, while its share of younger households is shrinking.

One chart below shows the percentage of households that have a member over 65 and the percentage that have a member under 18 in the selected community, and how those figures have changed since 2000. The other chart below shows the age of the head of household for the selected community and Long Island as a whole. On Long Island, three-quarters of households are headed by someone over 45.

Population projections for Long Island as a whole estimate that the trend will continue. By 2040, the number of people over 65 is expected to increase by 40%, while its population under 35 could shrink by 13%. Long Island needs more diverse housing options for different ages and household lifecycles.

The following metrics depict the types of housing that the community has to offer—the number of single-family and multifamily homes, the age of the housing stock, the number of people who own their own homes and those who rent. It shows the number of homes receiving some form of federal subsidy, and what type of housing is being built throughout the county. Together, these describe the range of housing choices available to residents in the community.

Number of Bedrooms

The chart below shows the housing units by the number of bedrooms, and whether those units are renter- or owner-occupied. Rental units tend to have fewer bedrooms than owner-occupied units, providing diversity in housing stock for different household configurations, incomes, and stages in life.

Subsidized Housing

Subsidized affordable housing provides low-income families, the elderly, and disabled with access to housing that would not be available to them in the free marketplace. Many Long Island communities have no federally subsidized housing at all. The program lists below are not comprehensive, they simply account for the most common housing subsidies, and those for which data is available.

Housing Production

Housing production, especially for multifamily units, has not kept up with demand. This chart shows the number of residential units that were intended to be built in the village or town in recent years, and whether those units were in single-family or multifamily buildings. Data for unincorporated hamlets is not available.

Housing tenure is whether an occupant owns or rents the housing unit. Long Islanders are more likely to live in owner-occupied housing than New York State as a whole.

Owner-occupied Housing

Owner-occupied housing comes in several types—single-family homes, townhouses, cooperatives and condominiums. Change in home value and foreclosure activity are indicative of a housing market that has seen huge fluctuation over the last decade, and median home value indicates how affordable the average owner-occupied home is compared to others on Long Island.

Change in Home Value

This chart shows the change in home value (inflation-adjusted) between 2000 and 2018 for the median and upper and lower quartiles. For Long Island as a whole, the values of more expensive homes has risen more than homes in the bottom half of home values.

Renter-occupied Housing

Rental homes can be single-family houses and apartments in any size building. Long Island has a shortage of rental housing that makes it difficult for young adults and lower-income families in particular to find housing.

Finding affordable housing on Long Island is a challenge, especially for renters. The National Low-Income Housing Coalition calculates that a household has to make nearly $62,000 per year to afford a modest one-bedroom apartment at fair market rent without being cost-burdened. The tables below indicate the affordability of rental housing for renters in the selected community, median rent in the community, and what percentage of renter median income it represents.

Change in rent

The charts below show change in the median and upper and lower quartiles of rent for the selected community and Long Island since 2000, adjusted for inflation.