Setauket, NY — Crash Data, Roads, History & Law

Setauket is an unincorporated hamlet in the Town of Brookhaven, Suffolk County, New York, with 3,986 residents at the 2020 Census. Federal crash records show no fatal crashes within its boundaries from 2010 through 2024. Residents who commute travel an average of 25.5 minutes each way.

Long Island Town Fact Book · Updated · Sources & method

Setauket at a glance

Status
Hamlet (unincorporated; census-designated place)
Town
Brookhaven
County
Suffolk County
Population (2020 Census)
3,986[C]
Housing units (2020)
1,531
Land area
2.52 sq mi (plus 0.76 sq mi of water)
Density
1,583 people per sq mi
Average commute
25.5 minutes[B]
Traffic deaths, 2010–2024
0[A]
ZIP Code
11733
Founded / settled
In 1655, six land agents representing English settlers from New England and eastern Long Island purchased about eight square miles between present-day Stony Brook and Port Jefferson from the Setalcott Indians, in exchange for tools, wampum, lead, powder and, per the Town's own account, "1 pair of children's stockings"; the deed is preserved at Brookhaven Town Hall.[1]
Legal status
Unincorporated hamlet of the Town of Brookhaven, Suffolk County; tabulated by the Census Bureau as the Setauket CDP, a separate place from the neighboring East Setauket CDP since the 2020 Census[2]
Name origin
Named for the Setalcott (Setauket) people, whose land the 1655 purchase covered[1]
School district
Three Village Central School District (formed in the 1960s from the merger of the Setauket and Stony Brook districts)[8]
Policing
Suffolk County Police Department, 6th Precinct (400 Middle Country Road, Selden)[6]
Prior written notice law
Town of Brookhaven Code Chapter 84, "Notice of Defective or Dangerous Conditions," adopted June 16, 1987 by Local Law No. 7-1987[7]
National Register listings
Caroline Church and Cemetery (1991), Setauket Presbyterian Church and Burial Ground (1996), Thompson House (1988), Frank Melville Memorial Park (2010)[3][4][5][10]
Census geography
Setauket CDP · GEOID 3666465 · GNIS 2805099
Coordinates
40.9561°N, 73.1146°W

Hamlets in New York have no legal boundary or government of their own. Figures here use the Census Bureau's census-designated place, the standard statistical outline for the community; local usage of the name can be wider or narrower.

Name:The first colonial settlement on this stretch of the North Shore was named Setauket after the Setalcott (Setauket) Native people from whom the land was purchased.[1]

Fatal crashes in Setauket, 2010–2024

The federal Fatality Analysis Reporting System records no fatal crashes inside the boundaries of Setauket from 2010 through 2024.[A] Across Suffolk County as a whole, 2,080 people died in 1,951 crashes over the same fifteen years.

Recent Setauket Incident Reports

Caregiver Jackquilin Smith of Hicksville Arrested for Stealing $9,850 in Jewelry from East Setauket Family

Jackquilin Smith of Hicksville Arrested for Stealing $9,850 in Jewelry from East. Suffolk County. June 19, 2026.

Setauket Teen Faces DWI Charges After LIE Crash Seriously Injures Woman

Setauket Teen Faces DWI Charges After LIE Crash Seriously Injures Woman. April 21, 2026.

Setauket Teen Charged with DWI After LIE Crash That Seriously Injured Woman, Police Say

A Setauket teen was arrested for drunk driving after a crash on the Long Island Expressway that seriously injured a woman, according to police.

Updated continuously from 511NY, NYSP, NCPD, and SCPD feeds — all Long Island reports.

All reported crashes in the Town of Brookhaven, 2021–2024

New York's crash file codes each crash to a town, city or village — never to a hamlet — so the finest official count that covers Setauket is for the Town of Brookhaven, which contains it. Police reported 44,155 crashes there from 2021 through 2024 — about 30.2 a day. 11,428 (25.9%) injured someone and 172 were fatal. [D]

Police-reported crashes, Town of Brookhaven
2021202220232024Total
10,66310,23411,73911,51944,155
Injury crashes
11,428
Fatal crashes
172
Struck a pedestrian
445
Struck a bicyclist
390
Struck a deer
599

Counts are crashes, not people. The municipality is entered by the reporting police agency, and coding is less consistent for small villages, so compare places with care.

How Setauket gets to work

Setauket commuters travel an average of 25.5 minutes each way, 5.6 minutes shorter than the Suffolk County average (the national average is 26.4 minutes). About 72.5% of workers drive alone. [B]

Commuting and vehicle access, 2020–2024 (American Community Survey 5-year estimates)
Measure Setauket Suffolk County New York State United States
Average one-way commute 25.5 min ±9 31.1 min 32.6 min 26.4 min
Commute 60 minutes or longer 6.1% ±2.9 14.1% 16.8% 8.6%
Commute under 15 minutes 22.5% ±10.6 22.8% 20.5% 26%
Drive alone 72.5% ±10.8 72.1% 48.8% 68.8%
Carpool 2.4% ±1.7 † 7.5% 6.3% 8.5%
Commuter rail (LIRR) 1.3% ±0.9 † 3.2% 1.8% 0.3%
Bus 0% ±0.7 † 0.6% 5.1% 1.5%
Walk 1.2% ±1.8 † 1.4% 5.6% 2.4%
Work from home 22.3% ±4.5 12% 14.9% 15.1%
Leave home before 6 a.m. 4.8% ±3.5 † 12% 10.6% 14.4%
Households with no vehicle 0.8% ±0.9 † 5.1% 29.2% 8.4%
Households with three or more vehicles 33.8% ±12.7 28.8% 11.8% 21.9%

Survey estimates for 2,099 workers aged 16 and over; ± values are 90% margins of error. † Small sample — the margin of error is large relative to the estimate, so treat the figure as indicative only. Travel-time rows exclude people who work from home.

Notable facts about Setauket

  • Setauket's 1655 land purchase was paid for partly in tools, wampum, lead, powder and, per the Town of Brookhaven's own account, "1 pair of children's stockings."[1]
  • The 1666 Nicoll Patent that confirmed Setauket-area settlers' land title is also the document that gave the whole Town of Brookhaven its name.[1]
  • The Culper Spy Ring, organized in 1778 at George Washington's direction, was centered in Setauket and operated until 1783.[11]
  • Caroline Church, built in 1729, has stood at the junction of Dyke and Bates Roads in Setauket for nearly three centuries.[3]
  • The 2020 Census recognizes Setauket and East Setauket as two separate census-designated places for the first time.[2]
  • The Three Village Central School District, serving Setauket and Stony Brook, takes its name from the historic three villages and was formed by merging the two hamlets' separate school districts.[8]

History

Setauket is an unincorporated hamlet of the Town of Brookhaven, on Long Island's North Shore.[2] According to the Town's own history, English settlers arrived on the north shore of the area in 1655; six land agents purchased about eight square miles between present-day Stony Brook and Port Jefferson from the Setalcott Indians, exchanging tools, wampum, lead, powder and, in the Town's words, "1 pair of children's stockings."[1] The deed documenting the sale is preserved at Town Hall.[1] The Town notes that its present boundaries "coincide almost exactly with the tribal lands" of the Setalcotts (Setaukets) and the Unkechaugs, and that the new settlement was named Setauket for the people from whom it was purchased.[1] In 1666, Royal Governor Richard Nicoll granted a patent confirming the settlers' title and establishing the name "Brookhaven" for the town as a whole.[1]

Two colonial-era buildings in Setauket are individually listed on the National Register of Historic Places: the Thompson House on North Country Road, dated to 1709, listed in 1988, and Caroline Church, at the junction of Dyke and Bates Roads, built in 1729 with additional significant construction recorded in 1744 and listed in 1991.[5][3] The Setauket Presbyterian Church and Burial Ground was separately listed on the National Register in 1996, with significant years of 1690, 1812 and 1919 noted in its federal listing record.[4] Frank Melville Memorial Park, between Lake Street and Main Street, was listed in 2010 with significant years of 1937, 1941 and 1955, spanning the era of Ward Melville's local philanthropic building projects (the same benefactor behind the Stony Brook Village Center and the land gift that became the State University of New York's Stony Brook campus).[10]

During the American Revolution, General George Washington directed his chief of intelligence, Benjamin Tallmadge, to organize a network of informants — later called the Culper Spy Ring — to report on British troop movements; the Three Village Historical Society describes the ring as centered in Setauket and active from 1778 to 1783.[11]

How the roads got here

North Country Road (New York State Route 25A), the North Shore's principal east-west highway, runs through Setauket; the federal listing record for the Thompson House places that building's address simply as "N. Country Rd." in Setauket, confirming the road's path through the hamlet.[5]

Law and legal history

As an unincorporated hamlet, Setauket falls under the Town of Brookhaven's own prior-written-notice law, Chapter 84 of the Town Code, "Notice of Defective or Dangerous Conditions," adopted by the Town Board on June 16, 1987 by Local Law No. 7-1987.[7] It bars a civil action against the Town or its Superintendent of Highways for injuries caused by a defective, unsafe or obstructed town highway, street, bridge, culvert, crosswalk or pedestrian walkway — or by snow or ice on one — unless a person with firsthand knowledge gave written notice of the specific condition to the Town Clerk or Town Superintendent of Highways beforehand, and the Town then failed within a reasonable time to fix it.[7] The chapter also requires a separate notice of claim within 90 days for any damage claim tied to the Town's zoning law or a zoning amendment, and states that it supersedes subdivisions 1, 3 and 4 of Town Law § 65-a for Brookhaven while leaving General Municipal Law § 50-e notice-of-claim obligations intact.[7]

The Town of Brookhaven has no police department of its own; its Public Safety Department handles code enforcement, animal control, fire prevention and similar functions, while day-to-day law enforcement is provided by the Suffolk County Police Department's 6th Precinct, headquartered at 400 Middle Country Road in Selden, which the County describes as covering "several hamlets and incorporated villages within the Town of Brookhaven (North)" — the category Setauket falls into.[12][6]

Government, courts and policing

Setauket has no government of its own; it is an unincorporated hamlet of the Town of Brookhaven, governed by the Town Board and administered under the Town Code.[2][7] Policing is provided by the Suffolk County Police Department's 6th Precinct in Selden.[6] Fire protection comes from the Setauket Fire District, and public schools from the Three Village Central School District, which was formed in the 1960s through the merger of the Setauket and Stony Brook school districts and today also serves neighboring Stony Brook.[8]

Landmarks and listed places

  • Caroline Church (junction of Dyke and Bates Roads) — National Register of Historic Places, listed September 9, 1991; built 1729[3]
  • Setauket Presbyterian Church and Burial Ground — National Register of Historic Places, listed September 27, 1996[4]
  • Thompson House (North Country Road) — National Register of Historic Places, listed January 7, 1988; dated to 1709[5]
  • Frank Melville Memorial Park (Old Field Road, between Lake and Main Streets) — National Register of Historic Places, listed July 19, 2010[10]

Setauket timeline

  1. Land purchase. English settlers purchased about eight square miles between present-day Stony Brook and Port Jefferson from the Setalcott Indians and named the resulting settlement Setauket.[1]
  2. Nicoll Patent. Royal Governor Richard Nicoll granted a patent confirming the settlers' land title and establishing the name "Brookhaven" for the town.[1]
  3. Thompson House built. The Thompson House on North Country Road, associated with builder Samuel Thompson, dates to this year according to National Register records.[5]
  4. Caroline Church built. Caroline Church, at the junction of Dyke and Bates Roads, was built in 1729, with additional significant work recorded in 1744.[3]
  5. Culper Spy Ring organized. General George Washington asked his chief of intelligence, Benjamin Tallmadge, to organize the Culper Spy Ring, an intelligence network centered in Setauket that operated through 1783.[11]
  6. Frank Melville Memorial Park era begins. Frank Melville Memorial Park, between Lake Street and Main Street, has significant years of 1937, 1941 and 1955 in its National Register listing, spanning the Ward Melville era of local philanthropic development.[10]
  7. Three Village district formed. The Three Village Central School District was formed through the merger of the Setauket and Stony Brook school districts.[8]
  8. Prior-notice law adopted. The Brookhaven Town Board adopted Local Law No. 7-1987, the current "Notice of Defective or Dangerous Conditions" chapter of the Town Code, which applies to Setauket as an unincorporated hamlet.[7]
  9. Thompson House listed. The Thompson House was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.[5]
  10. Caroline Church listed. Caroline Church and Cemetery was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.[3]
  11. Presbyterian church listed. The Setauket Presbyterian Church and Burial Ground was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.[4]
  12. Melville park listed. Frank Melville Memorial Park was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.[10]

Major roads in Setauket

RoadRouteMaintained byIn Setauket
North Country Road [5] NY 25A New York State runs through the hamlet

Emergency Resources

Hospitals

See county-level hospital listings.

Police

  • Suffolk County Police Department, 6th Precinct — 400 Middle Country Road, Selden, NY 11784 — (631) 854-8600 (non-emergency); 911 for emergencies (Patrols the incorporated villages and hamlets of the northern Town of Brookhaven, including Setauket.)

Local Driver Services in Setauket

Practical resources for Setauket drivers — tire shops, gas prices, and live traffic conditions.

Gas Prices Cheapest Gas in Setauket Updated daily from station feeds Construction Active Long Island Construction Live work-zone directory Live Map Real-time Long Island Traffic Accidents, closures, and weather

Safety Resources

Frequently Asked Questions

What should I do after a car accident in Setauket, NY?

Move to safety and call 911 immediately, then document the scene with photos and exchange insurance and contact information with everyone involved. File a police report with SCPD and notify your insurer promptly. New York is a no-fault state, so your own PIP coverage pays initial medical costs regardless of fault, and you have just 30 days to file the NF-2 application.

Which roads are most dangerous in Setauket?

Route 25A and Nicolls Road carry the heaviest traffic through Setauket and account for most of the reported crashes we track. Route 25A through the East Setauket commercial corridor, with dense driveway access. Commercial driveways, signalized intersections, and turning movements along these corridors drive the local crash mix.

How current are these Setauket accident reports?

Long Island Traffic adds new reports every 2–4 hours from 511NY, NYS Police Troop L, SCPD, and verified local news. Scroll up for the latest Setauket and Suffolk County incidents, and check the "Dangerous Roads" section for corridor-level breakdowns.

Do I need a lawyer after a Setauket accident?

If you suffered serious injuries, significant property damage, or the other driver was uninsured, consulting a Suffolk County personal injury attorney is strongly recommended. Many firms offer free consultations and work on contingency. See our free guides at /know-your-rights/car-accidents/ and /know-your-rights/insurance-claims/.

Cite or reuse this page

You are welcome to quote the figures and facts on this page with credit and a link to Long Island Traffic. The underlying federal and state datasets are public records; our contribution is placing each record in the right community and documenting the method. Last updated . Spotted an error? Email corrections@longislandtraffic.com — corrections are logged and dated.

APA
Long Island Traffic. (2026). Setauket, NY — Long Island Town Fact Book. https://longislandtraffic.com/towns/suffolk/setauket/
Chicago
Long Island Traffic. "Setauket, NY — Long Island Town Fact Book." Last modified September 17, 2026. https://longislandtraffic.com/towns/suffolk/setauket/.
MLA
"Setauket, NY — Long Island Town Fact Book." Long Island Traffic, September 17, 2026, https://longislandtraffic.com/towns/suffolk/setauket/. Accessed October 16, 2026.
Wikipedia
{{cite web |title=Setauket, NY — Long Island Town Fact Book |url=https://longislandtraffic.com/towns/suffolk/setauket/ |website=Long Island Traffic |date=2026-09-17 |access-date=2026-10-16}}
HTML link
<a href="https://longislandtraffic.com/towns/suffolk/setauket/">Setauket, NY — Long Island Town Fact Book</a> (Long Island Traffic)

Data: machine-readable fact sheet (JSON) · methodology and limits

References

Datasets

  1. [A] National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), 2010–2024 national files. Retrieved September 17, 2026.Crashes on public trafficways in which a person died within 30 days. No personal identifiers. Placed by reported coordinates into 2020 Census boundaries.
  2. [B] U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2020–2024 5-Year Estimates, tables B08303, B08013, B08301, B08302, B08201, B19013, B01002. Retrieved September 17, 2026.Survey estimates with 90% margins of error. lowReliability = coefficient of variation above 30%.
  3. [C] U.S. Census Bureau, TIGERweb — 2020 Census tabulation geography (POP100, HU100, AREALAND). Retrieved September 17, 2026.
  4. [D] New York State Department of Motor Vehicles, Motor Vehicle Crashes — Case Information: Four Year Window. Retrieved September 17, 2026.Police-reported crashes coded to a town, city or village by the reporting agency. Hamlets are not coded; hamlet pages show the parent town.

Sources for history, roads and law

  1. [1] Town of Brookhaven. Growth of Brookhaven (2026). Government record.
  2. [2] U.S. Census Bureau. 2020 Gazetteer Files: Places, New York (2020_gaz_place_36.txt) (2020). Government record.
  3. [3] National Park Service, NPGallery. National Register Asset Detail: Caroline Church and Cemetery (Ref. #91001148) (1991). Government record.
  4. [4] National Park Service, NPGallery. National Register Asset Detail: Setauket Presbyterian Church and Burial Ground (Ref. #96001023) (1996). Government record.
  5. [5] National Park Service, NPGallery. National Register Asset Detail: Thompson House (Ref. #87002283) (1988). Government record.
  6. [6] Suffolk County Police Department. Sixth Precinct (2026). Government record.
  7. [7] Town of Brookhaven / General Code (ecode360). Town of Brookhaven Code, Chapter 84, Notice of Defective or Dangerous Conditions (2026). Government record.
  8. [8] Three Village Central School District. Three Village Central School District (home page) (2026). Government record.
  9. [10] National Park Service, NPGallery. National Register Asset Detail: Frank Melville Memorial Park (Ref. #10000486) (2010). Government record.
  10. [11] Three Village Historical Society. Spies! (Culper Spy Ring exhibit page) (2026). Historical society.
  11. [12] Town of Brookhaven. Public Safety (2026). Government record.

Sources opened and checked September 17, 2026.