The Amish Population Has Grown Over 130% Since 2000: New Report
The 2025 Amish Population Report
The 2025 Amish population figures have just been released by the Young Center at Elizabethtown College in Lancaster County, PA. As always, the Amish population continues going up (never down).
This reflects their high birthrate, and the tendency for most people born Amish, to choose to remain Amish, by being baptized in the church.
It’s a trend that has continued for decades. Among other things, the new report notes that the Amish population has more than doubled since the turn of the century. More on that below.
Here are five things of note from the latest figures, a summary of which you’ll find here.
1. Total Amish Population: Over 400K
Last year the total estimated Amish population crossed 400,000 for the first time. It continues to blow past that milestone figure, clocking in this year at 411,060 people.
This is 99%+ natural growth, as outsiders rarely join and remain in the Amish church (though it happens on occasion).
That would include the Amish populations in the United States (home to the vast majority of Amish), the much smaller but significant Canadian Amish population, as well as the sole Bolivian Amish settlement.
The Amish have a presence in 32 states. The last time that total changed was in 2022, when New Mexico joined the list.
2. Rapid Growth Since 2000
Looking at the longer-term perspective, the Young Center includes an interesting summary of Amish growth over the past quarter-century.
Since the year 2000, the Amish have grown by well over 200,000 people, more than doubling in a little over a generation. From the report:
Growth Trends, 2000-2025. The North American Amish population grew by an estimated 233,045 since 2000, increasing from approximately 177,910 in 2000 to 410,955 in 2025, an increase of 131 percent. The Amish population doubles about every 20 years.
And in terms of church districts, settlements, and states added:
Since 2000, the number of districts has grown from 1,335 to 3,114, an increase of 1,779 districts. The same period saw a net gain of 373 settlements, including settlements in six new states (Colorado, Nebraska, New Mexico, South Dakota, Vermont, and Wyoming) and two new provinces (New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island).
Going by these numbers, the total number of settlements has more than doubled in that time as well.
3. No Failed Settlements
Notably, there are no failed settlements to report in this year’s numbers. I don’t recall when that was the case in past years. Normally, there are at least a handful of Amish settlements which disband for various reasons.
Joe Donnermeyer, who helps create the annual settlement list, detailed a number of those reasons in his post “Extinct” Amish Communities: 7 Interesting Facts.
They include poor economic conditions, church issues, lack of church ministry, and “unrealistic location” – for instance, settling in a place too far from the “home community”.
In any case, while there are a number of fledgling Amish communities – some with an estimated population as low as just 10 people – none went extinct since last year’s report.
UPDATE: I asked Joe Donnermeyer for his insight on this. He writes that “in the 21st century, there are only three years on my list without an extinction – 2005, 2016, and 2017. So far, in the 21st century (2000-2024), there are 78 extinctions. This is totally offset by the number of new settlements…”
4. Nine New Communities
Amish established nine new communities since the last report (these reports are typically released each year in the summertime).
Those communities include locations in Tennessee, Indiana, Wyoming, Maryland, and Ontario. UPDATE: Here are the nine new settlements (Hat-tip to reader Guy in Ohio who compared this and last year’s lists):
1. Lexington, Jefferson County, Indiana
2. Vevay #3, Switzerland County, Indiana
3. Mount Sterling, Montgomery County, Kentucky
4. Friendsville, Garrett County, Maryland
5. Hersey #2, Osceola County, Michigan
6. Dadeville, Dade County, Missouri
7. Rock Island/Spencer, Van Buren County, Tennessee
8. Camp Douglas, Juneau County, Wisconsin
9. Port Loring, Parry Sound, Ontario
At 684 settlements, the total number of communities continues to grow, but still remains a bit short of 700. A community” or “settlement” would refer to the Amish living in a distinct geographical location.
A community may consist of a single church congregation, aka “church district” – or be made up of multiple, in some cases dozens or hundreds, or distinct congregations.
The Amish tend to form new churches once their numbers exceed 120-130 people. This keeps churches small, closer, and manageable, since most Amish hold church services at their home properties in existing structures.
A community usually consists of Amish from the same subgroup or “affiliation“. But in some cases, a community can contain two or more subgroups – or many, as in the notable case of Holmes County, Ohio, with around a dozen of them.
5. South Dakota remains on the “Amish Map”
In 2023, it was reported that the Amish were in the process of leaving their sole community at Tripp in Hutchinson County, South Dakota. One year later, it seemed the process was still underway as Amish homes continued to be sold in the area.
So it appeared that the number of Amish states would decrease from 32 to 31, given the impending exit of Amish from the Mount Rushmore State.
However, that was not to be. While the Tripp community has come to an end, in the meantime, additional Amish communities had been emerging.
There are now Amish in two other locations in South Dakota – at Hot Springs (Fall River County) and Gregory (Gregory County). These settlements are reported to have started in 2023 and 2022, respectively.
In some cases, it can be some time before an Amish settlement gets “on the radar”, or achieves “settlement status”. They may start with only a household or two, and some time will pass before they grow large enough to be considered a full-fledged settlement (by one commonly-used definition, at least three Amish households).
So with South Dakota staying on the list, no states were added or lost in the past year. So the 18 states without an Amish community list remains the same.
Statistics compiled by Edsel Burdge Jr., Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies, Elizabethtown College, in cooperation with Joseph F. Donnermeyer, School of Environment and Natural Resources, The Ohio State University, and with assistance from Adam Hershberger, Ohio Amish Library, Millersburg, Ohio.
A thank-you as always to the folks at the Young Center and to Cynthia Nolt for bringing the release of the new figures to my attention. In addition to the links above, find the individual state population numbers here.
New Settlements
I compared the 2024 list to the 2025 list and here are the new settlements.
1. Lexington, Jefferson County, Indiana
2. Vevay #3, Switzerland County, Indiana
3. Mount Sterling, Montgomery County, Kentucky
4. Friendsville, Garrett County, Maryland
5. Hersey #2, Osceola County, Michigan
6. Dadeville, Dade County, Missouri
7. Rock Island/Spencer, Van Buren County, Tennessee
8. Camp Douglas, Juneau County, Wisconsin
9. Port Loring, Parry Sound, Ontario
Thanks for doing the comparison to identify the nine. I started but didn’t finish in the interest of publish time – will add it to the post with a hat-tip to you!
No problem Erik. Comparing the lists can be a little tedious so I fully understand why you didn’t finish. My first time going through it I only found eight…so I had to start from the beginning a second time to find the ninth.
Start from the beginning...
Ouch! You get a double hat-tip for that 🙂
Like I said it can be a little tedious, but honestly I would compare the lists anyway just to satisfy my own curiosity so I’m more than happy to share the info.
Some Observations
A few things I observed while going over the new list.
1. The new settlement of Vevay #3 is now the 3rd active and distinct settlement in the Vevay area. I wonder why a group of Amish would choose to start a new settlement so close to two existing settlements.
2. As Erik mentioned above South Dakota remains on the Amish map. I noticed that both the settlements there seem to be growing at a decent rate, both Hot Springs and Gregory seem to have a larger population than the community at Tripp ever had.
3. While comparing the list of the 12 largest settlements with last years list I noticed that all of these settlements had at least a little bit of growth…except for Holmes County which appears to have had a little bit of a decline. It went from 323 districts with an estimated population of 40,435 to 322 districts with an estimated population of 39,040.
Nice observations here as well. Vevay #3 did catch my eye, I would like to learn what group they are. And also the reason for the reported decline in Holmes County.
If you find out any information on either of these please pass it along.
Interesting statistics!
Thanks for your article on this, Erik. When I first saw the numbers, I was surprised given the relatively low growth – just over 10,000 people in this year, or 2.5% growth
However, if you average out the percentage growth since 2020, when the population was 350,665, it works out roughly 3.4% population growth per year(maths below). In comparison, Niger, the world’s fastest growing country, is growing at 3.3% per year.
A population as small as the Old Order Amish is bound to have really uneven growth patterns (they grew more than 4% in 2024!), but over the long term that 3.5% average per year seems to hold true.
((411,060-350,665)/350,665)*100=17.2% growth since 2020
17.2/5 years = 3.44% growth per year
Thank you Callum, and I appreciate you doing the math to look a little deeper 🙂
The one thing I’ll note too is that these are estimates and the year-by-year differences might not perfectly reflect the actual rate. I think you have well illustrated though the long term rate when you average it out.
I would guess it to be high, but I wasn’t aware that Niger had Amish-like growth rates. Wow.
Thank you for sharing and great insights! A very good reminder that this is a living, breathing, growing, evolving community. That gets lost in the main stream perspective so often.
Fascinating math and comparison to the other rates. Thanks all.
To be fair… it that anyone reading this needs the reminder….a little preaching to the choir I guess.
Thanks again for advising us Amish America readers of the updated statistics. I rely on this posting on Amish America each year to let me know when the Young Center releases the new statistics. I download and print a copy to keep with me whenever I’m a volunteer tour guide at Menno-Hof Amish/Mennonite Visitors Center in Shipshewana. It helps me when visitors from all over the U. S. ask questions like, “Is there any Amish settlement near where I live?”.