Wallkill is a hamlet

Hamlet (place)

A hamlet is usually a rural settlement which is too small to be considered a village, though sometimes the word is used for a different sort of community. Historically, when a hamlet became large enough to justify building a church, it was then classified as a village...

 (and census-designated place

Census-designated place

A census-designated place is a concentration of population identified by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes. CDPs are delineated for each decennial census as the statistical counterparts of incorporated places such as cities, towns and villages...

), generally identified as coterminous with ZIP code

ZIP Code

ZIP codes are a system of postal codes used by the United States Postal Service since 1963. The term ZIP, an acronym for Zone Improvement Plan, is properly written in capital letters and was chosen to suggest that the mail travels more efficiently, and therefore more quickly, when senders use the...

 12589, telephone exchange

Telephone exchange

In the field of telecommunications, a telephone exchange or telephone switch is a system of electronic components that connects telephone calls...

 895 in the 845 area code

Area code 845

Area code 845 is a telephone area code which serves the Hudson Valley counties of Rockland, Putnam, Orange, most of Dutchess, Ulster, and Sullivan, plus parts of Delaware, Greene, and Columbia counties...

 and most of the Wallkill Central School District

Wallkill Central School District

The Wallkill Central School District is centered in Wallkill, New York. It has three elementary schools, one middle school, and one high school. As of 2006, the school district has about 3,700 students. The district's offices are located in Wallkill and its current superintendent is Mr...

 located mostly in the eastern half of the Town of Shawangunk

Shawangunk, New York

Shawangunk is a town in southwestern Ulster County, New York, United States. The population was 12,022 at the 2000 census. Like the neighboring mountain range, for which it is named, it is pronounced either as the Munsee Lenape, Shawangunk , or as the colonial Shongum by local residents...

, Ulster County, New York

Ulster County, New York

Ulster County is a county located in the state of New York, USA. It sits in the state's Mid-Hudson Region of the Hudson Valley. As of the 2010 census, the population was 182,493. Recent population estimates completed by the United States Census Bureau for the 12-month period ending July 1 are at...

 but partly spilling over into adjacent regions of the Orange County

Orange County, New York

Orange County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York. It is part of the Poughkeepsie–Newburgh–Middletown, NY Metropolitan Statistical Area and is located at the northern reaches of the New York metropolitan area. The county sits in the state's scenic Mid-Hudson Region of the Hudson Valley...

 towns of Newburgh

Newburgh (town), New York

Newburgh is a town in Orange County, New York, United States. The 2010 census determined the population is 29,801. This is the first time ever that the population of the Town of Newburgh officially exceeded that of the adjacent but totally separate municipality known as the city of Newburgh...

 and Montgomery

Montgomery (town), New York

Montgomery is a town in Orange County, New York, United States. The population was 20,891 at the 2000 census. It was named in honor of Richard Montgomery, an American Revolutionary War general killed in 1775 at the Battle of Quebec....

. The population was 2,288 at the 2010 census.

The community is in the Town of Shawangunk

Shawangunk, New York

Shawangunk is a town in southwestern Ulster County, New York, United States. The population was 12,022 at the 2000 census. Like the neighboring mountain range, for which it is named, it is pronounced either as the Munsee Lenape, Shawangunk , or as the colonial Shongum by local residents...

. Residents affectionately refer to the town by its unofficial nickname "The Kill". The Wallkill Correctional Facility

Wallkill Correctional Facility

The Wallkill Correctional Facility is a medium security prison in New York state in the USA. The prison is located just north of the hamlet of Wallkill in the Shawangunk in Ulster County, New York.- Address :Wallkill Correctional Facility Box G...

 and Shawangunk Correctional Facility

Shawangunk Correctional Facility

Shawangunk Correctional Facility is a maximum security prison for males located in Ulster County, New York in the United States.- History :The prison was constructed in 1983 to expand the maximum security capabilities of the state prison system and was located near the existing Wallkill...

 are located in Wallkill. The hamlet's attractions include the Walden–Wallkill Rail Trail, the Original Borden Farm (namesake

John G. Borden Middle School

John G. Borden Middle School in Wallkill, New York, educates the seventh- and eighth-graders of the Wallkill Central School District. It is located along NY 208 on the east side of the hamlet, not far from the junction with NY 300....

 for the area's middle school

Middle school

Middle School and Junior High School are levels of schooling between elementary and high schools. Most school systems use one term or the other, not both. The terms are not interchangeable...

), the Wallkill River, the Magnanini Winery, and for its proximity to the Shawangunk Mountains

Shawangunk Ridge

The Shawangunk Ridge , also known as the Shawangunk Mountains or The Gunks, is a ridge of bedrock in Ulster County, Sullivan County and Orange County in the state of New York, extending from the northernmost point of New Jersey to the Catskill Mountains.The ridgetop, which widens considerably at...

.

Wallkill is also a destination for international visitors to Watchtower Farms, which draws tens of thousands each year to a free guided tour of its printery. The Watchtower Society (a legal entity of Jehovah's Witnesses

Jehovah's Witnesses

Jehovah's Witnesses is a millenarian restorationist Christian denomination with nontrinitarian beliefs distinct from mainstream Christianity. The religion reports worldwide membership of over 7 million adherents involved in evangelism, convention attendance of over 12 million, and annual...

) has operated the facility since 1963, initially to produce food cost-effectively for volunteer workers at its offices and printeries in Brooklyn, New York. Some printing of Awake!

Awake!

Awake! is a monthly illustrated magazine published by Jehovah's Witnesses via the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania and printed in various branch offices around the world. It is considered to be a companion magazine of The Watchtower, and is distributed by Jehovah's Witnesses in...

 and The Watchtower

The Watchtower

The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah's Kingdom is an illustrated religious magazine, published semi-monthly in 194 languages by Jehovah's Witnesses via the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania and printed in various branch offices around the world...

 began at Wallkill in 1973, and by 2004 their entire United States printing operation was shifted from Brooklyn to an expanded Wallkill printery. The Watchtower printery at Wallkill is considered an example in automated printing, binding, and packaging. Aside from those run for the federal government, Watchtower's Wallkill plant is the largest in-plant printing operation in the United States.

Geography

Wallkill is located at 41°36′26"N 74°10′26"W (41.607160, -74.173932).

According to the United States Census Bureau

United States Census Bureau

The United States Census Bureau is the government agency that is responsible for the United States Census. It also gathers other national demographic and economic data...

, the CDP has a total area of 3.1 square miles (8.0 km²), all land.

The Wallkill River

Wallkill River

The Wallkill River, a tributary of the Hudson, drains Lake Mohawk in Sparta, New Jersey, flowing from there generally northeasterly to Rondout Creek in New York, near Rosendale, with the combined flows reaching the Hudson at Kingston....

 flows north past the hamlet.

Demographics

As of the census

Census

A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...

of 2000, there were 2,143 people, 788 households, and 556 families residing in the CDP. The population density

Population density

Population density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and particularly to humans...

 was 697.3 per square mile (269.5/km²). There were 825 housing units at an average density of 268.5/sq mi (103.8/km²). The racial makeup of the CDP was 95.01% White, 2.19% African American, 0.14% Native American, 0.98% Asian, 0.56% from other races

Race (United States Census)

Race and ethnicity in the United States Census, as defined by the Federal Office of Management and Budget and the United States Census Bureau, are self-identification data items in which residents choose the race or races with which they most closely identify, and indicate whether or not they are...

, and 1.12% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 4.15% of the population.

There were 788 households out of which 39.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 57.7% were married couples

Marriage

Marriage is a social union or legal contract between people that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged in a variety of ways, depending on the culture or subculture in which it is found...

 living together, 7.6% had a female householder with no husband present, and 29.4% were non-families. 25.4% of all households were made up of individuals and 9.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.72 and the average family size was 3.26.

In the CDP the population was spread out with 28.9% under the age of 18, 8.0% from 18 to 24, 30.8% from 25 to 44, 22.4% from 45 to 64, and 9.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 35 years. For every 100 females there were 97.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 97.3 males.

The median income for a household in the CDP was $47,604, and the median income for a family was $58,704. Males had a median income of $44,792 versus $26,786 for females. The per capita income

Per capita income

Per capita income or income per person is a measure of mean income within an economic aggregate, such as a country or city. It is calculated by taking a measure of all sources of income in the aggregate and dividing it by the total population...

 for the CDP was $19,258. About 3.6% of families and 5.0% of the population were below the poverty line, including 4.2% of those under age 18 and none of those age 65 or over.