In the 1970s, a number of new housing developments grew up above the village. One of the largest developed in Latterbach near the highway on ramp at Wimmis. Erlenbach is home to the district hospital, a secondary school and a district nursing home. In 1987 the Agenstein House, built in 1766, became the Niedersimmental Region Museum. The village church of St. Michael was first mentioned in 1228. It was probably built in the 11th century on the site of an early medieval church. The interior was decorated with murals during the 13th and 14th centuries. However, many of the murals were redone in the 15th century. In 1330, the patronage rights over the church were donated to Interlaken Abbey. When Bern accepted the Protestant Reformation in 1528, the Abbey was secularized and the church came under Bernese authority. In the years before Bern accepted the Reformation, the priest at Erlenbach, Peter Kunz, was preaching the Reformation in the village. Later, he became the pastor of the Cathedral in Bern. Erlenbach im Simmental has an area of . As of 2012, a total of or 50.5% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 37.9% is forested. The rest of the municipality is or 3.5% is settled (buildings or roads), or 0.9% is either rivers or lakes and or 7.1% is unproductive land. During the same year, housing and buildings made up 1.5% and transportation infrastructure made up 1.4%. A total of 32.3% of the total land area is heavily forested and 5.3% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 16.2% is pasturage and 33.3% is used for alpine pastures. Of the water in the municipality, 0.6% is in lakes and 0.3% is in rivers and streams. Of the unproductive areas, 3.3% is unproductive vegetation and 3.7% is too rocky for vegetation. The municipality includes the farming settlements ("Bäuerten") of Erlenbach, Latterbach and Ringoldingen in the valley. On a terrace above the valley are the "Bäuerten" of Balzenberg, Eschlen, Thal and Allmenden. Above them are alpine meadows, woods and mountains. On 31 December 2009 Amtsbezirk Niedersimmental, the municipality's former district, was dissolved.