Old Westbury is a village in the towns of North Hempstead and Oyster Bay in Nassau County, on the North Shore of Long Island, in New York, United States. The population was 4,289 at the time of the 2020 census.
The Incorporated Village of Old Westbury is one of the nation's wealthiest municipalities and is the second-richest zip code in the state of New York – topped only by Harrison in Westchester County. In 2007, Business Week dubbed Old Westbury as New York's most expensive suburb.Business Week, "The Most Expensive Suburbs of the Biggest U.S. Cities, New York City: Old Westbury" Old Westbury Gardens – located within the village – has been recognized as one of the three best public gardens in the world by Four Seasons Hotels magazine.
History
Early history (pre-colonization–1924) What is now the Village of Old Westbury was originally inhabited by Matinecock Native Americans. It was first settled by European colonists – primarily Dutchmen and Englishmen – in the mid-17th century.
The community of Westbury was founded by Edmond Titus, and was later joined by Henry Willis – one of the first English settlers in the area. Westbury had been a Quaker community of isolated farms until the railroad came in 1836.
After the Civil War, the New York elite discovered that the rich, well-wooded flat countryside of the Hempstead Plains was a place to raise horses, and to hunt foxes and play polo at the Meadow Brook Polo Club. Several large estates soon started springing up in the area about this time. Westbury House was the residence of Henry Phipps' eldest son, John Shaffer Phipps. Today, the property is operated as Old Westbury Gardens. Robert Low Bacon built 'Old Acres' in the style of an Italian villa. Other landowners were Thomas Hitchcock and his family, Harry Payne Whitney and his wife the former Gertrude Vanderbilt, founder of New York's Whitney Museum, at Apple Green (formerly a Mott house), Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney, whose estate is now subdivided into the Old Westbury Country Club and New York Institute of Technology. The architect Thomas Hastings built a modest house for himself, 'Bagatelle', in 1908. A. Conger Goodyear, then president of the Museum of Modern Art in New York City had a house built in 1938 by famed architect Edward Durell Stone, who also destined the building for Conger's museum. In 2003, the A. Conger Goodyear House was added to the National Register of Historic Places to protect the structure from being demolished to subdivide the expensive land surrounding it. The estate of Robert Winthrop, an investment banker and member of the Dudley–Winthrop family, for whom Winthrop-University Hospital was named, has been similarly preserved. Part of Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney's estate and her sculpture studio has been preserved and maintained by one of her grandchildren, Pamela Tower LeBoutillier.
Village of Old Westbury (1924–present) Old Westbury was incorporated as a village in May 1924, separating itself from Westbury – the adjacent area that housed many of the families of the construction and building staffs for the Old Westbury mansions. Its first mayor was William W. Cocks. At the time of its incorporation, the village had a population of approximately 500. Residents wished to incorporate to better regulate local affairs, services, and development.
During World War II – a 187-foot-high tower at the present-day Old Westbury Golf & Country Club – aided the United States Military during World War II, and was used by the military as a lookout to spot enemy aircraft. Originally built as the water tower for the Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney Residence, it now serves as the club's focal point.
On December 27, 1948, in a referendum vote of 81-to-6, a measure passed to allow of territory at the westernmost edge of the village to secede, after four property owners in that area submitted a petition for the village to hold the vote and secede. This territory, accordingly, would become an unincorporated area of – and governed by – the Town of North Hempstead. A portion of the territory that seceded would become the Levitt & Sons-developed Roslyn Country Club development. Then, in April 1949, a smaller portion of west end of the village – the area bounded by Roslyn Road to the west, Glen Cove Road to the east, the present-day Long Island Expressway to the north, and the Northern State Parkway to the south – would be annexed by the Village of East Hills, leading to police services in the excluded territory automatically being switched from Old Westbury's village police department to the Nassau County Police Department that April.
When Robert Moses was planning the Northern State Parkway, the powers of Old Westbury forced him to re-site it five miles (8 km) to the south. Once the parkway was completed, many residents found it to not be the eyesore they had been anticipating and regretted making their commutes more inconvenient than necessary. In the 1950s, the state of New York purchased land from Charles E. Wilson – a former president of General Motors, who needed to sell off his Old Westbury estate to pull himself out of financial crisis and relocate to the nation's capital to serve in President Dwight D. Eisenhower's cabinet. Portions of the land was used for the Long Island Expressway, which was constructed through the community in the late 1950s and early 1960s.
When the Long Island Expressway was being planned, it was announced that the routing through the village would largely follow Old Westbury Road (then-New York State Route 25D) from Glen Cove Road at the East Hills–Old Westbury border east to where Old Westbury Road curves to the south (near present-day Old Westbury Village Hall), and then continue east to Jericho Turnpike (NY 25) (Exit 40) in unincorporated Jericho, just east of the village's border. The routing was approved by the community, with the stipulation that no local exits would be constructed within the village between Exit 39 and Exit 40. The highway opened through the community east to Jericho at Exit 40 in the early 1960s.
Etymology The "Old" part of Old Westbury's name reflects the United States Postal Service's need for the community to have its postal address be distinct from the Westbury in Cayuga County, pursuant to postal requirements (Old Westbury had been using a postal address of "North Hempstead" for this reason); residents did this when they wanted a local post office ca. 1841, and when they incorporated Old Westbury as a village, they felt that it would be confusing for the village name and post office name to be different from one another. The Village of Westbury – located adjacent to Old Westbury, to its immediate south – adopted that designation when it incorporated in 1932, as Cayuga County's Westbury's name was no longer being used.
The area was originally known as Wallage, which is related to a Native American term roughly meaning "ditch" or "hole." By February 1663, it was known as Wood Edge, and by October 1675 it was known as "the Plains edge" or simply Plainedge. The name Westbury began to be used for the area around 1683; this was chosen by Henry Willis, who named it after Westbury, Wiltshire, his hometown in England.
Geography According to the United States Census Bureau, the village has a total area of , all land.
The village lost territory to the Village of East Hills and the Town of North Hempstead in the late 1940s, between the 1940 census and the 1950 census.
Climate According to the Köppen climate classification, Old Westbury has a Humid subtropical climate (type Cfa) with cool, wet winters and hot, humid summers. Precipitation is uniform throughout the year, with slight spring and fall peaks.
Demographics
2020 census As of the 2020 census, Old Westbury had a population of 4,289. The median age was 35.3 years. 15.9% of residents were under the age of 18 and 17.8% of residents were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females there were 89.9 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 87.9 males age 18 and over.
70.2% of residents lived in urban areas, while 29.8% lived in rural areas.
There were 1,080 households in Old Westbury, of which 35.6% had children under the age of 18 living in them. Of all households, 72.6% were married-couple households, 10.9% were households with a male householder and no spouse or partner present, and 15.0% were households with a female householder and no spouse or partner present. About 11.1% of all households were made up of individuals and 6.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.
There were 1,209 housing units, of which 10.7% were vacant. The homeowner vacancy rate was 1.9% and the rental vacancy rate was 13.9%.
+ Racial composition as of the 2020 census Race Number Percent White 2,310 53.9% Black or African American 611 14.2% American Indian and Alaska Native 13 0.3% Asian 978 22.8% Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander 0 0.0% Some other race 139 3.2% Two or more races 238 5.5% Hispanic or Latino (of any race) 318 7.4%
2000 census As of the census of 2000, there were 4,228 people, 1,063 households, and 967 families residing in the village. The population density was . There were 1,109 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the village was 73.19% White, 4.24% African American, 0.02% Native American, 7.52% Asian, 3.67% from other races, and 2.37% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 17.14% of the population.
There were 1,063 households, out of which 43.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 82.2% were married couples living together, 5.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 9.0% were non-families. Of all households 5.6% were made up of individuals, and 2.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.33 and the average family size was 3.37.
In the village, the age distribution of the population shows 22.7% under the age of 18, 20.2% from 18 to 24, 19.9% from 25 to 44, 25.7% from 45 to 64, and 11.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 35 years. For every 100 females, there were 86.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 84.6 males.
Income and poverty The median income for a household in the village was $163,046, and the median income in the village was $184,298 for a family. The median earnings of the 899 households (89.6% of total households) in the village that took in earnings supplemental to income was $230,721. Males had a median income of $100,000+ versus $45,200 for females. The per capita income for the village was $72,932. About 1.1% of families and 3.5% of the population were below the poverty line, including 1.5% of those under age 18 and 3.3% of those age 65 or over. Government As of March 2026, the Mayor of Old Westbury is Marina Chimerine, and the Village Trustees are Cory Baker, Jeffrey K. Brown, Esq., Michelle Cervoni, and Andrew Weinberg.
Politics In the 2024 U.S. presidential election, the majority of Old Wetbury's voters voted for Donald J. Trump (R).
Education Public schools
Residents are zoned to schools in one of four school districts, depending on where in the village they reside. They are the East Williston Union Free School District, the Jericho Union Free School District, the Roslyn Union Free School District, and the Westbury Union Free School District.
Additionally, the Westbury Union Free School District's high school, Westbury High School – along with the East Williston Union Free School District's secondary school, The Wheatley School – are located within the village.
Private schools Holy Child Academy – A private Catholic day school, grades K through 8.
Colleges and universities LIU Post – A private undergraduate and graduate university that is partially located within the village. New York Institute of Technology – A private undergraduate and graduate university.