Babbitt divided his time between mathematical research in Washington, D.C., where Sylvia worked for the War Production Board, and Princeton, where he was a member of the mathematics faculty from 1943 to 1945.

In 1948, Babbitt returned to Princeton's music faculty, and in 1973 he joined the faculty of the Juilliard School. Among his students were music theorists David Lewin and John Rahn,