BlockBefore

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.

Wantagh within Nassau County

Then and now

1897 to 1994

The 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.

Topographic sheet of Wantagh, surveyed 1994
Topographic sheet of Wantagh, surveyed 1897

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

Population over time

2 figures

Wantagh 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.

YearPeople Change
201018,871
202018,613-258 (-1%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

15 surveys from 29 printed sheets

Matched 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.

Fires near this place

1,453 since 2000

Regional 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/undetermined1017
Arson/incendiarism153
Smoking112
Natural66
Equipment and vehicle use35
Power generation/transmission/distribution24
Debris and open burning17
Misuse of fire by a minor14
Railroad operations and maintenance12
Recreation and ceremony3

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
9 September 2011Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreFire Department of New Yorknot named
9 September 2010Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreFire Department of New Yorknot named
9 September 2010Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreFire Department of New Yorknot named
9 September 2010Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreFire Department of New Yorknot named
9 September 2007Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreFire Department of New Yorknot named
9 September 2005Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreFire Department of New Yorknot named
9 September 2005Smokingunder an acreFire Department of New Yorknot named
8 September 2007Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreFire Department of New Yorknot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Nassau County

Storms near this place

21 since 2006

Regional 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.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
August 2011Flash FloodWantagh$30,000The 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 2019Thunderstorm WindNorth Wantagh$25,000Four trees reported down on houses on Spring Lane.
November 2021Thunderstorm WindNorth Wantagh$13,000Large tree reported down on house in Levittown.
June 2010Thunderstorm WindNorth Wantagh$10,000A large tree fell onto a house in Levittown.
July 2018LightningWantagh$6,000A building struck by lightning on Wantagh Avenue. A small fire put out by Fire Department.
August 2019Thunderstorm WindWantagh$3,000Large branches reported down.
April 2020Thunderstorm WindWantagh$2,000Office of Emergency Management reports power lines down in Wantagh along Oakland Avenue with time estimated by radar.
July 2014Thunderstorm WindWantagh$2,000Numerous trees were reported down around the town.
July 2014Thunderstorm WindWantagh$2,000Numerous trees were reported down around the town.
July 2019Thunderstorm WindNorth Wantagh$1,000Tree down on Bernice Drive between Ernest Court and Concord Drive.
August 2019Thunderstorm WindWantagh$1,000A tree down across Wantagh Parkway.
August 2019Thunderstorm WindWantagh$1,000A tree down at Wantagh Avenue and Bunker Avenue.
July 2025Flash FloodNorth Wantagh-Video showing feet of water on the intersection of Chimney Lane and Loring Road. Time estimated.
September 2020Flash FloodWantagh-Park Avenue was closed at Oakland Avenue in Wantagh due to flooding.
September 2020Flash FloodWantagh-All lanes were closed in both directions at Exit 5 on the Wantagh State Parkway in Wantagh due to flooding.
June 2020Flash FloodWantagh-Bellmore Avenue was closed between Marion Street and Claxton Avenue in Bellmore due to flooding.
September 2015Flash FloodWantagh-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 2010Flash FloodNorth 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 2008Flash FloodWantagh-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 2006Flash FloodWantagh-no account filed
August 2006Thunderstorm WindWantagh-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Nassau County

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 PlaceDistance Sheets
North Wantagh0.7 miles29
North Bellmore1.3 miles29
Bellmore1.4 miles29
Seaford1.7 miles33
Massapequa1.9 miles33
Merrick2.6 miles29
Biltmore Shores2.7 miles33
Plainedge2.7 miles33

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 WantaghAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q3451844The 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.