American Community Spotlight On: The “Plain People”, Part I

American Community Spotlight On: The “Plain People”

Part I: Demographics, Home Life and Housing

Being raised in Pennsylvania, I may be more conscious of Amish and Mennonite culture than most Americans, but I think it’s fair to say that the idea of the “plain people” – those who eschew any modern conveniences or unnecessary adornments for the sake of their religious beliefs – tends to capture the imagination of a society that is more technologically dependent and appearance-oriented than ever before.

Unfortunately, most of what’s known about the Amish and Mennonites (defined here as those who speak Pennsylvania Dutch – a dialect of German – in the home) tends to be qualitative – that is, based on interviews and case-studies – rather than quantitative (i.e. statistical). This is largely because these groups are small enough that very few national data sets contain sufficient numbers to analyze. The American Community Survey is a clear exception.

The American Community Survey (ACS) 2009-2010 contained 3,084 individuals who speak Pennsylvania Dutch in the home – almost all of these will be Amish or Mennonite. Based on this sample (using the ACS sample weights), it is estimated that there were 134,523 Pennsylvania Dutch speakers in the U.S. in 2010, up from 108,573.

Thirty-nine percent of these could be considered “Old Order” Amish or Mennonite – defined here as those who do not use electricity, have a telephone, or own a motor vehicle. Throughout the analyses, “Old Order” Amish will be compared with other Amish. (The term “Amish” should be understood to include Pennsylvania Dutch speakers regardless of whether they are Amish or Mennonite.)

A descriptive analysis of the weighted sample yielded the following information:

Demographics:

Old Order Amish are much younger, on average, than their counterparts in the less strict Amish orders and in the U.S. overall. A whopping 54.5% of Old Order Amish are children under the age of 18, compared to just 39.1% for other Amish and 24.1% for the U.S. overall.

While the U.S. overall grows much more racially and ethnically diverse, the Amish are virtually all non-Hispanic whites (99.6%) and native-born U.S. citizens (also 99.6%). Amish are most likely to report their ancestry as “German” (19.9% of Old Order and 30.5% of other Amish) or “Pennsylvania German” (40.1% of Old Order and 16.6% of other), although 8.4% of Old Order and 17.3% of other Amish report themselves as Swiss. About 9% of all Amish simply report themselves as “American”, and 14.4% did not report their ancestry.

Speakers of Pennsylvania Dutch are most commonly found in Pennsylvania (where 37.5% live and 40.6% were born), in Ohio (where 24.2% live and 25.7% were born), Indiana (where 10.6% live and 10.6% were born), and New York (where 4.7% live and 3.4% were born). Among those 65 and older, 59.9% were born in Pennsylvania and 17.6% in Ohio, while among those under age 18, only 36.0% and 25.1% respectively were born in those two states. This reflects the recent Amish “diaspora”, where high levels of fertility have led to a shortage of farm land in traditionally Amish communities, forcing young Amish families to relocate to areas where land is more available.

Despite the fact that the Amish (by definition, in this analysis) speak Pennsylvania Dutch in the home, they tend to be quite competent in English, with 62.5% of Old Order and 74.1% of other Amish reporting that they speak English “very well”. Only 1.4% of Old Order Amish and 0.2% of other Amish report that they do not speak English at all (although this rises to 2.7% among Amish elders age 65 and older, regardless of the strictness of their sect).

Home Life:

Household composition. Amish households are large, with more than one-third of Old Order households consisting of 6-10 persons, and another 12.8% consisting of more than 10 persons. The median household size is 6 people in Old Order households and 3 people in other Amish households.

Despite the conception of the Amish living in “traditional” multi-generational households, the data show little sign of this. Only 2.3% of Amish households are multigenerational families, and only 1.8% of households contain a “subfamily”. Both numbers are lower than for U.S. households overall, and are lower among the Old Order Amish than among other Amish.

Marital status. Amish adults are very likely to be married, and the percent married differs little between Old Order and other Amish. It is uncommon for Amish to be currently divorced or separated. Despite the high rates of marriage, marriage of minor teens is not widely practiced (with 1.1% of Old Order 16- and 17-year-olds married compared to 0.5% of teens the same age in the U.S. population overall). Still, 12.9% of Amish aged 18-21 report being married (versus 4.5% of the U.S. population of the same age), with little difference between sects.

Among those Amish in their first marriage, the median age at marriage was 21 for women and 22 for men (versus 23 and 25, respectively, for the U.S. overall). Age at marriage varies little by sect, and appears to have changed little between the oldest Amish and those under the age of 40 (although it has changed substantially for the U.S. population overall).

Children. An amazing 69.5% of Old Order households and 47.4% of other Amish households contain children under the age of 18 (versus 33.6% of U.S. households overall). Among households with children, the median number of own children is 4 for Old Order and 3 for other Amish (versus 2 for the U.S.). More than a third of Old Order households with children (37.1%) and more than one in ten other Amish households with children contain 6 or more children (versus 0.5% of U.S. households with children overall).

A striking 23.6% of Old Order Amish women ages 15-44 report having given birth in the past year, compared to 16.0% of other Amish women and 6.7% of U.S. women of the same age overall. Just under 5% of the new mothers are under the age of 21 (versus 10.5% of new mothers in the U.S. overall), while 3.0% were older than age 44 (versus 1.9% in the U.S.).

Housing:

Fifty-nine percent of Old Order Amish and 35% of other Amish single-family homes are situated on 10 or more acres (compared to 4.7% of single-family homes in the U.S. overall). Amish homes are large, with a median of 7 rooms and 4 bedrooms (compared to 5 rooms and 3 bedrooms in U.S. households overall), with 11.4% having 6 or more bedrooms and 16.3% having 10 or more rooms.

Amish households are about as likely as the U.S. overall to own their home with a mortgage (41.9% of Amish versus 43.9% overall), but are much more likely to own their home free and clear (41.0% versus 21.5%). Only 12.9% of Amish households rent, compared to 32.7% of U.S. households overall.

The Amish are most likely to heat with wood (39.0% verses 2.1% of U.S. households overall), followed by fuel oil/kerosene (15.1%, versus 6.5% of U.S. households), utility gas (12.3%, versus 49.5%), or bottled, tank, or LP gas (12.1% versus 5.0%). Only 9% heat with electricity, compared to 35.4% of U.S. households overall.

Old Order Amish are less likely than other Amish to have most conveniences (the exception being a stove), but other Amish are comparable to the U.S. in terms of having bathtub/showers, refrigerators, hot/cold running water, stoves, telephones, and flush toilets.