Shirley vs West Islip

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

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

Shirley has the higher population (27,807 vs 26,559 in West Islip). West Islip has the higher median household income ($171,045 vs $105,379 in Shirley). West Islip has the higher median home value ($592,700 vs $390,300 in Shirley).

Population, income & housing

	Shirley	West Islip
Population	27,807	26,559
Median age	40.3 yrs	39.8 yrs
Median household income	$105,379	$171,045
Median home value	$390,300	$592,700
Median gross rent	$2,110	$2,613
Housing units	8,934	8,650
Homeownership rate	90.9%	95.8%
Bachelor's degree or higher	16.9%	50.1%
Unemployment rate	7.0%	3.7%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Shirley	West Islip
Population	28,583 → 27,807 (-2.7%)	26,844 → 26,559 (-1.1%)
Median household income	$87,242 → $105,379 (+20.8%)	$125,779 → $171,045 (+36.0%)
Median home value	$265,600 → $390,300 (+47.0%)	$426,700 → $592,700 (+38.9%)
Median gross rent	$1,878 → $2,110 (+12.4%)	$2,017 → $2,613 (+29.5%)

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

West Islip

Population

26,84426,559

Median household income

$125,779$171,045

Median home value

$426,700$592,700

Median gross rent

$2,017$2,613

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Shirley	West Islip
Under 5	5.5%	6.3%
5 to 17	17.3%	14.8%
18 to 24	8.4%	10.9%
25 to 34	12.8%	12.3%
35 to 44	13.0%	12.3%
45 to 54	13.8%	13.9%
55 to 64	15.7%	15.5%
65 to 74	9.7%	8.4%
75 and over	3.8%	5.6%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Shirley	West Islip
White (non-Hispanic)	57.4%	81.1%
Black or African American	8.7%	1.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.0%
Asian	4.3%	1.8%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.1%	0.5%
Two or more races	2.1%	3.2%
Hispanic or Latino	27.4%	12.3%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Shirley	West Islip
No high school diploma	12.5%	3.7%
High school graduate	37.4%	20.3%
Some college or associate's	33.2%	25.9%
Bachelor's degree	11.3%	26.7%
Graduate or professional degree	5.6%	23.3%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Shirley	West Islip
Drove alone	78.7%	75.0%
Carpooled	12.2%	5.9%
Public transit	2.7%	5.5%
Walked	0.9%	0.3%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	4.9%	12.3%
Other means	0.7%	1.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Shirley	West Islip
1-unit, detached	94.7%	96.2%
1-unit, attached	1.3%	2.0%
2 to 4 units	1.0%	0.8%
5 to 19 units	1.2%	0.8%
20 or more units	1.1%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	0.8%	0.1%

Poverty & households

	Shirley	West Islip
Poverty rate	8.0%	2.7%
Average household size	3.25	3.09
Mean commute (minutes)	34	31
Median year structure built	1975	1960