The westernmost end of Long Island contains the New York City boroughs of Brooklyn (Kings County) and Queens (Queens County). The central and eastern portions contain the suburban Nassau and Suffolk counties. However, colloquial usage of the term "Long Island" refers only to Nassau and Suffolk counties; the more dense and urban Brooklyn and Queens are not usually referred to as "Long Island," since they are politically part of New York City.
Nassau County is more urbanized and congested than Suffolk County, with pockets of rural affluence in the cliffs of the Gold Coast of the North Shore overlooking Long Island Sound. South Shore communities are built along protected wetlands and white sand beaches fronting on the Atlantic Ocean and Outer Barrier Islands. Old money from the time of the Revolutionary War populated the island and still does to this day. American aristocrats and European nobility in the Roaring Twenties established large estates on the North Shore. Today, many exist in their original state, while others have been donated to the public as parks, arboretums, universities and museums.
Owing to economic growth and the suburbanization of the metropolitan region after World War II, Nassau was the fastest growing county in the United States from the 1950s to the 1970s. Suffolk County remains less congested despite substantial growth in high technology and light manufacturing sectors since 1990. In its far east sections, Suffolk remains small-town rural, as in Greenport on the North Fork and some of the outward areas of The Hamptons, although summer tourism swells the population in those areas.
Long Island is known for its affluence and high quality of life. According to the 2000 Census, Nassau County is the third richest county per capita in New York State, and the 30th richest in the nation. Long Island's Nassau County has the second highest property taxes in the United States.[3] Suffolk County has redeveloped North Fork potato fields into a burgeoning wine region. The South Fork is known for beach towns, including the world-renowned Hamptons, and for Montauk Point, home of Montauk Point Lighthouse at the eastern tip of the island.