Family Life

08.08.11 | Sarah Harnisch

 When you think of the Amish, the first thing that comes to mind is lin-caster pennsylvania. but a new study shows you may want to throw new york into that sentence, too.  Yeah, the study shows the Amish population is growing and migrating into the Empire State. In fact, the Amish have established 10 new settlements in New York just since the start of 2010-- growth that doubles any other state. The total population here has grown by nearly a third in the past 2 years to 13-thousand people. Elizabethtown University, which did the study, says affordable rural farmland and proximity to traditional population centers are driving the boom. The first Amish districts in New York were established in the Conewango Valley in 1949, but things slowed down in the 90's. At one point, there were just 39-hundred Amish in the state. We're 10 times that number in 2011.