BlockBefore

West Babylon, New York

33 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1901 and the latest in 1984. It stands in Babylon town. It lies in ZIP code area 11704. The Survey maps it on the Bay Shore West quadrangle. 43,213 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 39 feet above sea level.

West Babylon within Suffolk County

Then and now

1901 to 1984

The same ground, surveyed 83 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of West Babylon, surveyed 1984
Topographic sheet of West Babylon, surveyed 1901

Population over time

2 figures

West Babylon grew from 43,213 to 43,213 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
201043,213
202043,2130 (0%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

15 surveys from 33 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

1,124 since 2000

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 1,124 fires within 5 miles of West Babylon between 2000 and 2020, burning about 550 acres in total. 128 started naturally. 136 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/undetermined680
Arson/incendiarism136
Natural128
Smoking48
Debris and open burning41
Equipment and vehicle use36
Railroad operations and maintenance23
Power generation/transmission/distribution14
Recreation and ceremony11
Misuse of fire by a minor7

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 2017Arson/incendiarismunder an acreFire Department of New YorkN/A
9 September 2013Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreFire Department of New YorkN/A
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 2007Naturalunder an acreFire Department of New Yorknot named
9 September 2005Debris and open burningunder an acreFire Department of New Yorknot named
8 September 2010Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreFire Department of New Yorknot named
8 September 2010Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreFire Department of New Yorknot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Suffolk County

Storms near this place

5 since 1998

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names West Babylon in 5 storm reports between 1998 and 2024: 3 thunderstorm wind, 1 hail, 1 flash flood. The reports record 1 death and 2 injuries. 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
September 1998Thunderstorm WindWest Babylon1 killed, 2 hurtno account filed
August 2024Thunderstorm WindWest Babylon$2,000Downed wires on Farmingdale Road in Babylon NY.
June 2010Thunderstorm WindWest Babylon$2,000Trees and wires were reported down at the intersection of Belmont and Sheffield Avenues in West Babylon.
August 2014Flash FloodWest Babylon-The Southern State Parkway was closed with cars stranded in high water at exit 37 in West Babylon.
August 2008HailWest Babylon-Quarter size hail was reported.

Every storm recorded in Suffolk 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 Lindenhurst1.5 miles33
North Babylon1.7 miles33
Babylon2.2 miles33
Lindenhurst2.4 miles33
Wyandanch2.5 miles34
West Islip2.7 miles33
Wheatley Heights3.2 miles34
Deer Park3.3 miles34

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 West BabylonAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q3452101The 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 969082. 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.