Shelter Island vs Water Mill

A side-by-side comparison of Shelter Island and Water Mill: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Shelter Island has the higher population (2,281 vs 2,218 in Water Mill). Water Mill has the higher median household income ($158,250 vs $129,410 in Shelter Island). Water Mill has the higher median home value ($2,000,001 vs $1,019,000 in Shelter Island).

Population, income & housing

	Shelter Island	Water Mill
Population	2,281	2,218
Median age	40.6 yrs	56.2 yrs
Median household income	$129,410	$158,250
Median home value	$1,019,000	$2,000,001
Median gross rent	—	$3,150
Housing units	1,488	2,374
Homeownership rate	84.2%	91.2%
Bachelor's degree or higher	55.0%	77.6%
Unemployment rate	4.3%	7.1%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Shelter Island	Water Mill
Population	2,062 → 2,281 (+10.6%)	1,631 → 2,218 (+36.0%)
Median household income	$79,843 → $129,410 (+62.1%)	$155,278 → $158,250 (+1.9%)
Median home value	$778,400 → $1,019,000 (+30.9%)	$1,611,900 → $2,000,001 (+24.1%)
Median gross rent	—	$2,681 → $3,150 (+17.5%)

Shelter Island

Population

2,0622,281

Median household income

$79,843$129,410

Median home value

$778,400$1,019,000

Water Mill

Population

1,6312,218

Median household income

$155,278$158,250

Median home value

$1,611,900$2,000,001

Median gross rent

$2,681$3,150

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Shelter Island	Water Mill
Under 5	14.6%	4.3%
5 to 17	13.3%	7.6%
18 to 24	11.2%	3.9%
25 to 34	2.2%	13.3%
35 to 44	28.5%	7.4%
45 to 54	7.0%	11.9%
55 to 64	6.1%	24.9%
65 to 74	14.0%	12.2%
75 and over	3.1%	14.6%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Shelter Island	Water Mill
White (non-Hispanic)	56.2%	86.4%
Black or African American	0.0%	0.5%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	7.1%	2.2%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	10.4%	0.0%
Two or more races	0.0%	0.5%
Hispanic or Latino	26.3%	10.4%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Shelter Island	Water Mill
No high school diploma	13.8%	2.4%
High school graduate	17.3%	13.8%
Some college or associate's	14.0%	6.3%
Bachelor's degree	30.7%	42.9%
Graduate or professional degree	24.3%	34.7%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Shelter Island	Water Mill
Drove alone	40.1%	39.9%
Carpooled	10.6%	1.9%
Public transit	14.8%	5.2%
Walked	0.0%	7.6%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	34.4%	43.9%
Other means	0.0%	1.5%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Shelter Island	Water Mill
1-unit, detached	91.5%	98.3%
1-unit, attached	4.5%	0.3%
2 to 4 units	4.0%	0.4%
5 to 19 units	0.0%	0.0%
20 or more units	0.0%	0.5%
Mobile home & other	0.0%	0.5%

Poverty & households

	Shelter Island	Water Mill
Poverty rate	1.2%	3.4%
Average household size	2.84	2.04
Mean commute (minutes)	37	23
Median year structure built	1975	1993