How do the Amish live? Drive through Holmes County, Ohio — home to the largest Amish settlement in the world — and you’ll see horse-drawn buggies, plain farmhouses, and fields worked without tractors. But daily Amish life is richer and more nuanced than the postcard version. Here’s an honest look at how the Amish actually live.
How Do the Amish Live Day to Day?
Amish life is organized around church, family, and work — in roughly that order. Most Amish families farm or run small businesses (carpentry, furniture making, bakeries, greenhouses), and the workday starts early. Children attend one-room Amish schools through the 8th grade, then join the family workforce. Sundays are for rest and worship: church services rotate among families’ homes and barns, lasting about three hours, followed by a shared meal and an afternoon of visiting. That’s the short answer to the question of how do the Amish live: faith, family, and honest work, in that order.
Families are large, meals are cooked from scratch (see what Amish people eat for the full picture), and evenings are spent at home — reading, visiting, or playing games — rather than on screens. It’s a deliberately slower rhythm, and the Amish would tell you that’s the point.
The Ordnung: Rules That Shape Everything
Each Amish church district follows an Ordnung — an unwritten set of rules, agreed upon by the community, that governs daily life. The Ordnung covers dress (plain, solid colors, no buttons on some affiliations), technology, transportation, and even the style of buggies and barn roofs.
Crucially, the Ordnung varies by district. There’s no single “Amish lifestyle” — a Swartzentruber Amish family in Ohio lives more strictly (no indoor plumbing, no reflective road signs on buggies) than a Beachy Amish family, which may allow cars and grid electricity. When people ask how the Amish live, the honest answer is: it depends on which Amish.
Technology: It’s Complicated
The Amish aren’t anti-technology — they’re selective about it. The guiding question isn’t “is this modern?” but “will this strengthen or weaken our community?” That’s why you’ll find Amish carpenters using pneumatic tools powered by diesel compressors, Amish businesses with cell phones kept in a shop shanty (not the home), and some districts adopting solar panels.
What’s generally avoided: grid electricity in the home, televisions, personal cars, and the internet. The concern is consistent — technologies that pull people away from family and face-to-face community are the ones that get restricted.
Language, Dress, and Worship
- Language: Most Ohio Amish speak Pennsylvania Dutch (a German dialect) at home, use High German in church, and speak English with outsiders. Children learn English at school.
- Dress: Plain clothing in solid colors — dresses with aprons and prayer coverings for women and girls, dark trousers with suspenders and broad-brimmed hats for men and boys. No patterns, no logos, no jewelry.
- Worship: No church buildings. Services are held in homes and barns, conducted in German, with a cappella hymn singing — no instruments.
Rumspringa and Joining the Church
Rumspringa — “running around” — is the period in late teens when Amish youth experience more freedom before deciding whether to be baptized into the church. Contrary to the TV version, most Amish communities keep it low-key, and the overwhelming majority — around 85 to 90 percent — choose baptism and remain Amish. Baptism is a voluntary adult decision, typically in the late teens or early twenties. That free choice is central to how do the Amish live: church membership is a decision, not an inheritance.
Barn Raisings and Mutual Aid
Perhaps the most famous part of Amish life: when a family needs a barn, the community builds it — often in a single day, with dozens of workers and a shared meal. There’s no commercial insurance in most Amish communities; instead, church aid funds cover medical emergencies and disasters. Mutual aid isn’t charity — it’s the operating system.
Visiting Respectfully
If you visit Ohio’s Amish Country, remember you’re driving through people’s actual neighborhoods. Don’t photograph Amish individuals without permission — many believe posed photos violate the spirit of humility. Patronize the furniture shops, bakeries, and markets (the quality is the real deal), drive patiently behind buggies, and you’ll be welcome.
How do the Amish live? By choice, at a human pace, in communities that have decided some modern conveniences aren’t worth what they cost. Whether or not you’d make the same trade, it’s hard not to respect the intentionality.
