Bay Shore 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 29,244 people and 14 associated neighborhoods, Bay Shore is the 50th largest community in New York.

Housing costs in Bay Shore are among some of the highest in the nation, although real estate prices here don't compare to real estate prices in the most expensive communities in New York.

Bay Shore 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. Such areas are often places that visitors and locals go for waterfront activities or taking in the scenery.

Although the majority of commuting trips in the town are by private automobile, Bay Shore is somewhat unusual for a town of its size for having a substantial number of people who use public transportation. For a lot of people, the train helps to get to and from their jobs every morning, which benefits everyone in the Bay Shore area by reducing both traffic and air pollution.

The overall education level of Bay Shore citizens is substantially higher than the typical US community, as 32.03% of adults in Bay Shore have at least a bachelor's degree, and the average American community has 21.84%.

The per capita income in Bay Shore in 2018 was $43,883, which is upper middle income relative to New York and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $175,532 for a family of four. However, Bay Shore contains both very wealthy and poor people as well.

Bay Shore is an extremely ethnically-diverse town. The people who call Bay Shore home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Bay Shore residents report their race to be White, followed by Black or African-American. Bay Shore also has a sizeable Hispanic population (people of Hispanic origin can be of any race). People of Hispanic or Latino origin account for 33.16% of the town’s residents. Important ancestries of people in Bay Shore include Irish, Italian, German, English, and Haitian.

In addition, Bay Shore has a lot of people living here who were born outside of the US (27.69%).

The most common language spoken in Bay Shore is English. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and French.