Centereach vs Shirley

A side-by-side comparison of Centereach and Shirley: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Centereach has the higher population (31,501 vs 27,807 in Shirley). Centereach has the higher median household income ($127,106 vs $105,379 in Shirley). Centereach has the higher median home value ($471,300 vs $390,300 in Shirley).

Population, income & housing

	Centereach	Shirley
Population	31,501	27,807
Median age	38.4 yrs	40.3 yrs
Median household income	$127,106	$105,379
Median home value	$471,300	$390,300
Median gross rent	$2,398	$2,110
Housing units	10,464	8,934
Homeownership rate	85.0%	90.9%
Bachelor's degree or higher	34.7%	16.9%
Unemployment rate	5.6%	7.0%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Centereach	Shirley
Population	31,493 → 31,501 (+0.0%)	28,583 → 27,807 (-2.7%)
Median household income	$107,184 → $127,106 (+18.6%)	$87,242 → $105,379 (+20.8%)
Median home value	$346,300 → $471,300 (+36.1%)	$265,600 → $390,300 (+47.0%)
Median gross rent	$1,956 → $2,398 (+22.6%)	$1,878 → $2,110 (+12.4%)

Centereach

Population

31,49331,501

Median household income

$107,184$127,106

Median home value

$346,300$471,300

Median gross rent

$1,956$2,398

Shirley

Population

28,58327,807

Median household income

$87,242$105,379

Median home value

$265,600$390,300

Median gross rent

$1,878$2,110

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Centereach	Shirley
Under 5	6.2%	5.5%
5 to 17	17.4%	17.3%
18 to 24	10.0%	8.4%
25 to 34	11.0%	12.8%
35 to 44	13.7%	13.0%
45 to 54	13.2%	13.8%
55 to 64	13.5%	15.7%
65 to 74	8.0%	9.7%
75 and over	7.0%	3.8%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Centereach	Shirley
White (non-Hispanic)	68.8%	57.4%
Black or African American	6.3%	8.7%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.1%
Asian	6.8%	4.3%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.7%	0.1%
Two or more races	2.2%	2.1%
Hispanic or Latino	15.1%	27.4%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Centereach	Shirley
No high school diploma	7.1%	12.5%
High school graduate	28.3%	37.4%
Some college or associate's	29.9%	33.2%
Bachelor's degree	17.9%	11.3%
Graduate or professional degree	16.8%	5.6%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Centereach	Shirley
Drove alone	77.5%	78.7%
Carpooled	7.8%	12.2%
Public transit	2.3%	2.7%
Walked	0.5%	0.9%
Bicycle	0.3%	0.0%
Worked from home	9.6%	4.9%
Other means	1.9%	0.7%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Centereach	Shirley
1-unit, detached	89.2%	94.7%
1-unit, attached	1.3%	1.3%
2 to 4 units	1.4%	1.0%
5 to 19 units	2.9%	1.2%
20 or more units	4.5%	1.1%
Mobile home & other	0.6%	0.8%

Poverty & households

	Centereach	Shirley
Poverty rate	5.4%	8.0%
Average household size	3.24	3.25
Mean commute (minutes)	32	34
Median year structure built	1969	1975