Babylon Home Insurance: Three ZIPs Share the Name, Not the Flood Record
Last reviewed: July 2026. Data vintage noted per figure.
TL;DR
"Babylon" is a village of 12,188 people inside a town of more than 200,000 that shares its name, and the insurance math depends on which one you mean. The village's ZIP 11702, fronting the Great South Bay, has logged 2,714 NFIP flood claims. North Babylon has 53. The median village home dates to 1956, before FEMA's first flood maps. If your block is near the bay or the canals, price flood coverage with the house, not after the fact.
2,714
NFIP flood claims on record in ZIP 11702, per FEMA claims data
$658,500
Median home value in the village, Census ACS 2024 5-year
1956
Median year built for village housing, Census ACS 2024 5-year
Which Babylon? The name hides the difference
The Village of Babylon incorporated in 1893 and serves as the seat of the Town of Babylon, which counts more than 200,000 residents to the village's 12,188. Three ZIP codes carry the name. FEMA's claims record separates them cleanly.
| ZIP | USPS place name | NFIP claims on record | NFIP paid | Claims from 2012 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11702 | Babylon (village and bay blocks) | 2,714 | $131.5M | 1,271 |
| 11704 | West Babylon | 247 | $5.7M | 92 |
| 11703 | North Babylon | 53 | $600,000 | 2 |
The gap is geography. ZIP 11702 holds the bay frontage and the canal blocks. North Babylon sits inland, and West Babylon lands in between with 247 claims. When a quote comparison site treats "Babylon" as one market, it is averaging across a fifty-fold difference in flood history. Figures from FEMA claims data as of July 2026, dollars rounded.
A bay village on a river corridor
The village runs 2.8 square miles from Argyle Lake down the Carlls River to the Great South Bay, with canals threading the residential blocks south of the village center. Southards Pond sits on the same river corridor. Fire Island lies across the bay. The LIRR's Babylon Branch ends at Babylon station, which also serves the Montauk Branch and makes the village a Suffolk transit hub. Its 4,795 housing units are 78.6% owner-occupied per Census ACS 2024 5-year estimates.
Our July 2026 query of FEMA's flood layer reflects that layout: AE and VE polygons concentrated toward the bay and canals, and a wide 0.2%-annual-chance band following the river corridor through the village. Zone lines run block by block. Check your address at msc.fema.gov, and see our Long Island flood map for how 11702 compares to its neighbors.
What the storms did here
| Event | Date | What it did |
|---|---|---|
| Superstorm Sandy | 2012-10-29 | Bay water surged over bulkheads across the Town of Babylon's south shore; local reporting described four to six feet of water in the village at the storm's peak, with major flood and wind damage to homes and businesses. |
| Hurricane Irene | 2011-08-28 | 3 to 6 feet of storm surge caused hundreds of millions of dollars in property damage across New York City and Long Island, concentrated on the south shore. |
Sandy remains the reference event. Local reporting described four to six feet of water in the village at the storm's peak, per a one-year retrospective, and the Town of Babylon still maintains a Sandy recovery page. Of ZIP 11702's 2,714 claims on record, 1,271 came from the 2012 loss year alone.
What this means for your policy
Flood, if you are south of the village center. A homeowners policy excludes flood damage. In the AE and VE zones near the bay and canals, a separate NFIP or private policy is mandatory with a federally backed mortgage. With a 1956 median build year, ask specifically how a pre-FIRM home is rated under Risk Rating 2.0 and whether an elevation certificate would lower the premium.
Wind everywhere. Expect a percentage hurricane deductible of 1% to 5% of your dwelling limit under the uniform statewide trigger New York adopted in February 2026. On a home insured near the village median, the difference between 2% and 5% is five figures. Our hurricane deductible guide has the math.
If the market tightens. Bay-block homes can fall inside the C-MAP coastal band, with the program's other prerequisites, and NYPIUA backstops Suffolk County with its 2% hurricane deductible. A non-renewal notice starts a clock. Treat it as a deadline. Buying near the water? Run the pre-offer insurance checklist first.
Carriers. Appetite varies by block, roof age, elevation, and claims history, and it shifts often. We do not publish carrier lists because they go stale. An independent agent who writes the south shore regularly can tell you what is available for your address now. For neighboring markets, see Freeport and Long Beach.
Babylon Village by the numbers
| Fact | Figure | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Population (2020 census) | 12,188 | U.S. Census |
| Median home value | $658,500 | Census ACS 2024 5-year |
| Median household income | $140,820 | Census ACS 2024 5-year |
| Housing units | 4,795 | Census ACS 2024 5-year |
| Owner-occupied share | 78.6% | Census ACS 2024 5-year |
| Median year built | 1956 | Census ACS 2024 5-year |
| NFIP claims, ZIP 11702 | 2,714 | FEMA NFIP claims data, July 2026 |
| Mapped flood zones | AE, VE, A, X (0.2% annual chance), X (minimal hazard) | FEMA NFHL, queried July 2026 |
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