People complain that Huntington is getting too crowded. There’s too much congestion, too much traffic, not enough open space, we’re losing our small town character. But how accurate are these sentiments? With the release of the 2010 census records, we see that Huntington is, in fact, more crowded than ever. But is it that much worse than it was 10 or 20 years ago?
A look at the numbers is illuminating:
|
Year |
Population |
Increase |
% Increase |
|
1900 |
9,483 |
||
|
2,521 |
26.58% |
||
|
1910 |
12,004 |
||
|
1,889 |
15.74% |
||
|
1920 |
13,893 |
||
|
11,689 |
84.14% |
||
|
1930 |
25,582 |
||
|
6,186 |
24.18% |
||
|
1940 |
31,768 |
||
|
15,738 |
49.54% |
||
|
1950 |
47,506 |
||
|
78,715 |
165.69% |
||
|
1960 |
126,221 |
||
|
73,265 |
58.05% |
||
|
1970 |
199,486 |
||
|
2,026 |
1.02% |
||
|
1980 |
201,512 |
||
|
-10,038 |
-4.98% |
||
|
1990 |
191,474 |
||
|
3,815 |
1.99% |
||
|
2000 |
195,289 |
||
|
7,975 |
4.08% |
||
|
2010 |
203,264 |
Throughout the nineteenth century the town’s population grew a pretty steady rate of about 15% per decade. But in the twentieth century things started to take off. IN fact, most people associated suburbanization with the 1950s. But with the advent of direct train service to Manhattan in 1910, commuting from Huntington became possible. It took a few years, but between1910 and 1930, the town’s population doubled. The growth continued even through the Depression years of the 1930s.
Of course, public perception about the 1950s is accurate. With a 165% growth in population, Huntington was no longer a small country town. In absolute numbers, the town’s population grew almost as much in the 1960s. The increase in population between 1950 and 1970 was three times the town’s total population in 1950.
But contrary to population complaints, Huntington essentially reached its present population levels forty years ago. But you would hard pressed to find many who do not think Huntington is more crowded today than it was in 1970. The net population growth from 1970 to 2010 was only 3,778, or less than 2%.
Of course, the difference is that the average household size has fallen. There are more homes today than there were forty years ago. But now there are fewer persons in each of those homes. In 1967, the average number of people per household in Suffolk County was 3.74. Today it is 2.93.
So yes, it feels more crowded, but it really isn’t.
Huntington History 
The reason it feels much more crowded today than 40 years ago is not only the increase in the number of homes, but the increase in the number of vehicles per home. 40 years ago most homes had 1 vehicle, and that number is now 2, 3, 4, or more. So we have at least twice as many vehicles driving around on our roads, compared to 40 years ago. The resulting traffic congestion is one of the biggest quality of life problems in the Town of Huntington.
That’s true. On the roads is where we feel the congestion the most. According to the Long Island Index, “From 2000 to 2005, Long Island added 21,000 more households that owned 3 or more motor vehicles, while the number of households owning 1 vehicle or less declined. This continues a long-term trend of higher auto ownership. Almost 25% of all households on Long Island own 3 or more vehicles, and another 44% own two. About 50,000 households, 5% of all households, do not own a car. ” You can bet that Huntington has a higher number of cars per household than the Long Island average.