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Pearl River is a hamlet and census designated place in the town of Orangetown, Rockland County, New York, United States. It is east of Chestnut Ridge, south of Nanuet, west of Blauvelt, New York, and north of Montvale and Old Tappan, New Jersey. The population was 15,876 at the 2010 census. Pearl River is 20 mile (32 km) north of midtown Manhattan and just north of the New Jersey border. It is the first (traveling north) of three New York stops on New Jersey Transit's Pascack Valley Line.

In 1696, Pearl River was part of a larger piece of land known as the Kakiat Patent that was granted to Daniel Honan and Michael Hawdon. In 1713, the land was split into north and south plots. After the Revolutionary War, the land was further divided and sold. Pearl River was a piece of land made up of woods and swamps originally called Muddy Creek. In the early 1870s, the town was divided into five different parts: Middletown, Sickletown, Pascack, Muddy Brook, and Naurashaun. There are conflicting accounts on how Muddy Creek came to be named Pearl River. According to some historians, a town resident named Ves Bogert found small pearls in mussels that thrived in Muddy Brook and, upon hearing this, the wife of John Demarest, the president of the New Jersey and New York Railroad, suggested the name "Pearl River" to him. Another account is that the name change was made to make the station sound more appealing on railroad schedules. A third account is that Julius E. Braunsdorf wanted to enhance the hamlet's business image by renaming it Pearl River. in the nation's capital. In 1931, Gottfried (Fred) Schmidt invented the automatic pinsetter. Brunswick was not interested in an automatic machine at the time. In 1937, AMF acquired the patent rights to this early machine—The “Sch Bec Roy”, which stood for Schmidt (inventor), Beckerle (bowling alley proprietor) and McElroy (blueprint designer). In 1955, Pearl River was the setting for Norby, an NBC situation comedy that aired from January to April of that year and was one of the first regular television series filmed in color. It starred David Wayne as a small town banker who lived and worked in Pearl River, where the 13 episodes of the series were filmed. In 2011, CNNMoney. com ranked Pearl River 78th on its annual "100 Best Places to Live" list.

Pearl River is located at (41.0591, 74.02025). According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has an area of 7.2 square miles (19 km2), of which 6.8 square miles (18 km2) is land and 0.3 square miles (1 km2), or 4.87%, is water.

As of the census of 2000, there were 21,042 people, 5,539 households, and 4,209 families residing in the CDP. The population density was There were 5,636 housing units at an average density of The racial makeup of the CDP was 72.37% White, 6.39% African American, 0.05% Native American, 7.16% Asian, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 0.57% from other races, and 0.68% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 6.44% of the population. There were 5,539 households, out of which 33.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 64.4% were married couples living together, 8.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 24.0% were non families. 20.7% of all households were made up of individuals, and 8.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.79 and the average family size was 3.26. In the CDP, the population was spread out, with 25.3% under the age of 18, 6.0% from 18 to 24, 29.3% from 25 to 44, 24.7% from 45 to 64, and 14.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 39 years. For every 100 females, there were 93.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 91.3 males. The median income for a household in the CDP was $76,692, and the median income for a family was $91,618. Males had a median income of $58,966 versus $39,452 for females. The per capita income for the CDP was $31,417. About 2.2% of families and 3.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 3.1% of those under age 18 and 4.7% of those age 65 or over. Pearl River has a large Irish community and, under the auspices of the Ancient Order of Hibernians, hosts New York State's second largest Saint Patrick's Day parade, typically on the Sunday after St. Patrick's Day. This large Irish American population also supports the nation's largest youth Gaelic Athletic Football team.

The community is served by the Pearl River School District. Pearl River High School serves students in grades 8 through 12. It enrolls about 1,000 students. 96% of the class of 2009 continued on to college, university, or technical school. In 2001, the Pearl River School District won the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. In 2008 and 2014, Franklin Avenue Elementary School was a U. S. Department of Education Blue Ribbon School of Excellence Award winner. In 2011, Pearl River Middle School was a Blue Ribbon School of Excellence Award winner. In 2017, U. S. News & World Report ranked Pearl River High School with a Silver award as the 76th Best High School in New York State and 727th in the nation. U. S. News ranked Pearl River High School the best high school in Rockland County in 2019. In 2020, Niche. com ranked the Pearl River School District's COVID 19 pandemic school reopening plan as "excellent". Saint Margaret School is a Catholic school serving grades Pre K through 8.

The Pearl River High School Pirates have athletic programs such as baseball, basketball, football, swimming, softball, ice hockey, lacrosse, volleyball, field hockey, bowling, soccer, track, wrestling, and chess club. The 2010 Pearl River High School girls' softball team won the New York State Championship.