Wantagh, New York
29 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1897 and the latest in 1994. It stands in Hempstead town. It lies in ZIP code area 11793. The Survey maps it on the Freeport quadrangle. 18,613 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 23 feet above sea level.
Then and now
1897 to 1994The same ground, surveyed 97 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.


Compare 1897 against another survey:
On record in Wantagh
Buildings and businesses the archive holds for this place. Each opens its own page, with the source record it came from.
On the National Register 4 records
Samuel and Elbert Jackson Houselisted 2006
Jones Beach State Park, Causeway and Parkway Systemlisted 2005
Wantagh Railroad Complexlisted 1983- John II Jackson Houselisted 2022
Population over time
2 figuresWantagh fell from 18,871 to 18,613 between 2010 and 2020. These are the recorded population figures Wikidata holds for this place, reached through the Geographic Names Information System number this page is keyed on rather than by name, so they belong to this place and not to another of the same name. Most are census counts, but not all are: an early figure may be a founding or settlement estimate, and an estimate published within five years of a census is left out. The change column is computed, and is left blank where more than 20 years separate a figure from the one before it, because a gap that long is not a change between two counts.
| Year | People | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 18,871 | |
| 2020 | 18,613 | -258 (-1%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
15 surveys from 29 printed sheetsMatched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.
- 1897 USGS Hempstead quadrangle1:62500
- 1898 USGS Hempstead quadrangle1:62500
- 1899 USGS Hempstead quadrangle1:62500
- 1903 USGS Hempstead quadrangle1:62500, 9 printings
- 1947 USGS Freeport quadrangle1:24000
- 1949 USGS New York quadrangle1:250000
- 1954 USGS New York quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1955 USGS Freeport quadrangle1:24000
- 1957 USGS New York quadrangle1:250000
- 1958 USGS New York quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1960 USGS New York quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1969 USGS Freeport quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1969 USGS New York quadrangle1:250000
- 1984 USGS Long Island West quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
- 1994 USGS Freeport quadrangle1:24000
Fires near this place
1,453 since 2000Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 1,453 fires within 5 miles of Wantagh between 2000 and 2020, burning about 610 acres in total. 66 started naturally. 153 were recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Reported cause | Fires |
|---|---|
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1017 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 153 |
| Smoking | 112 |
| Natural | 66 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 35 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 24 |
| Debris and open burning | 17 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 14 |
| Railroad operations and maintenance | 12 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 3 |
The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.
| Date | Cause | Size | Reported by | Name on the report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 September 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Fire Department of New York | not named |
| 9 September 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Fire Department of New York | not named |
| 9 September 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Fire Department of New York | not named |
| 9 September 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Fire Department of New York | not named |
| 9 September 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Fire Department of New York | not named |
| 9 September 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Fire Department of New York | not named |
| 9 September 2005 | Smoking | under an acre | Fire Department of New York | not named |
| 8 September 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Fire Department of New York | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Storms near this place
21 since 2006Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Wantagh in 21 storm reports between 2006 and 2025: 11 thunderstorm wind, 9 flash flood, 1 lightning. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| August 2011 | Flash Flood | Wantagh | $30,000 | The Wantagh State Pkwy. was closed in both directions at Sunrise Hwy. in Wantagh and between Bay Pkwy. and the traffic circle at Jones Beach due to flooding. The Dept. of Public Works pumped out the basements of several homes in Bellmore as a result of the heavy rain. Skywarn Spottersn reported storm total rainfall amounts of 10.54 inches in Wantagh and 9.16 inches in Bellmore. Property damage amounts are estimated. |
| July 2019 | Thunderstorm Wind | North Wantagh | $25,000 | Four trees reported down on houses on Spring Lane. |
| November 2021 | Thunderstorm Wind | North Wantagh | $13,000 | Large tree reported down on house in Levittown. |
| June 2010 | Thunderstorm Wind | North Wantagh | $10,000 | A large tree fell onto a house in Levittown. |
| July 2018 | Lightning | Wantagh | $6,000 | A building struck by lightning on Wantagh Avenue. A small fire put out by Fire Department. |
| August 2019 | Thunderstorm Wind | Wantagh | $3,000 | Large branches reported down. |
| April 2020 | Thunderstorm Wind | Wantagh | $2,000 | Office of Emergency Management reports power lines down in Wantagh along Oakland Avenue with time estimated by radar. |
| July 2014 | Thunderstorm Wind | Wantagh | $2,000 | Numerous trees were reported down around the town. |
| July 2014 | Thunderstorm Wind | Wantagh | $2,000 | Numerous trees were reported down around the town. |
| July 2019 | Thunderstorm Wind | North Wantagh | $1,000 | Tree down on Bernice Drive between Ernest Court and Concord Drive. |
| August 2019 | Thunderstorm Wind | Wantagh | $1,000 | A tree down across Wantagh Parkway. |
| August 2019 | Thunderstorm Wind | Wantagh | $1,000 | A tree down at Wantagh Avenue and Bunker Avenue. |
| July 2025 | Flash Flood | North Wantagh | - | Video showing feet of water on the intersection of Chimney Lane and Loring Road. Time estimated. |
| September 2020 | Flash Flood | Wantagh | - | Park Avenue was closed at Oakland Avenue in Wantagh due to flooding. |
| September 2020 | Flash Flood | Wantagh | - | All lanes were closed in both directions at Exit 5 on the Wantagh State Parkway in Wantagh due to flooding. |
| June 2020 | Flash Flood | Wantagh | - | Bellmore Avenue was closed between Marion Street and Claxton Avenue in Bellmore due to flooding. |
| September 2015 | Flash Flood | Wantagh | - | Two and a half feet of water was on Park Avenue between Oakland Avenue and Beech Street in Wantagh with reports of flooded basements and stranded cars. Storm total rainfall ranged from 3.50 inches in Plainview to 6.05 inches in Wantagh. |
| July 2010 | Flash Flood | North Wantagh | - | In Levittown, a car was stranded in flood waters approximately 2 feet deep on Hyacinth Road. The driver and passenger were pulled out of the passenger side window by neighbors. Additional vehicles were also stuck in standing water, which covered the tires at the intersection of Kingfisher Rd. and Blackbird Lane. |
| July 2008 | Flash Flood | Wantagh | - | Five inches of standing water accumulated on Old Mill Road at the railroad underpass in Wantagh. NWS mesonets reported storm total rainfall amounts of 3.03 inches in Bellmore, 1.77 inches in Massapequa Park, 1.75 inches in North Bellmore, and 1.57 inches in Merrick. |
| August 2006 | Flash Flood | Wantagh | - | no account filed |
| August 2006 | Thunderstorm Wind | Wantagh | - | no account filed |
Nearest settlements
The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.
| Map | Place | Distance | Sheets |
|---|---|---|---|
| North Wantagh | 0.7 miles | 29 | |
| North Bellmore | 1.3 miles | 29 | |
| Bellmore | 1.4 miles | 29 | |
| Seaford | 1.7 miles | 33 | |
| Massapequa | 1.9 miles | 33 | |
| Merrick | 2.6 miles | 29 | |
| Biltmore Shores | 2.7 miles | 33 | |
| Plainedge | 2.7 miles | 33 |
Elsewhere
Matched on this settlement's Geographic Names Information System number rather than its name, so it cannot be a different place of the same name in another state.
| Wikipedia article on Wantagh | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q3451844 | The structured record the population and elevation above come from. Public domain (CC0). |
Provenance
This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 968763. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.














