Shirley is a medium-sized coastal town (i.e. on the ocean, a bay, or inlet) located in the state of New York. With a population of 26,360 people and six associated neighborhoods, Shirley is the 66th largest community in New York.

Shirley is also nautical, which means that parts of it are somewhat historic and touch the ocean or tidal bodies of water, such as inlets and bays. Quite often, nautical areas such as these attract visitors and locals who come to enjoy the scenery and various waterfront activities.

One downside of living in Shirley, however, is that residents on average have to contend with a long commute, spending on average 34.24 minutes every day commuting to work.

The percentage of adults in Shirley who are college-educated is close to the national average for all communities of 21.84%: 19.47% of the adults in Shirley have a bachelor's degree or advanced degree.

The per capita income in Shirley in 2022 was $48,537, which is upper middle income relative to New York, and wealthy relative to the rest of the US. This equates to an annual income of $194,148 for a family of four. However, Shirley contains both very wealthy and poor people as well.

Shirley is an extremely ethnically-diverse town. The people who call Shirley home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Shirley residents report their race to be White, followed by Black or African-American. Shirley also has a sizeable Hispanic population (people of Hispanic origin can be of any race). People of Hispanic or Latino origin account for 23.44% of the town’s residents. Important ancestries of people in Shirley include Italian, Irish, German, Polish, and English.

The most common language spoken in Shirley is English. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and Chinese.