The Town of Brookhaven is the most populous of the ten towns of Suffolk County, New York, United States. It is part of the New York metropolitan area. It is about 50 miles from Manhattan. It is the largest of New York State's 932 towns by area (when water area is included), and the second most populous after the Town of Hempstead. In the 2010 census, the population was 486,040 people.