Buying Land In and Around Todd County's Amish Communities

The scale and history of Amish settlement in Todd County

Todd County is home to the largest Amish population of any county in Minnesota, an estimated 1,500 people spread across five separate settlements. The community's roots trace to 1973, when four Amish men arrived from Ohio looking for affordable farmland and found small farms with good soil, plus natural springs, selling for $300 to $700 an acre near the village of Bertha -- prices that reflected what was then considered marginal farmland by conventional standards. Subsequent settlements, including the Clarissa Old Order Amish settlement (established in 2001), have continued that pattern. Minnesota's Amish population overall has grown substantially in recent decades, and Todd County's concentration of settlements is a defining feature of its rural land market, not an incidental detail -- expect Amish-owned farms, horse-drawn equipment on rural roads, and Amish-run businesses (furniture, produce stands, and similar trades) to be a normal part of the landscape in and around these settlement areas.

Septic and building-code accommodation: the Mast v. Fillmore County precedent

The most legally consequential intersection between Amish religious practice and Minnesota land-use law is septic and wastewater regulation, and it has real Minnesota case law behind it. Swartzentruber Amish families in Fillmore County (a different county from Todd, but the case sets Minnesota-wide precedent) objected on religious grounds to installing conventional septic systems to dispose of graywater -- wastewater from dishwashing, laundry, and bathing, as distinct from toilet waste -- arguing modern plumbing systems conflict with their beliefs. The dispute reached the U.S. Supreme Court in 2021, which found Minnesota's courts had applied the wrong legal standard and sent the case back for further review. On remand, the Minnesota Court of Appeals ruled in 2023 that the county could not force the families to install conventional septic systems without demonstrating a compelling government interest, under the federal Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA) -- and that the county's own graywater/mulch-basin alternative, already accepted by MPCA in at least a dozen other states, undercut the claim that a full septic system was the only option that would protect public health.

That ruling is Minnesota Court of Appeals precedent, not a Fillmore-County-only settlement, so the same RLUIPA analysis would apply to a comparable dispute in Todd County. We found no evidence that a directly comparable septic or building-permit dispute has reached litigation in Todd County itself -- which could mean the county has already worked out an administrative accommodation informally, or simply that the issue hasn't been tested here. Either way, if you're buying land intending to build without conventional plumbing, or buying adjacent to an existing Amish home that may not have one, raise the question directly and specifically with Todd County Planning & Zoning rather than assuming either that the standard SSTS ordinance applies without exception or that an automatic religious exemption exists -- the legal analysis is fact-specific and requires the county to weigh a compelling-interest test, not a blanket rule either way.

Practical considerations for a specific purchase

If you're buying land in or adjoining one of Todd County's Amish settlement areas, a few practical points are worth building into your diligence beyond the standard zoning and septic checklist. Road use: expect horse-drawn buggy traffic on rural roads near settlement areas, which affects both driving conditions and, for some buyers, road maintenance priorities set by the township. Utilities: a neighboring Amish-owned farm may not be connected to electric grid service or have a conventional septic system, which is normal here and not evidence of a code violation on that property -- but also means you shouldn't assume a shared utility easement or hookup exists across it. Land use expectations: Amish farms in this area tend toward smaller-scale, diversified operations (produce, livestock, small dairy, craft businesses) rather than large mechanized row-crop operations, which can shape the character of a neighborhood differently than in a typical central Minnesota farming township. And if your own plans involve any accommodation similar to what Mast v. Fillmore County addressed -- whether you are an Amish buyer or simply interested in an off-grid or reduced-plumbing build -- start that conversation with Planning & Zoning early, since it will require a specific, documented review rather than a standard permit approval.