Westchester County, New York |
Westchester County is a suburban county located in the U.S. State of New York. It was named to commemorate Chester, in England. The county seat is White Plains. Although many of its residents are quite
wealthy and although Westchester is home to many extremely affluent suburbs of New York City, it also has a more diverse population, both racially and demographically, than its
stereotypical image suggests.
History
Westchester County was an original county of New York State, one of twelve created in 1683. At the time, it also included the present Bronx County, which constituted the Town of Westchester and portions of three other
towns: Yonkers, Eastchester, and Pelham.. In 1846, a new
town, West Farms, was created by secession from Westchester; in turn, in 1855, the Town of Morrisania seceded from West Farms. In 1873,
the Town of Kingsbridge seceded from Yonkers.
In 1874, the western portion of the present Bronx County, consisting of the then towns
of Kingsbridge, West Farms, and Morrisania, was transferred to New York County, and in 1895 the remainder of the present
Bronx County, consisting of the Town of Westchester and portions of the towns of Eastchester and Pelham, was transferred to New
York County. By that time, the portion of the town of Eastchester immediately north of the transferred portion had seceded from
the town of Eastchester (1892) to become the City of Mount Vernon so that the Town of Eastchester
had no border with New York City. In 1914, those parts of the then New York County which
had been annexed from Westchester County were constituted the new Bronx County.
Geography
Westchester County Municipal Boundaries
The county has a total area of 1,295 km˛ (500 mi˛). 1,121 km˛ (433 mi˛) of it is land and 174 km˛ (67 mi˛) of it is water. The
total area is 13.45% water.
Westchester County is in the southeastern part of New York State, immediately north of New York City, between the Hudson River on its west and
Connecticut and Long Island Sound on its east.
Cities
There are six cities in Westchester County.
Towns and Villages
There are 19 towns in Westchester County. A town may contain zero, one or multiple villages; some
towns are coterminous with the village of the same name. Many towns contain unincorporated areas which are outside any village. These unincorporated areas may contain hamlets, which are
not political or legal boundaries. (The list of hamlets should not be considered complete.)
- Bedford, containing no villages
- (contains the hamlets of Bedford Village, Bedford Hills, and Katonah)
- Cortlandt, containing two villages:
- Buchanan
- Croton-on-Hudson
- (plus additional area belonging to no village, including the hamlets of Crugers, Montrose, and Verplanck)
- Eastchester, containing two villages:
- Bronxville
- Tuckahoe
- (plus additional area belonging to no village)
- Greenburgh, containing six villages:
- Ardsley
- Dobbs Ferry
- Elmsford
- Hastings-on-Hudson
- Irvington
- Tarrytown
- (plus additional area belonging to no village, containing the hamlets of Edgemont, Fairview, Greenville, Glenville, and
Hartsdale)
- Harrison, coterminous with the village of the same name
- Lewisboro, containing no villages
- (contains the hamlets of Cross River, Goldens Bridge, Lewisboro, South Salem, Vista and Waccabuc)
- Mamaroneck, containing two
villages:
- Larchmont
- Mamaroneck (This village
is shared with the Town of Rye.)
- (plus additional area belonging to no village)
- Mount Kisco, coterminous with village of same name
- Mount Pleasant, containing three villages:
- New Castle, containing no villages
- (contains hamlets of Millwood and Chappaqua)
- North Castle, containing no villages
- (contains hamlets of Armonk and Banksville)
- North Salem, containing no villages
- (contains the hamlets of Croton Falls, Purdys and Salem Center)
- Ossining, containing two villages:
- Briarcliff Manor (This village is
shared with the Town of Mount Pleasant.)
- Ossining (The village of
Ossining is contained within the Town of Ossining.)
- (plus additional area belonging to no village)
- Pelham, containing two villages:
- Pelham (The Village of Pelham is
contained within the Town of Pelham.)
- Pelham Manor
- (The village of North Pelham existed from 1896 to 1975, when it was merged into the village of Pelham.)
- Pound Ridge, containing no villages
- Rye (This is also the name of a city),
containing two villages:
- Mamaroneck (This village
is shared with the Town of Mamaroneck.)
- Port Chester
- Rye Brook (Prior to 1990, Rye Brook was the unincorporated area of Rye
Town.)
- Scarsdale,
coterminous with village of same name
- Somers, containing no villages
- (contains the hamlets of Amawalk, Baldwin Place, Granite Springs, Lincolndale, Shenorock and
Somers)
- Yorktown, containing no villages
- (contains the hamlets of Crompond, Jefferson
Valley, Kitchawan, Mohegan Lake, Shrub Oak,
Yorktown and Yorktown Heights)
Demographics
As of 2000, there are 923,459 people, 337,142 households, and 235,325 families residing
in the county. The population density is 824/km˛ (2,134/mi˛). There are 349,445 housing units at an average density of 312
persons/km˛ (807 persons/mi˛). The racial makeup of the county is 71.35% White, 14.20% African American, 0.25% Native American, 4.48%
Asian, 0.04% Pacific Islander, 6.63% from other races, and 3.05% from two or more races.
15.61% of the population are Hispanic or Latino of any race.
There are 337,142 households out of which 34.00% have children under the age of 18 living with them, 53.90% are married
couples living together, 12.20% have a woman whose husband does not live with her, and 30.20% are non-families. 25.70% of all
households are made up of individuals and 10.30% have someone living alone who is 65 years of age or older. The average household
size is 2.67 and the average family size is 3.21.
In the county the population is spread out with 25.00% under the age of 18, 7.20% from 18 to 24, 30.40% from 25 to 44, 23.50%
from 45 to 64, and 14.00% who are 65 years of age or older. The median age is 38 years. For every 100 females there are 91.70
males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there are 87.30 males.
The median income for a household in the county is $63,582, and the median income for a family is $79,881. Males have a median
income of $53,136 versus $39,966 for females. The per capita income for the county is $36,726. 8.80% of the population and 6.40%
of families are below the poverty line. Out of the total people living in poverty, 11.00% are under the age of 18 and 7.60% are
65 or older.
External links
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