Long Isl towns?

Question

Why is it that the northern areas of long isl tend to have people w/ higher incomes, better looking neighborhoods, & be somewhat safer? and it cant be b/c it's close to the water b/c thats what the southern part is too. And i have proof b/c just look at towns like bayshore, patchogue, amityville, bellport, central islip, shirley, freeport...ect. compared to north shore towns

there is absolutly nothing wrong w/living on the south shore on li, it's just you notice that difference when you travel from southern to northern areas

Answer 1

I agree with you that the North shore is generally a nicer/safer area then the South shore. I believe this is just how things worked out, no other rhyme or reason. The wealthier people flocked to the North shore because it is a very nice area. This in turn drove the housing market up in the North shore and down in the South. Therefore more and more people with low incomes decided to move to the South shore.

I live on the South shore, its hit or miss.

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I like duker's answer. I assumed the GI bill had a lot to do with it but wasn't going to make something up. It's an interesting question none the less.

Answer 2

You can also look at South Shore towns such as :
Amityville (Amityville SOUTH of Montauk is GORGEOUS)
West Islip (Again, a very high income area)
Sayville
Babylon Village
Freeport (Again, areas of Freeport on the WATER are beautiful)

I don't really agree with what you're saying. I think all of the towns have really nice and really horrible areas. Old Westbury may be nice, but Uniondale certainly isn't.... I almost have to assume you've never been to any of the towns I've mentioned because ALL are on the South Shore and they all have what I would consider nearly mansions.

Answer 3

That's been going on since the1900's when wealthy NYC residents bought farm land and made it into large estates all along the north shore. There was early ferry service from Glen Cove to Manhattan which brought more higher income people in to a "resort" town of Glen Cove, but Long Island was then largely farming communities. The population exploded after WWII with the development of Levittown, etc. By this time the wealth on the north shore kept the population explosion to the south and east. Look at what's happened to farmland in the last 20 years. There have been MANY housing developments or planned communities, etc.