Staten Island is a large coastal borough (ie. on the ocean or tidally-influenced rivers) located in the state of New York. With a population of 443,728 people and 100 constituent neighborhoods, Staten Island is the fifth largest community in New York.

Unlike some boroughs where white-collar or blue-collar occupations dominate the local economy, Staten Island is neither predominently one or the other. Instead, it has a mixed workforce of both white- and blue-collar jobs. Overall, Staten Island is a borough of sales and office workers, professionals, and service providers. There are especially a lot of people living in Staten Island who work in office and administrative support jobs (19.62%), sales jobs (10.72%), and management occupations (8.74%).

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.

One of the nice things about Staten Island is that is it nautical, meaning that parts of the borough are somewhat historic and on the ocean, or touch tidal bodies of water, such as inlets and tidal rivers. Because of this, visitors and locals will often go to these areas to take in the scenery or to enjoy waterfront activities.

In Staten Island, however, the average commute to work is quite long. On average, people spend 43.85 minutes each day getting to work, which is significantly higher than the national average. One bright side is that local public transit is widely used, so it may be an option to avoid the headache of driving in the heavy traffic by leaving the car at home and taking transit.

One of the benefits of being a big city like Staten Island is having a public transportation system, but in Staten Island the transit system is the mode of choice for lots of people getting to and from work every day. You will find many people using the bus for their daily commute, even though other transportation options exist. If you ask these commuters, many will tell you that not having to drive in the snarl of big city traffic is one of main reasons for leaving the car at home, or even not owning a car at all. With so many people taking the bus, Staten Island benefits from a reduction in air pollution and traffic.

Staten Island Information and Demographics

The overall education level of Staten Island is somewhat higher than in the average US city of 14.96%: 23.18% of adults 25 and older in the borough have at least a bachelor's degree.

The per capita income in Staten Island in 2000 was $23,905, which is upper middle income relative to New York and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $95,620 for a family of four.

Staten Island is a very ethnically-diverse borough. The people who call Staten Island home come from a variety of different races and ancestries. The most prevalent race in Staten Island is White, followed by African-American. 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 12.09% of the borough's residents. Important ancestries of people in Staten Island include Italian, Irish, German, Polish, and Russian.

Foreign born people are also an important part of Staten Island's cultural character, accounting for 16.37% of the borough's population.

The most common language spoken in Staten Island is English. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and Italian.