Stony Brook University vs Wading River

A side-by-side comparison of Stony Brook University and Wading River: population, income, housing, and more.

Stony Brook University and Wading River are places in New York. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Stony Brook University has the higher population (9,138 vs 8,393 in Wading River). Since 2019, Wading River's population has grown faster (+8.5% vs +2.2%).

Population, income & housing

	Stony Brook University	Wading River
Population	9,138	8,393
Median age	19.9 yrs	47.0 yrs
Median household income	—	$132,213
Median home value	—	$486,600
Housing units	0	3,550
Homeownership rate	—	94.0%
Bachelor's degree or higher	53.5%	43.2%
Unemployment rate	14.9%	4.4%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Stony Brook University	Wading River
Population	8,943 → 9,138 (+2.2%)	7,733 → 8,393 (+8.5%)
Median household income	—	$135,351 → $132,213 (-2.3%)
Median home value	—	$424,700 → $486,600 (+14.6%)
Median gross rent	—	$2,732 → $2,896 (+6.0%)

Stony Brook University

Population

8,9439,138

Wading River

Population

7,7338,393

Median household income

$135,351$132,213

Median home value

$424,700$486,600

Median gross rent

$2,732$2,896

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Stony Brook University	Wading River
Under 5	0.0%	3.8%
5 to 17	2.7%	12.2%
18 to 24	88.6%	9.8%
25 to 34	4.7%	11.2%
35 to 44	0.4%	10.5%
45 to 54	0.4%	13.1%
55 to 64	0.0%	19.4%
65 to 74	0.3%	15.9%
75 and over	3.0%	4.1%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Stony Brook University	Wading River
White (non-Hispanic)	30.8%	83.8%
Black or African American	7.5%	2.9%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.0%
Asian	47.1%	0.9%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.2%	0.0%
Two or more races	2.9%	0.0%
Hispanic or Latino	11.4%	12.4%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Stony Brook University	Wading River
No high school diploma	5.6%	9.1%
High school graduate	22.1%	19.8%
Some college or associate's	18.8%	27.8%
Bachelor's degree	26.7%	17.0%
Graduate or professional degree	26.7%	26.3%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Stony Brook University	Wading River
Drove alone	20.3%	75.3%
Carpooled	7.3%	9.8%
Public transit	15.2%	1.6%
Walked	45.6%	0.1%
Bicycle	0.8%	0.0%
Worked from home	7.6%	13.2%
Other means	3.2%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Stony Brook University	Wading River
1-unit, detached	—	90.5%
1-unit, attached	—	1.3%
2 to 4 units	—	0.0%
5 to 19 units	—	2.5%
20 or more units	—	0.7%
Mobile home & other	—	5.0%

Poverty & households

	Stony Brook University	Wading River
Poverty rate	—	2.8%
Average household size	—	2.60
Mean commute (minutes)	18	29
Median year structure built	—	1978