Westchester County is a suburban county in the southeastern part of the state of New York. It is part of the New York Metropolitan Area. At the closest point, Westchester is only 2 miles north of Manhattan. One can walk this distance in about 40 minutes, the amount of time it would typically take to drive from Westchester to Manhattan. However, most places in Westchester are much farther from most places in Manhattan than this example suggests.

There are six cities in Westchester County, listed by size: Yonkers, New Rochelle, Mount Vernon, White Plains, Peekskill, and Rye.

The County boasts of 18,000 acres of parkland, beaches, trails, golf courses, pools and boating facilities. A state of the art library is centrally located in downtown and shows and events may be enjoyed at the Westchester County Center and the Westchester Conservatory of Music. Residents and visitors have brought shopping to new heights in this city of street-front retail establishments and expansive malls. Ranked 5th in New York State annual sales volume.

Westchester County is home to over 30,000 business establishments, ranging from Fortune 500 companies to mid-size and small firms including over 500 businesses with 100 or more employees. Fortune 500 firms with headquarters in Westchester include: IBM, Texaco, PepsiCo, and Reader’s Digest. Other businesses with U.S. or regional headquarters in the County include Philip Morris, Fuji Photo Film USA, MasterCard Int’l, Malcolm Pirnie, and Wrenchead.com.

Westchester County is generally divided into northern and southern areas. The northern portion (places north of Interstate 287/Cross Westchester Expressway) is often seen as rural and wealthy; the southern portion (White Plains and south) is more urban. These generalities, however, do not necessarily hold true in all communities. For example, Bronxville, Larchmont, Rye and Scarsdale in the southern portion are among the wealthiest communities in the entire U.S., and Peekskill in the northern portion is relatively urban and low-middle income. The Westchester County Department of planning divides the county into North, Central and South sub-regions.

Westchester County’s location has been a key factor in making this region one of the most attractive places in the United States, with its easy access to the entire New York Metropolitan area, enhanced by a first-rate network of highways and one of the outstanding public-transit systems in the nation. The county has broadened its appeal to air commuters by completing a multi-million-dollar improvement project at Westchester County Airport, which has transformed the facility into one of the best suburban airports in the Northeast. Westchester has one of the highest physician/patient ratios in the nation offering both quantity and quality health care services to every Westchester community. Health care services include: 13 community hospitals; several specialty care facilities including the Sloan Kettering Institute for cancer research in Rye, New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center in White Plains, Blythdale Children’s Hospital in Valhalla & Burke Rehabilitation Center in White Plains; 10 senior care residence communities, with more and more built every year; The County’s own Westchester County Medical Center at Valhalla is known for its ground-breaking medical programs.

There is no local corporate income tax, no local personal income tax (except in Yonkers), no commercial rent tax, no unincorporated business tax nor competitive sales tax in Westchester. Sales tax ranges from 6.75% to 8.25%. For more information, you may contact the Westchester County government at (914) 285-2000.