Iowa Is America’s #9 Amish State — Here Are Its 10 Biggest Communities
Iowa is home to America’s ninth-largest Amish population, spread across about 25 settlements. The oldest dates to 1846; the newest on this list, to 2011.
The following communities are the largest in Iowa, based on the most current Amish population estimates.
Population numbers via Young Center for Anabaptist & Pietist Studies at Elizabethtown College (source link at bottom).
1. Bloomfield
Bloomfield (Davis County)
Community founded: 1971
Total Amish population: 1,920
Iowa’s largest Amish settlement lies around Bloomfield in Davis County, in the southeastern part of the state. Founded in 1971, it now numbers 12 church districts (congregations).
Amish here are notably entrepreneurial, running businesses including furniture and wood shops, baked goods, rugs, greenhouses, buggy shops, and horseshoeing. As far back as 2003 there were nearly 70 Amish businesses in the settlement, which works out to about one for every other household.
2. Kalona
Kalona (Johnson & Washington Counties)
Community founded: 1846
Total Amish population: 1,620
The Kalona community is the oldest Amish location in Iowa by a wide margin, and one of the oldest anywhere. Amish settled here in 1846, over 30 years before the town itself was founded.
The settlement sits among the rolling hills of Johnson and Washington Counties, roughly two-thirds of it on the Johnson County side. You’ll sometimes see Kalona called the largest Amish community west of the Mississippi – which it isn’t. It’s unusual in certain ways, including the use of meetinghouses to hold church service, rather than at home properties, the standard Amish practice.
3. Hazleton/Buchanan County
Hazleton/Buchanan (Buchanan County)
Community founded: 1914
Total Amish population: 1,570
Amish from Kalona founded this settlement near Hazleton in 1914, wanting to hold to more conservative church standards. The Buchanan County Amish were described for decades as among the plainest groups in Amish society. They’ve given their name to an affiliation with daughter settlements scattered across many states. That conservative bent has shifted somewhat in recent years, with SMV triangles, buggy storm fronts, phone shanties, and pressure lighting all now accepted here.
Buchanan County is also where the Iowa school conflict came to a head in November 1965. The episode was one of the steps on the road to the landmark Wisconsin v. Yoder decision in 1972, affirming parental control over education for the Amish and other groups.
4. Seymour
Seymour (Wayne County)
Community founded: 1996
Total Amish population: 1,205
Seymour lies in Wayne County near the Missouri line. It has grown at a steady clip since being founded in the mid-1990s by Amish from Iowa and Delaware.
Not to be confused with the Seymour community in Missouri, which is a separate settlement several times this size.
5. Milton
Milton (Van Buren & Davis Counties)
Community founded: 1969
Total Amish population: 720
Sizewise, this is where the list starts to drop. The top four Iowa settlements are all over 1,000 people; in fifth place is this still-sizeable community around Milton and Pulaski in Van Buren County, spilling into Davis County. It’s the third-oldest settlement in Iowa’s top ten, though still over 100 years younger than the oldest Iowa community (Kalona).
6. Edgewood
Edgewood (Clayton County)
Community founded: 1986
Total Amish population: 550
Edgewood sits in Clayton County in northeastern Iowa, a good distance from the concentration of communities in the southeast. Founded in 1986, it numbers three church districts in size.
7. Delhi/Hopkinton
Delhi/Hopkinton (Delaware County)
Community founded: 2011
Total Amish population: 345
The Delaware County settlement around Delhi and Hopkinton is the youngest community in Iowa’s top ten, dating only to 2011. It’s in the same corner of northeast Iowa as Edgewood.
8. Centerville
Centerville (Appanoose County)
Community founded: 2002
Total Amish population: 340
Centerville lies in Appanoose County in southern Iowa, founded in 2002 and still two church districts in size. Appanoose County has been in the news in 2026 over an unlicensed health facility run by a once-Amish man near Centerville, and once popular among the Amish. Moravia is another town address of Amish in the area.
9. Murray
Murray (Clarke County)
Community founded: 2006
Total Amish population: 285
The Murray settlement is in Clarke County in south-central Iowa, founded in 2006 and three church districts in size.
10. Lamoni (Tie)
Lamoni (Decatur County, Iowa & Harrison County, Missouri)
Community founded: 1997
Total Amish population: 280
Tied for tenth is Lamoni, one of the Amish settlements that straddle a state line – located in Decatur County on the Iowa side, Harrison County on the Missouri side.
10. Bonaparte (Tie)
Bonaparte (Van Buren County)
Community founded: 2005
Total Amish population: 280
Also at an estimated 280 people is Bonaparte, founded in 2005. It’s the second Van Buren entry in this top ten, after Milton at #5.
For more on Amish communities in the Hawkeye State, check out our Iowa Amish state guide.
See also:
- Pennsylvania’s 10 Largest Amish Communities
- Ohio’s 10 Largest Amish Communities
- Indiana’s 10 Largest Amish Communities
- Wisconsin’s 10 Largest Amish Communities
- New York’s 10 Largest Amish Communities
- Michigan’s 10 Largest Amish Communities
- Missouri’s 10 Largest Amish Communities
- Kentucky’s 10 Largest Amish Communities
Population numbers sourced from the Young Center (Elizabethtown College) Amish Settlement List.
