Southampton, NY Landscape Numbers: Housing, Climate, Rules, Water and Costs

Last reviewed 2026-07-25. Journalists, researchers, and community groups are welcome to cite any figure on this page with attribution and a link.

This page collects the numbers behind a landscape plan on the South Fork, each with its source and its vintage. Housing figures come from the 2020 Census count and the American Community Survey's 2020-2024 estimates. Climate figures are NOAA's 1991-2020 normals for two stations, Bridgehampton and Westhampton Gabreski Airport, and hardiness zones come from the USDA's 2023 map. The rules table gives the dates, hours, setbacks, heights and fines printed in the Town of Southampton, village, Suffolk County and New York State codes. Water figures come from the Suffolk County Water Authority and the State's Lake Agawam plan, and the cost rows from published price surveys and the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Read each number the way its source asks. ACS figures are estimates with margins of error, and a Census designated place such as Water Mill or Hampton Bays is a statistical area whose line may not match the hamlet's. A NOAA freeze date is a 50 percent date, so in about half of years the last spring freeze comes later. The cost rows are national, Northeast or New York City figures; no published survey prices Long Island work, and none of them is a quote from us. For what the rules mean on a property, read our Southampton landscaping rules guide; for prices by service, see our landscaping cost guide.

Seasonal homes and housing by place

The Census counts homes held for seasonal, recreational or occasional use among its vacant units, and on the South Fork that category is a large share of all housing. In the 2020 Census it ran from 22.2% of housing units in Hampton Bays to 59.8% in Westhampton Beach village. The American Community Survey's 2020-2024 estimates run higher in eight of the nine places, with Quogue village at 78.5%, Sagaponack village at 75.8% and Bridgehampton at 72.3%. For a landscape plan the share is a calendar: the more seasonal homes, the more properties that need opening before the season, weekly care while owners come and go, and a fall cleanup and closing when they leave.

Read the table with two cautions. The 2020 Census is a count, while ACS figures are estimates with margins of error; the published margin on Quogue's estimate of 1,144 seasonal units is 112. Water Mill, Bridgehampton and Hampton Bays appear as Census designated places, statistical areas whose lines may not match each hamlet's own. The ACS also dates the housing stock: the median year built is 1958 in Sag Harbor village, the oldest of these places, 1977 in Hampton Bays, 1985 in Southampton village and 1995 in Water Mill and Sagaponack village.

Seasonal share = units for seasonal, recreational or occasional use (2020 Census table H5; ACS table B25004) divided by all housing units (tables H1 and B25001). ACS figures are 5-year estimates with margins of error. CDP = Census designated place.

Climate, freeze dates and hardiness zones

NOAA's 1991-2020 normals for two stations frame the planting calendar. At Bridgehampton the median last spring freeze is April 23 and the first fall freeze October 24, a growing season of 182 days; at the Westhampton Gabreski Airport station they are May 7 and October 14, a season of 160 days. Each is a 50 percent date, so in about half of years the last freeze comes later. Bridgehampton's wettest months by normal are December and March, and July is its driest, at 3.16 inches. We plant in spring after the last freeze and in fall ahead of the first, and we set irrigation systems for a dry July.

The USDA's 2023 hardiness map splits the South Fork by ZIP code. Water Mill (11976), Bridgehampton (11932), Sagaponack (11962) and East Hampton (11937) are zone 7b, an average annual extreme winter low of 5 to 10 degrees F. Southampton (11968), Sag Harbor (11963), Hampton Bays (11946), Westhampton Beach (11978) and Quogue (11959) are zone 7a, 0 to 5 degrees F. The USDA notes that the zones are averages, not the lowest temperatures ever recorded, and that wind, soil moisture and winter sun affect survival, so on exposed lots we site broadleaf evergreens out of the wind.

Freeze dates are NOAA's 50 percent probability dates. USDA 2023 zones by ZIP: 7a for Southampton, Sag Harbor, Hampton Bays, Westhampton Beach and Quogue; 7b for Water Mill, Bridgehampton, Sagaponack and East Hampton.

The rules in numbers, with the fines

Each row gives a number as the code or agency prints it and names the government it comes from. The Town of Southampton's rules apply in its hamlets and the Village of Southampton's inside the Village; Westhampton Beach, Quogue and the Town of East Hampton write their own codes. Suffolk County's fertilizer law and New York State's pool code apply everywhere, villages included. Fines appear here as each code prints them, by offense; our rules guide and hamlet pages leave them out. For what each rule means on a property and how we work under it, read our guide to Southampton's landscaping rules.

Numbers as printed in each code on ecode360: Town of Southampton legislation through 06-09-2026, Village of Southampton through 07-09-2026, Westhampton Beach through 07-06-2026, Quogue through 12-19-2025. Sagaponack, Sag Harbor and the Village of East Hampton set their own rules.

Water: SCWA rules and credits, the aquifer and Lake Agawam

Water on the South Fork comes from the ground. New York State's Department of Health classifies Long Island's groundwater as a sole-source aquifer, and the State DEC counts more than 1,500 public-supply wells across Nassau and Suffolk drawing on it. The Suffolk County Water Authority reported in 2021 that 70% of the water it pumps goes to outside use, most of it lawn irrigation, and in 2026 it blamed overnight irrigation for leaving its storage tanks low each morning. SCWA's answers are the odd/even schedule, which it says cuts peak demand on summer mornings, a 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. no-watering window, when most water is lost to evaporation, and account credits for smart controllers and rain sensors. We set controllers to those rules and fit rain sensors on the systems we install.

Nitrogen is the other water number. The State DEC's 2020 action plan for Lake Agawam, the 64-acre freshwater lake in the Village of Southampton, attributes 70% of the lake's nitrogen load to septic wastewater and 8% to fertilizer, with 4% from the atmosphere and 4% from a storm drain at the north end. The plan recommends cutting synthetic fertilizer across the watershed, about 1,145 acres of the Village, and planting buffers along the lake. The Peconic Estuary Partnership's guidance, at most 0.6 pounds of nitrogen per 1,000 square feet in one feeding and 1.8 pounds a year, points the same way, and our lawn care programs stay inside it.

SCWA's odd/even page does not say whether the schedule is mandatory outside a declared water alert. Hampton Bays is served by its own Town-run water district, so ask your supplier which rules bind your property.

Published cost benchmarks and national wages

No published price survey we found gives a Long Island, Suffolk County or Hamptons price, so the rows below are what the surveys do publish: national ranges, a Northeast mowing row, a New York State row and New York City rows, each with the date the survey page shows. A New York City row describes the city, not Southampton, and none of these figures is a quote from us. Read them as published reference points; the scope of the work, the materials and the labor set the price on a given property, and our written estimate prices that property. Ranges by service, with what moves each one, are on our landscaping cost page.

Labor runs through every one of these prices, and the Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes it nationally. In May 2025 landscaping and groundskeeping workers earned a national mean of $20.33 an hour, first-line landscaping supervisors $29.31, tree trimmers and pruners $26.91 and landscape architects $42.68. The Nassau County-Suffolk County figures for these occupations could not be verified, so we print no Long Island wage. LawnStarter's Northeast rows, about 24 weeks of mowing at $48 to $75 a week and $58.17 a mow in 2025, are the only regional figures in the table.

Ranges as each survey page showed them on the date given; no survey publishes a Long Island price. New York City rows are city figures, not Southampton prices. BLS wages are national; Nassau-Suffolk figures could not be verified.

Sources & Methodology

Every figure above was taken from the primary sources below (accessed 2026-07-25). Where a number is derived (arithmetic on published figures) or covers a broader period or area, the text says so.

1. U.S. Census Bureau, 2020 Census Demographic and Housing Characteristics File, tables P1, H1 and H5: Southampton village — The tables for the other villages and hamlets in this page sit at the same address pattern.
2. U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2020-2024 5-year estimates, tables B25001, B25004 and B25035: Southampton village
3. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, U.S. Climate Normals 1991-2020, Bridgehampton (USC00300889) — Westhampton Gabreski Airport (USW00014719) is in the same dataset.
4. USDA Agricultural Research Service, 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map
5. Town of Southampton Code, Chapter 235 (Noise) and Chapter 330 (Zoning) — Chapter 330's lighting, clearing and aquifer overlay sections are on the same site.
6. Village of Southampton Code, Chapters 41, 73, 78 and 116
7. Village of Westhampton Beach Code — The Village of Quogue and Town of East Hampton codes are on the same site.
8. Suffolk County Code, Chapter 459 (Fertilizer) — Pool barrier rules: New York Department of State, 2025 Uniform Code pool summary.
9. Suffolk County Water Authority, odd/even lawn watering — Water Wise credits, cross-connection control and the 2026 water alerts are on scwa.com.
10. New York State DEC, Lake Agawam Harmful Algal Bloom Action Plan (April 2020)
11. Hampton Bays Water District, Drinking Water Quality Report for 2023 — Peconic Estuary Partnership, Create a Peconic Friendly Yard, for the Homeowner Rewards program.
12. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025, national table — Cost rows: the HomeGuide, Angi and LawnStarter pages named and dated in the table.