Staten Island is a large coastal borough (i.e. on the ocean, a bay, or inlet) located in the state of New York. With a population of 495,747 people and 125 associated neighborhoods, Staten Island is the fifth largest community in New York.
Staten Island home prices are not only among the most expensive in New York, but Staten Island real estate also consistently ranks among the most expensive in America.
Also of interest is that Staten Island has more people living here who work in computers and math than 95% of the places in the US.
Telecommuters are a relatively large percentage of the workforce: 8.36% of people work from home. While this number may seem small overall, as a fraction of the total workforce it is high relative to the nation. These workers are often telecommuters who work in knowledge-based, white-collar professions. For example, Silicon Valley has large numbers of people who telecommute. Other at-home workers may be self-employed people who operate small businesses out of their homes.
Staten Island is one of the most attractive larger cities for people who are young, single, educated, and upwardly-mobile career starters. This makes it a good place to live for young singles in their 20s and 30s and who have undergraduate or graduate degrees and are starting their professional careers. Although Staten Island is a large city, this demographic is significant enough that young professionals will find many others like themselves here, with really good opportunities for friendships, recreation, romance, and more.
Staten Island 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 Staten Island is that it can take a long time to commute to work. In Staten Island, the average commute to work is 39.11 minutes, which is quite a bit higher than the national average. On the other hand, local public transit is widely used in the borough, so leaving the car at home and taking transit is often a viable alternative.
Staten Island, like many big cities in America, has a public transportation system, but the citizens of Staten Island are lucky because theirs is one of the most extensive and widely used. Many commuters choose to leave their cars at home and instead use the bus to get to and from work. In fact, for some people it is feasible to forgo car ownership entirely, avoiding the cost and headache of driving in heavy traffic. The benefits include reduced air pollution and load on the road network.
The education level of Staten Island citizens is very high relative to the national average among all cities (21.84%): 35.33% of adults in Staten Island have a bachelor's degree or even advanced degree.
The per capita income in Staten Island in 2022 was $43,199, which is upper middle income relative to New York and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $172,796 for a family of four. However, Staten Island contains both very wealthy and poor people as well.
Staten Island is an extremely ethnically-diverse borough. The people who call Staten Island home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Staten Island residents report their race to be White, followed by Asian. Staten Island also has a sizeable Hispanic population (people of Hispanic origin can be of any race). People of Hispanic or Latino origin account for 18.75% of the borough’s residents. Important ancestries of people in Staten Island include Italian, Irish, German, Polish, and Russian.
In addition, Staten Island has a lot of people living here who were born outside of the US (24.84%).
The most common language spoken in Staten Island is English. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and Chinese.