The 11 Midwestern States With An Amish Population

We’ve looked at the 12 Southern, 5 Western, and 4 Northeastern states with Amish populations. Finally, today we review the 11 Midwestern states with Amish communities.

The Midwest as a region has a higher percentage of its states with Amish populations (11 of 12) than any other. In some sense it is both the “US heartland” and “Amish heartland”.

Three of the four most Amish-populous states (Ohio, Indiana, and Wisconsin) lie in this region. North Dakota is the only state here that lacks an Amish presence.

Moving away from the Great Lakes states and beyond Minnesota and Iowa, the Amish population thins out quickly, with just a handful of communities in Nebraska and South Dakota.

Amish do have a long history in some of these states however, with Kansas, for example, having three settlements each well over a century old.

Amish in the Midwest: 11 States with an Amish Population

Read on for the list of Midwestern states with Amish communities, ordered from greatest-to-lowest population. Figures are taken from the most recent Amish Studies population estimates.

1. Ohio (74 settlements; 86,325 Amish)

Ohio as a whole has more individual Amish settlements than any other. It’s second only to Pennsylvania in total Amish population, and location of the most diverse Amish settlement – Holmes County – with around a dozen separate Amish affiliations calling the place home.

2. Indiana (28 settlements; 67,310 Amish)

While most of the highest-Amish-population states all have 50+ communities each, Indiana has a lot fewer. The state’s Amish population happens to be concentrated in several quite large communities – four of the ten largest lie in the Hoosier State.

The state’s largest Amish presence is in the Elkhart-LaGrange County settlement, while two of the largest Swiss Amish communities are found in northeastern Indiana.

3. Wisconsin (68 settlements; 27,535 Amish)

Wisconsin has attracted much interest from Amish over the years, with new communities being founded in the state regularly. In much of the state’s western half you’re usually no farther than a stone’s throw from an Amish settlement.

Over a dozen of the state’s counties have more than one Amish community within their borders. The largest communities are found at Cashton and the Kingston/Dalton area.

4. Michigan (53 settlements; 20,090 Amish)

From the Indiana border to the “mitten’s thumb” to the Upper Peninsula, Amish have settled in locations across Michigan. Centreville is the state’s oldest and largest settlement, and home to over 10% of the state’s Amish population.

5. Missouri (64 settlements; 18,465 Amish)

The Amish have flocked to Missouri over the past several decades. The trend has stayed strong in recent years as its Amish population has increased by nearly 50% since 2018. Sizeable communities are found at Clark, Seymour, and Jamesport, among others.

6. Iowa (25 settlements; 10,965 Amish)

Iowa has long drawn its share of Amish, with the Kalona settlement at nearly 180 years old. Buchanan County and Davis County are home to similarly-sized communities, each with over 1,500 Amish residents. In 1965, Iowa Amish schoolchildren were involved in an infamous incident which eventually led to the landmark Wisconsin v. Yoder religious freedom case.

7. Illinois (20 settlements; 9,280 Amish)

The Arthur settlement is home to the bulk of Illinois‘ Amish population, and is larger than all the other 19 communities in the state put together. In contrast to the trend in some states on this list, Amish have founded new settlements in the Land of Lincoln relatively infrequently in recent years.

8. Minnesota (25 settlements; 5,715 Amish)

The Swartzentruber Amish settlement at Harmony is the largest and best-known community in Minnesota, but small settlements dot the state. Todd County in central Minnesota is home to five separate Amish settlements.

9. Kansas (15 settlements; 2,880 Amish)

Kansas has long been home to several long-lived (100+ years) yet small communities, including at Yoder and Garnett. Recent years have seen Amish settling a spate of new locations, with the total number of settlements nearly doubling since 2018.

10. Nebraska (7 settlements; 635 Amish)

Nebraska‘s current Amish presence is relatively young, with the oldest of its modern-day settlements having started in the 2000s. There’s never been a very large Amish population in the state, even though Amish first settled the state in 1880. However, Nebraska has seen several new communities founded since 2020. Note: Amish in the state are not to be confused with the “Nebraska Amish” group, mainly found in central Pennsylvania.

11. South Dakota (2 settlements; 175 Amish)

While South Dakota saw its sole community at Tripp disband around 2023, at about the same time Amish were founding communities in two new locations, in Fall River and Gregory Counties.

Get the Amish in your inbox

Join 15,000 email subscribers. No spam. 100% free

 

 

 

Subscribe