Kiryas Joel voted 99% for Trump.
Life in Kiryas Joel, New York, is shaped by its unique identity as a predominantly Satmar Hasidic Jewish village, now part of the Town of Palm Tree in Orange County. With a population of around 43,863 as of 2024, it’s one of the fastest-growing communities in the U.S., driven by high birth rates (average household size is about six, with some women having 6–15 children) and a median age of around 15, far younger than the national average of 39. The village, founded in the 1970s by Rabbi Joel Teitelbaum’s followers seeking a secluded, Torah-centric life away from Brooklyn, is a tight-knit, insular enclave where Yiddish is the primary language, and adherence to strict religious and cultural norms defines daily life.[](https://www.timesunion.com/projects/2025/shifting-new-york/ultra-orthodox/)[](https://www.reddit.com/r/Urbanism/comments/1isv490/kiryas_joel_ny_one_of_the_most_interesting_cities/)
**Daily Life and Culture**: Residents live according to Satmar Hasidic traditions, emphasizing religious study, family, and community. Men often dedicate time to Torah study, while women typically focus on raising large families, with many not working outside the home. The village is child-centric, with streets filled with kids playing, and community life revolves around synagogues, yeshivas, and kosher businesses like Landau’s Supermarket and Yossi’s Café. Events like Simchat Torah draw thousands for communal celebrations, reinforcing unity. Modest dress and gender separation are strictly observed, and a welcome sign at the village entrance requests visitors respect these customs. Despite a reported 70% poverty rate, community programs like Tomchei Shabbos ensure no one goes hungry, and crime is virtually nonexistent due to the close-knit, homogenous nature of the village.[](https://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/21/nyregion/kiryas-joel-a-village-with-the-numbers-not-the-image-of-the-poorest-place.html)[](https://friedavizel.com/2018/05/26/from-quora-what-is-it-like-to-live-in-kiryas-joel-new-york/)[](https://www.worldatlas.com/destination/why-new-york-s-fastest-growing-city-should-be-on-your-radar.html)
**Education**: Education prioritizes religious studies, with the United Talmudical Academy offering a curriculum heavy on Torah and Jewish law, alongside limited secular subjects like math and science. Most children attend private yeshivas, with boys starting at age two and a half, attending six days a week. The Kiryas Joel Village Union Free School District, created in 1989, serves only Hasidic children with disabilities, channeling public funds to private religious schools, which has sparked legal controversies over church-state separation. Secular education is minimal, with less than 40% of residents holding a high school degree, and women often receive little formal education.[](https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/20/nyregion/kiryas-joel-hasidic-school-district.html)[](https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/kiryas-joel)[](https://www.homes.com/local-guide/kiryas-joel-ny/)
**Economy and Self-Sufficiency**: Despite being labeled the poorest municipality in the U.S., with a per capita income of $4,494 and 40% of residents on food stamps or welfare, Kiryas Joel thrives through communal support and self-sufficiency. Local businesses, like kosher groceries and eateries, cater to residents’ needs, and the community leverages federal and state grants (e.g., $40 million annually in block grants) to support infrastructure and services like a postpartum recovery center. Employment opportunities are limited due to the focus on religious study, but the community’s political clout ensures access to resources.[](https://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/21/nyregion/kiryas-joel-a-village-with-the-numbers-not-the-image-of-the-poorest-place.html)[](https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/kiryas-joel)
**Housing and Growth**: The village’s rapid growth—doubling from 20,000 in 2010 to over 43,000 by 2024—has led to crowded multi-family housing, primarily apartments and condos. New units are built constantly to accommodate large families, but this strains local resources like water and social services. Annexation efforts to expand the village’s 1.1-square-mile area have caused tensions with neighboring Monroe, Blooming Grove, and Woodbury, whose residents view the high-density development as a threat to their suburban quality of life.[](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiryas_Joel%2C_New_York)[](https://www.thirteen.org/blog-post/kiryas-joel-monroe-annex-dispute/)[](https://www.timesunion.com/projects/2025/shifting-new-york/ultra-orthodox/)
**Community Dynamics and Politics**: Kiryas Joel operates as a powerful voting bloc, with 99% of residents voting for Trump in 2020, reflecting a shift toward conservative politics aligned with religious liberty values, similar to white Christian conservatives. The community has faced legal battles, including a 1994 Supreme Court case ruling its school district violated the Establishment Clause, though subsequent legislation legalized it. Internal factionalism, such as disputes between followers of different Satmar rebbes, has led to lawsuits over governance. The 2019 creation of the Town of Palm Tree, named after Rabbi Teitelbaum, solidified the community’s political autonomy.[](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiryas_Joel%2C_New_York)[](https://forward.com/culture/482791/how-a-hasidic-village-kiryas-joel-satmar-new-york-went-all-in-for-trump/)[](https://www.homes.com/local-guide/kiryas-joel-ny/)
**Challenges and Perceptions**: Life in Kiryas Joel can feel isolated, with limited English proficiency and minimal interaction with outsiders. Some residents, like former resident Frieda Vizel, describe a sense of communal warmth but also repression, particularly for women, due to strict gender roles and limited secular education. Outsiders, including nearby residents, often view the village with suspicion, citing its reliance on public funds and expansionist policies. Posts on X highlight mixed sentiments, with some criticizing the community’s insularity and welfare use, while others defend its peaceful, family-oriented ethos. Visitors note the village’s unique atmosphere, likening it to an “urbanized Amish” community or a recreated Eastern European shtetl.[](https://www.reddit.com/r/Urbanism/comments/1isv490/kiryas_joel_ny_one_of_the_most_interesting_cities/)[](https://friedavizel.com/2018/05/26/from-quora-what-is-it-like-to-live-in-kiryas-joel-new-york/)
**Living Experience**: For residents, Kiryas Joel offers safety, cultural cohesion, and a spiritually rich life, but it comes with trade-offs: limited economic mobility, restricted education, and tension with neighbors. For outsiders, it’s a fascinating but challenging place to visit due to strict rules and cultural differences. The village’s compact size makes amenities walkable, but there are no conventional tourist attractions, and public transit is limited, with Manhattan a 55-mile commute. Healthcare is accessible via community facilities like Aizer Health Center.[](https://www.mapquest.com/us/new-york/kiryas-joel-ny-282094132)[](https://www.homes.com/local-guide/kiryas-joel-ny/)
In summary, life in Kiryas Joel is deeply communal, faith-driven, and insulated, with strong social support but significant constraints on individual freedom and secular opportunities. Its rapid growth and political influence make it a unique case study in American religious communities, though it remains controversial among neighbors and observers. For the latest insights, checking local sources like the Kiryas Joel Village website or recent news would provide more context.[](https://www.worldatlas.com/destination/why-new-york-s-fastest-growing-city-should-be-on-your-radar.html)
I would steer clear of this creepy cult, with imagery that speaks for itself, and a Substack promoting “Positive Aryan Theology” from “an Austrian painter rose to power in Germany.”
Let them drink their kool-aid in isolation.
RTTL and Religion
Positive Aryan Theology?
There is in fact no subject upon which so much difference of opinion exists, not only among the unlearned but also among educated men; and the views entertained are so various and so discrepant, that, while it is no doubt a possible alternative that none of them is true, it is certainly impossible that more than one should be so.
Marcus Tullius Cicero, \\\"On the Nature of the Gods,\\\" 45 BC.
If it's one thing our movement has no shortage of, it's religious infighting.
How, then, do we reconcile our desire for a unified front of European families, with the hectic inter-religious atmosphere on the internet?
Our Policy In Short
RTTL officially supports a viewpoint of \\\"Positive Aryan Theology.\\\" Generally speaking, any serious religion (save obvious degeneracies like Satanism) borne by Our People(TM) is good enough for RTTL.
This can obviously bring petty disputes regarding which religions would qualify under this criteria. This is unimportant. The overall effect is that our somewhat-secular PMA umbrella is able to accommodate a wide variety of philosophies and bring our people together, without imposing a specific religion, and while prohibiting the religions of those who wish to extinguish us.
Historic Precedent
Throughout the 1600s and 1700s, a varied group of European Protestants, Catholics, Unitarians, and even a couple Deists came together to establish a land for our people . They established our first citizenship laws to restrict citizenship to Europeans of good moral character. Religions were largely separated by colony or region, but the society as a whole was both European and multi-religious.
More Historic Precedent
Back in the 1930s, an Austrian painter rose to power in Germany. Since he managed to enact major reforms that propelled his recently-defeated country to a world military superpower in less than a decade, we might be interested in what their official policy was on religion:
\\\"Positive Christianity\\\" was a form of Christianity that sought to blend German ideology with certain Christian beliefs. This movement rejected the contemporary claims of modern-day Jews that Jesus was Arabic, and promoted the idea of an Aryan Jesus.
But Germany at the time had plenty of Protestants, Catholics, and other denominations. How were these theological differences reconciled? In Point 24 of the 1920 NSDAP party platform, it states:
\\\"the Party as such represents the viewpoint of Positive Christianity without binding itself to any particular denomination\\\"
Thus, we see a successful example of a government maintaining a semi-secular status while still supporting a collection of religious denominations that most of the population followed.
Adapting Historical Policies to RTTL
The Inadequacy of 1770s United States Policy
Some would say that we should adopt the Founding Fathers' approach to religion. Unfortunately, they were too permissive. The genuine religious openness of some Founding Fathers to Muslims and Jews paved the way for acceptance of religions that are self-stated to be contrary to the existence of our people, and eventual mass immigration.
George Washington stated that he would allow Muslim and Jewish immigrants if they were \\\"good workmen\\\":
*\\\"If they are good workmen, they may be of Asia, Africa, or Europe. They may be Mahometans [Mohammedans/Muslims], Jews, or Christians of any Sect, or they may be Atheists.\\\"*
-George Washington, in a 1784 letter to Tench Tighman