Ronkonkoma, Long Island

Ronkonkoma ( ) is a hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) on Long Island in the Town of Islip, New York, United States. Its population was 19,082 at the 2010 census.
The Ronkonkoma post office has the ZIP Code 11779, and serves parts of several hamlets and CDPs adjacent to Ronkonkoma.

The name "Ronkonkoma" comes from the nearby Lake Ronkonkoma, which in turn comes from an Algonquian expression meaning "boundary fishing-lake", also earlier written as "Raconkumake" and "Raconkamuck."

Since 1988, Ronkonkoma has been the end of electrification along the Long Island Rail Road's Main Line. The track between Hicksville and Ronkonkoma is known as the Ronkonkoma Branch. In 2017, Governor Andrew Cuomo announced the groundbreaking of a new $650 million development to create a Ronkonkoma Hub near the LIRR Line, similar to the hub in neighboring Brookhaven.

Ronkonkoma was the terminus of the first road in the United States designed exclusively for automobiles, the Vanderbilt Motor Parkway, constructed by a consortium of investors called the Long Island Motor Parkway, Inc. led by William Kissam Vanderbilt II.

Ronkonkoma is also home to Long Island MacArthur Airport (sometimes referred to simply as Islip Airport), airport code ISP, which is owned and operated by the Town of Islip. The New York Air Route Traffic Control Center is located in Ronkonkoma.

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of , of which , or 4.07%, is covered by water. The community is adjacent to Lake Ronkonkoma.

Demographics

Neighborhoods

* Lake Hills is north of the Long Island Expressway and south of Long Island Motor Parkway, roughly bounded by Rosevale Avenue to the east and Terry Road to the west.
* Lakeland is south of the Long Island Expressway and north of Veterans Memorial Hwy, bounded on the west by Lakeland County Park and Connetquot River State Park and on the east by Ronkonkoma Ave and Lakeland Ave.

Demographics of the CDP

As of the census of 2020, 18,955 people were residing in the CDP. The population density was 2,436.1/sq mi. The racial makeup of the CDP was 72.5% White,13.6% Hispanic or Latino, 3.4% African American, 0.5% Native American, 6.9% Asian, 0.3% Pacific Islander and 2.8% reported two or more races.

Of the 6,004 households, 59.2% were married couples living together, 11.3% had a female householder with no husband present, 5.2% were male householders and 24.3% were non family households. The average household size was 3.04, and the average family size was 3.52.

In the CDP, the age distribution was 20.1% under 18, 10% from 18 to 24, 27.4% from 25 to 44, 28.4% from 45 to 64, and 14.1% who were 65 or older. The median age was 37.6 years. For every 100 females, there were 95.9 males.

The median income for a household in the CDP was $106,434, and for a family was $116,667. Males had a median income of $50,594 versus $35,013 for females. The per capita income for the CDP was $39,902. About 4.22% of the population were below the poverty line.

Economy

Vitamin maker The Bountiful Company is based in Ronkonkoma.

Education

Prior to 1960, the CDP belonged to the Ronkonkoma School District. After a vote, the district merged with the Oakdale-Bohemia School District in the neighboring communities of Oakdale and Bohemia, New York, to create the Connetquot School District. Three public elementary schools are in Ronkonkoma, with one middle school, and high-school students attend Connetquot High School in Bohemia.

Notable people

* Stefanie DeLeo (born 1982), author, playwright
* Keith Detelj (born 1985), soccer player
* Joe Grimaldi (born 1986), ice hockey player
* Steve Hass (born 1975), musician/music producer
* Joe Jones (born 1965), basketball coach
* Moira Kelly (born 1968), actress
* Lennon Murphy (born 1982), singer-songwriter
* Joseph Raffaele, religious leader
* Scott Rudolph, entrepreneur
* Thorgy Thor (born 1984 as Shane Galligan), drag queen, violinist
* Alexis Weik, New York state senator

Ronkonkoma in popular culture

*In ''The Oh, Hello Show'', John Mulaney's character George St. Geegland wrote a book called ''Next Stop Ronkonkoma''. The book is the story of 100 people on a train on Long Island. The book is written from 100 different perspectives, and is more than 1000 pages long.
* In the season 7 episode of ''How I Met Your Mother'' entitled "The Drunk Train", Barney says "I was all, do I look like I'm from Ronkonkoma?"
* Ronkonkoma is referenced in '' Law and Order Special Victims Unit'', (Season 16xE11: "Agent Provocateur"), where a character states she lives in Ronkonkoma.
* Ronkonkoma is referenced in two songs by singer/songwriter Mike Doughty: "Busting Up a Starbucks" and "Like a Luminous Girl."
* Ronkonkoma was referenced by Artie Lange during the March 3, 2009, taping of the ''Late Show with David Letterman''. The comic recounted a story of sitting in front of a fan at Yankees games who repeatedly cheered on Derek Jeter by shouting, "Do it for Ronkonkoma!" to which Lange replied "No one's doing anything for Ronkonkoma!"
* Two characters in the movie ''200 Cigarettes'' are visiting New York City from Ronkonkoma.

References

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Brookhaven, New York
Islip (town), New York
Hamlets in New York (state)
Census-designated places in New York (state)
Census-designated places in Suffolk County, New York
Hamlets in Suffolk County, New York