How Many Amish People Live in North America?

At talks I give, and at book signings, I am often asked how many Amish people there are in America.  It’s an interesting question, but the answer is complicated by the fact that Amish families and churches have been moving so much recently, to new lands in far-flung states and countries.  Really, Amish families are settling nearly every region of America where land is less expensive, and a thorough census is not always possible.  But, here are some of the numbers, as recently published by the local Wooster Daily Record newspaper.

The numbers of traditional “horse-and-buggy” Amish people in America and Canada has been doubling every twenty-two years.  In 1990, there were 179 Amish settlements, and today there are over 450 settlements, with over 250,000 people.  This count does not include the closely related Mennonites or the more liberal New Order Amish, who have embraced motorized transportation.

In Holmes County, Ohio, where we have the world’s largest Amish settlement, there are nearly as many Amish people (30,000) as there are English people.  In all of Ohio, there are over 60,000 Amish people, and in Pennsylvania there are over 59,000 Amish people.

If you were to guess why the Amish population in Holmes County is growing faster than the English population, you’d probably get it right.  Amish people don’t believe in birth control, and Amish families are still quite large by comparison.  Also, Amish families retain over 85% of their children in the faith.  In other words, most Amish youngsters eventually join the church.

So that is quite a lot of Amish people, any way you figure it.  And the most remarkable consideration?  Amish people are not at all evangelistic.  They do not recruit for the faith.  They are a rather insular group, and they don’t grow in numbers by converting others to their way of life.  And still their numbers are growing.

I have been traveling the back roads and country lanes of Holmes County for over thirty-five years, and I have noticed that the amount of buggy traffic has increased dramatically over that period.  Now I know why.  And the sheriff in Holmes County seems to know this, too.  The speed limit on county roads is now only 45 mph.  It is not safe to travel any faster than that, whether you are Amish or English.  Now that some of the more liberal Amish districts have permitted the use of tractors and other farm implements, I suspect that some Amish fellow will soon become the first to earn a speeding ticket.  How, you would ask?  Well, we have been seeing quite a few tractors out on the roads, recently, driven by farmers traveling back and forth to town.  A speeding ticket for an Amish farmer?  That would be quite a sight.

So it’s not just the number of Amish people that is growing.  It is their modernity, too.  The next thing will be Amish people in town with phones, tablets, and Walkmans.  Oh wait.  We’ve already seen those, too.  In Applebees, near Wooster’s Walmart.  What fun!