About Long Island

Long Island is a largely urbanized and densely populated island in the southeastern geographical area of the U.S. state of New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. It begins at New York Harbor approximately 0.35 miles (0.56 km) east of Manhattan Island and extends eastward over 100 miles (160 km) into the Atlantic Ocean. The island comprises four counties; Kings and Queens counties (the New York City boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens, respectively) and Nassau County share the western third of the island, while Suffolk County occupies the eastern two thirds. More than half of New York City's residents live on Long Island, in Brooklyn and in Queens. However, people in the New York metropolitan area colloquially use the term Long Island (or the Island) to refer exclusively to Nassau and Suffolk counties, and conversely, employ the term the City to mean Manhattan alone.