The
Town of Brookhaven is the most populous and one of the ten
towns of
Suffolk County,
New York, United States. Part of the
New York metropolitan area, it is located approximately 50 miles from Manhattan. It is the only town in the county that stretches from the
North Shore to the
South Shore of
Long Island. It is the largest of New York State's 932 towns (by area with water), and the second most populous, exceeded only by the town of
Hempstead.
Brookhaven is the anglicized name of its first settlement,
Setauket. Founded as a group of agricultural hamlets in the mid-17th century, Brookhaven first expanded as a major center of shipbuilding. Its proximity to
New York City facilitated a post-war population boom, leading to its 2010 census record of 486,040 people. It is home to the
Stony Brook University and the
Brookhaven National Laboratory.