MEDFORD, LONG ISLAND

Medford, Long Island

Medford is a hamlet and census-designated place located in Suffolk County, Long Island, New York. It is in the southwest part of the Town of Brookhaven. As of the 2010 census, there were 24,142 people, 7,895 households, and 6,277 families residing in the CDP. The median income for a household in the CDP was $89,428 and the median income for a family was $98,074. Males had a median income of $59,235 and $44,944 for females. The latitude of Medford is 40.817N. The longitude is -73W. It is in the Eastern Standard time zone. Elevation is 89 feet.

The Native Indians acknowledged that Medford did not have the soil of the rest of Long Island and that it was best left as a wilderness. Europeans settlers were almost certainly not as successful initially in assuring land at Medford in the same way that their kith had been in other parts of the Island but they did try to make the best of the countryside that had become their own.

The Long Island Rail Road arrived around 1850 and gave a deserved increase to Medford's fortunes. The central location of the town became even more obvious and more and more people moved in and used the large tracts of land to establish themselves in comfortable and stable manner. The Rail Road overstepped its brief and established an Agricultural Research Station at Medford, to try and find ways of making the land agriculturally productive.

The racial-makeup of Medford comprises of 89.18% White, 3.98% African American, 0.25% Native American, 1.38% Asian, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 3.11% from other races, and 2.07% from two or more races. Most of its resident’s ancestries were Italian, Irish, German, Puerto Rican, and English. According to research conducted in the area, there were six registered sex offenders living in Medford in early 2007. The ratio of number of residents in Medford to the number of sex offenders is 3664 to 1. The number of registered sex offenders compared to the number of residents in this place is smaller than the state average.

The community is served by Patchogue-Medford School District except for far southeastern Medford, which is served by the South Country Central School District. Northeastern Medford is served by the Longwood Central School District. The Patchogue-Medford School District has six elementary schools, three middle schools, and one high school. Medford has beautiful homes in rustic settings with ranch facilities for horses. Although the building boom in Medford has subsided, new homes continue to grow.

Patchogue-Medford School District --- South Country Central School District --- Longwood Central School District