Rensselaer vs West Sand Lake

A side-by-side comparison of Rensselaer and West Sand Lake: population, income, housing, and more.

Rensselaer and West Sand Lake are places in New York. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Rensselaer has the higher population (9,247 vs 3,453 in West Sand Lake). West Sand Lake has the higher median household income ($126,595 vs $66,046 in Rensselaer). West Sand Lake has the higher median home value ($322,300 vs $202,600 in Rensselaer).

Population, income & housing

	Rensselaer	West Sand Lake
Population	9,247	3,453
Median age	38.9 yrs	42.1 yrs
Median household income	$66,046	$126,595
Median home value	$202,600	$322,300
Median gross rent	$1,180	$899
Housing units	4,943	1,125
Homeownership rate	44.9%	92.8%
Bachelor's degree or higher	26.5%	44.7%
Unemployment rate	4.8%	3.9%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Rensselaer	West Sand Lake
Population	9,259 → 9,247 (-0.1%)	2,697 → 3,453 (+28.0%)
Median household income	$55,912 → $66,046 (+18.1%)	$94,167 → $126,595 (+34.4%)
Median home value	$143,300 → $202,600 (+41.4%)	$201,800 → $322,300 (+59.7%)
Median gross rent	$965 → $1,180 (+22.3%)	$838 → $899 (+7.3%)

Rensselaer

Population

9,2599,247

Median household income

$55,912$66,046

Median home value

$143,300$202,600

Median gross rent

$965$1,180

West Sand Lake

Population

2,6973,453

Median household income

$94,167$126,595

Median home value

$201,800$322,300

Median gross rent

$838$899

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Rensselaer	West Sand Lake
Under 5	6.5%	3.6%
5 to 17	13.1%	29.3%
18 to 24	5.0%	4.7%
25 to 34	20.7%	5.0%
35 to 44	12.4%	13.3%
45 to 54	11.2%	20.3%
55 to 64	14.1%	5.7%
65 to 74	10.8%	14.7%
75 and over	6.0%	3.6%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Rensselaer	West Sand Lake
White (non-Hispanic)	68.4%	98.7%
Black or African American	7.2%	0.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.0%
Asian	9.3%	0.3%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.5%	0.0%
Two or more races	7.5%	0.1%
Hispanic or Latino	7.1%	0.8%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Rensselaer	West Sand Lake
No high school diploma	10.7%	2.5%
High school graduate	30.4%	18.4%
Some college or associate's	32.4%	34.3%
Bachelor's degree	18.2%	32.8%
Graduate or professional degree	8.3%	11.9%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Rensselaer	West Sand Lake
Drove alone	65.8%	77.5%
Carpooled	12.3%	3.0%
Public transit	5.5%	0.0%
Walked	2.8%	0.0%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	12.4%	9.5%
Other means	1.3%	10.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Rensselaer	West Sand Lake
1-unit, detached	33.8%	92.7%
1-unit, attached	7.3%	0.0%
2 to 4 units	35.0%	4.6%
5 to 19 units	11.8%	1.8%
20 or more units	11.7%	0.4%
Mobile home & other	0.5%	0.4%

Poverty & households

	Rensselaer	West Sand Lake
Poverty rate	19.6%	3.6%
Average household size	2.08	3.06
Mean commute (minutes)	24	21
Median year structure built	1964	1979