When it separated from the Town of Huntington in 1872, the Town of Babylon had a population of about 3,000 people. The chart below illustrates the population growth of the Village of Amityville and the Town of Babylon.
Decade | Amityville Population | Town of Babylon Population | Please note: The Village of Amityville incorporated in 1894, thereby establishing its boundaries, which are used to define its census area. It is undetermined whether the 1880 census figure represents the area now known as the Village of Amityville, or whether it represented a larger/smaller area. |
1880 | 1,063 | 4,739 |
1900 | 2,038 | 7,112 |
1920 | 3,265 | 11,315 |
1940 | 5,058 | 24,297 |
1960 | 8,318 | 142,309 |
1980 | 9,076 | 203,483 |
2000 | 9,441 | 211,703 |
2020 | 9,500 | 218,223 |
The largest and fastest increase in population occurred after World War II, commonly referred to as the “Suburban Population Boom.” From 1940 to 1960, the population of the Town of Babylon increased by 485%. The rapid increase of residents brought an increased need for housing, schools, road improvements, stores and commercial developments, and employment. In those short decades, much of the Town of Babylon and its communities changed from rural countryside to suburban neighborhoods.
While hamlets in the Town of Babylon experienced tremendous population growth between 1940 and 1960, growth in the Village of Amityville was less extreme because the community had experienced steady residential and commercial growth over the previous century.