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In this July 13, 2011 photo, an Amish man works in the field in Centerville, N.Y. Centerville, a town south of Buffalo, has an established Amish community. Longstanding Amish population centers in Pennsylvania and Ohio have lost families while Amish numbe David Duprey, Associated Press
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In this July 13, 2011 photo, an Amish boy rides home for lunch after a morning of hauling hay in Centerville, N.Y. Centerville, a town south of Buffalo, has an established Amish community. David Duprey, Associated Press
By Associated Press

HARRISBURG, Pa. — A new study on the Amish says affordable rural farmland and proximity to traditional population centers are driving a recent boomlet in new colonies in New York state.

Researchers at Elizabethtown College's Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies found the Amish have established 10 new settlements in New York since the start of 2010.

That's a growth rate double that of any other state. Total Amish population in New York State is about 13,000.

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The first Amish districts in New York were established in the Conewango (con-uh-WAN-go) Valley in 1949, but in-migration amounted to a trickle until about a decade ago. As recently as 1991, there were just 3,900 Amish in the state.

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