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The obvious answer is Westchester is less white and has cities. But I'm wondering if there's more to it than that. In other words, are NHWs in Westchester significantly more liberal than on Long Island?
Both Westchester and LI are heavily Italian American and Jewish - so there's little difference in the ethnic composition of the white population.
However, Westchester has a higher percentage of college graduates and those with postgraduate educations than LI, and that difference would be more pronounced in the NHW populations only. In the NYC area, the professional class is more D than the white working class/lower middle class.
Westchester also has the "artsy" river towns (i.e. Hastings on Hudson) which likely attracts a more liberal demographic than tract suburbia.
Also Westchester wealth I suspect comes from the more "traditional path" (i.e. law firm partners) while LI likely has more non-traditional self-made/entrepreneurial wealth.
What you are missing is that Long Island includes Nassau and Suffolk counties. It is much much larger than westchester and contains vast areas that are very far from manhattan in relation to westchester. Much of Suffolk county is very dissimilar to westchester in many respects, but on point to your topic, it is much less NYC, limosine liberal, white collar-ish. If you included rockland, Orange, Putnam, and dutchess you would have a fairer comparison in terms of size and reach beyond NYCs influence. Rockland is very democratic but it's also near NYC. Orange and the two others pull the Hudson valley more towards LI in terms of political makeup.
What you are missing is that Long Island includes Nassau and Suffolk counties. It is much much larger than westchester and contains vast areas that are very far from manhattan in relation to westchester. Much of Suffolk county is very dissimilar to westchester in many respects, but on point to your topic, it is much less NYC, limosine liberal, white collar-ish. If you included rockland, Orange, Putnam, and dutchess you would have a fairer comparison in terms of size and reach beyond NYCs influence. Rockland is very democratic but it's also near NYC. Orange and the two others pull the Hudson valley more towards LI in terms of political makeup.
Some good points.
Westchester County population = 968,802
Nassau and Suffolk County "Long Island" = 2.852 million people.
(Nassau 1.352 mil and Suffolk 1.5 mil)
With respect to the counties, don't forget that Long Island is LONG, so while the land mass is larger, it is also much longer. The easternmost portion of Long Island is only 30 miles closer to midtown Manhattan than the state capitol, Albany.
There are a lot of white collar people in Suffolk, however not all of them work in NYC. There are people working in Suffolk County government, courts, hospitals, etc., out east.
Westchester County population = 968,802
Nassau and Suffolk County "Long Island" = 2.852 million people.
(Nassau 1.352 mil and Suffolk 1.5 mil)
With respect to the counties, don't forget that Long Island is LONG, so while the land mass is larger, it is also much longer. The easternmost portion of Long Island is only 30 miles closer to midtown Manhattan than the state capitol, Albany.
There are a lot of white collar people in Suffolk, however not all of them work in NYC. There are people working in Suffolk County government, courts, hospitals, etc., out east.
People working in County government, courts, hospitals, etc. exist in all suburban counties, proportional to its population. This is not a distinguishing characteristic of Suffolk County. Suffolk County, overall, is less white collar than Westchester, but maybe not less than the whole of the Hudson Valley.
I have always viewed Nassau as the twin of Westchester, and Suffolk as the twin of Putnam, Duchess and Orange. Rockland is kind of weird for this analogy, since the its kind of in the middle. In other words, you don't compare Westchester to Long Island, you compare Westchester to Nassau.
People working in County government, courts, hospitals, etc. exist in all suburban counties, proportional to its population. This is not a distinguishing characteristic of Suffolk County. Suffolk County, overall, is less white collar than Westchester, but maybe not less than the whole of the Hudson Valley.
I have always viewed Nassau as the twin of Westchester, and Suffolk as the twin of Putnam, Duchess and Orange. Rockland is kind of weird for this analogy, since the its kind of in the middle. In other words, you don't compare Westchester to Long Island, you compare Westchester to Nassau.
Perhaps you can share the documentation that shows the percentages, by profession, of employees in each county, please? You've piqued my interest. I know that within my Town in Brookhaven, the ten largest employers are a state university, 4 hospitals, 3 school districts, 1 BOCES, and a national lab. This doesn't take into account the bio tech companies surrounding the university, the medical practices, and other labs. It also does not take any local town, county agencies or courts into account.
Not trying to be argumentative, just curious.
Are you from either Nassau or Suffolk, or are you from Westchester or elsewhere?
Westchester is much more white collar than LI as a whole. North Shore Nassau is very culturally similar to Westchester. Alot of the south shore of LI is built on the backs of blue-collar white flight from the city and all the social attitudes that come with that.
Westchester is much more white collar than LI as a whole. North Shore Nassau is very culturally similar to Westchester. Alot of the south shore of LI is built on the backs of blue-collar white flight from the city and all the social attitudes that come with that.
Yep, that's what I was thinking.
However, I think those attitudes are changing at least in some areas, now that it's actually common for white kids to hang out with minority kids.
Westchester is much more white collar than LI as a whole.
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