More Amish Families Moving West as Pennsylvania Population Reaches Record Highs
Pennsylvania’s Amish population has reached a historic milestone, driving quiet but significant migration across the state. As farmland becomes scarce in Lancaster County—the nation’s largest Amish community—many families are seeking new opportunities farther west. Researchers at Elizabethtown College’s Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies say these moves are part of a generational shift shaping the future of Amish life in Pennsylvania.
Record Growth in Lancaster’s Amish Settlement
The Lancaster settlement remains the largest Amish community in North America, home to roughly 44,000 Amish adults and children. Unlike traditional boundaries of counties or boroughs, the Amish define their settlements by church districts—smaller congregations that together form the heart of their religious and social life. There are now 267 Amish church districts in what researchers identify as the Lancaster settlement.
“The Amish double in size about every 20 years,” said Amish scholar Dr. Kyle Kopko of Elizabethtown College. “It’s growing fast.” Meanwhile, Dr. Steven Nolt, professor of history and director at the Young Center, noted that roughly 12 percent of the Lancaster settlement has expanded beyond the county’s borders, spilling into neighboring Chester, Dauphin, and Berks Counties, and even into northern Maryland.
Why Amish Families Are Heading West
For generations, the Amish viewed farm ownership as the cornerstone of faith, family, and independence. But as their population grows, farmland in Lancaster County has become scarce and expensive. The result is a quiet but steady westward migration…