These Are The 10 Best Cities For Hippies In Alabama


We used science and data to determine which Alabama cities probably wear tie dye the most.

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You might think that the whole hippie movement has faded away, but the truth is, there are plenty of hippies out there in Alabama.

While they aren’t necessarily in your face all the time with war protests and the next Woodstock isn’t being planned any time soon, we thought it would be fun to look at which cities in the Heart of Dixie where the most hippies would live.

And, after crunching the data, you know what? It was pretty spot on, we have to say.

How do you decide where the most hippies live? By the number of yoga studios, organic markets, and most importantly, where the liberals live in droves.

Using that criteria, it’s not hard to scrape the internet, run some scientific data on where hippies might live in Alabama, and then put out a list.

So, put on your tie dye shirt and your sandals as you go through this list with us.

After analyzing all cities with a decent amount of people in them, we came up with this list of the 10 best cities for hippies in Alabama:

  1. Mountain Brook (Photos)
  2. Tarrant
  3. Sheffield (Photos)
  4. Muscle Shoals (Photos)
  5. Vestavia Hills (Photos)
  6. Homewood (Photos)
  7. Anniston (Photos)
  8. Tuscumbia (Photos)
  9. Midfield
  10. Daphne (Photos)

Read on below to see where your town ranked, young flower child.

And if you already knew these places were hippie heavens, check out the best places to live in Alabama or the safest places to live in Alabama.

How do you determine the most beatnik city in Alabama?

In order to rank the best cities for hippies in Alabama, we had to determine what criteria defines a hippie.

We threw a lot of criteria at this one in order to get the best, most complete results possible. Using the Google Places API, the Census’s 2010-2014 American Community Survey, and Voter Registration data, this is the criteria we used:

  • Number of yoga studios per capita
  • Number of organic markets per capita
  • Number of pet adoption centers per capita
  • Number of vegan restaurants per capita
  • Number of thrift stores per capita
  • Each city’s liberal voting population

Note: For the sake of getting reliable numbers, we counted places within a ~4.5 mile radius of a city’s center. The average city in America is about 18 square miles.

All of these results are listed in a per capita basis, meaning number of stores per person in a city. Additionally, we limited the analysis to non-CDPs that have over 5,000 people.

We ranked each place with scores from 1 to 101 in each category, where 1 was the most hippie.

Next, we averaged the rankings for each place to create a hippie index.

And finally, we crowned the city with the highest hippie index the ‘Best City for Hippies In Alabama.’ We’re lookin’ at you, Mountain Brook.

Read on below to learn more about what it’s like to live in hippie central. Or skip to the end to see the list of all the places in the state from hippiest to most square.

1. Mountain Brook

Mountain Brook, Alabama

Source: Wikipedia

Yoga Studios Per 1,000 People: 0.73
Organic Markets Per 1,000 People: 0.2
Pet Adoption Centers Per 1,000 People: 0.2
Vegan Restaurants Per 1,000 People: 0.29
Thrift Stores Per 1,000 People: 0.63
Mountain Brook is a town in southeastern Jefferson County, Alabama, United States and an upper-middle-class suburb of Birmingham. Its estimated 2015 population is 20,691. It is one of the state’s most affluent places.

2. Tarrant



Yoga Studios Per 1,000 People: 0.0
Organic Markets Per 1,000 People: 0.16
Pet Adoption Centers Per 1,000 People: 0.63
Vegan Restaurants Per 1,000 People: 0.95
Thrift Stores Per 1,000 People: 1.9
Tarrant is a city in Jefferson County, Alabama, United States, southeast of Fultondale. At the 2010 census the population was 6,397. It is home to the ABC Coke plant owned by the Drummond Company, ‘the largest single producer of foundry coke in the U.S.’.

3. Sheffield

Sheffield, Alabama

Source: Wikipedia

Yoga Studios Per 1,000 People: 0.11
Organic Markets Per 1,000 People: 0.22
Pet Adoption Centers Per 1,000 People: 0.33
Vegan Restaurants Per 1,000 People: 0.11
Thrift Stores Per 1,000 People: 1.87

4. Muscle Shoals

Muscle Shoals, Alabama

Source: Wikipedia

Yoga Studios Per 1,000 People: 0.07
Organic Markets Per 1,000 People: 0.15
Pet Adoption Centers Per 1,000 People: 0.22
Vegan Restaurants Per 1,000 People: 0.07
Thrift Stores Per 1,000 People: 1.12
Muscle Shoals is the largest city in Colbert County, Alabama, United States. As of the 2010 census, the population of Muscle Shoals was 13,146. The estimated population in 2015 was 13,706.

5. Vestavia Hills

Vestavia Hills, Alabama

Source: Wikipedia

Yoga Studios Per 1,000 People: 0.59
Organic Markets Per 1,000 People: 0.21
Pet Adoption Centers Per 1,000 People: 0.12
Vegan Restaurants Per 1,000 People: 0.18
Thrift Stores Per 1,000 People: 0.32
Vestavia Hills is a city in Jefferson and Shelby counties in the State of Alabama. It is a suburb of the city of Birmingham. As of the 2010 census, its population was 34,033, up from 24,476 in 2000. It moved up from the fifth largest city in Jefferson County in 2000 to the third largest in 2010, behind Birmingham and Hoover.

6. Homewood

Homewood, Alabama

Source: Wikipedia

Yoga Studios Per 1,000 People: 0.67
Organic Markets Per 1,000 People: 0.08
Pet Adoption Centers Per 1,000 People: 0.12
Vegan Restaurants Per 1,000 People: 0.28
Thrift Stores Per 1,000 People: 0.31
Homewood is a city in southeastern Jefferson County, Alabama, United States. It is a suburb of Birmingham, located on the other side of Red Mountain due south of the city center. Its estimated 2015 population is 25,708.

7. Anniston

Anniston, Alabama

Source: Wikipedia

Yoga Studios Per 1,000 People: 0.13
Organic Markets Per 1,000 People: 0.04
Pet Adoption Centers Per 1,000 People: 0.13
Vegan Restaurants Per 1,000 People: 0.09
Thrift Stores Per 1,000 People: 0.75
Anniston is a city in Calhoun County in the state of Alabama. As of the 2010 census, the population of the city was 23,106. According to 2013 Census estimates, the city had a population of 22,666. The city is the county seat of Calhoun County and one of two urban centers/principal cities of and included in the Anniston-Oxford Metropolitan Statistical Area.

8. Tuscumbia

Tuscumbia, Alabama

Source: Wikipedia

Yoga Studios Per 1,000 People: 0.12
Organic Markets Per 1,000 People: 0.12
Pet Adoption Centers Per 1,000 People: 0.23
Vegan Restaurants Per 1,000 People: 0.0
Thrift Stores Per 1,000 People: 1.63
Tuscumbia is a city in and the county seat of Colbert County, Alabama, United States. As of the 2010 census, the population was 8,423. The city is part of The Shoals metropolitan area.

9. Midfield

Midfield, Alabama

Source: Google Maps

Yoga Studios Per 1,000 People: 0.19
Organic Markets Per 1,000 People: 0.0
Pet Adoption Centers Per 1,000 People: 0.0
Vegan Restaurants Per 1,000 People: 0.38
Thrift Stores Per 1,000 People: 1.88

10. Daphne

Daphne, Alabama

Source: Wikipedia

Yoga Studios Per 1,000 People: 0.09
Organic Markets Per 1,000 People: 0.09
Pet Adoption Centers Per 1,000 People: 0.17
Vegan Restaurants Per 1,000 People: 0.22
Thrift Stores Per 1,000 People: 0.48
Daphne (/dæfni/) is a city in Baldwin County, Alabama, United States, on the eastern shoreline of Mobile Bay. The city is located along I-10, 11 miles east of Mobile and 170 miles southwest of the state capital of Montgomery. The 2010 United States Census lists the population of the city as 21,570, making Daphne the most populous city in Baldwin County. It is a principal city of the Daphne-Fairhope-Foley metropolitan area, which includes all of Baldwin County.

There You Have It — The Hippies Of Alabama

If you’re measuring the locations in Alabama where there are lots of liberals, and there are many options for vegan food, yoga and thrift stores, this is an accurate list.

If you’re curious, here are the most square places in Alabama:

  1. Chelsea
  2. Southside
  3. Jacksonville

For more Alabama reading , check out:

Detailed List Of The Hippiest Cities In Alabama

City Rank Population
Mountain Brook 1 20,484
Tarrant 2 6,331
Sheffield 3 9,067
Muscle Shoals 4 13,380
Vestavia Hills 5 34,061
Homewood 6 25,420
Anniston 7 22,749
Tuscumbia 8 8,565
Midfield 9 5,319
Daphne 10 22,983
Fairhope 11 16,661
Irondale 12 12,399
Opelika 13 27,956
Millbrook 14 14,858
Fultondale 15 8,593
Gulf Shores 16 10,523
Fairfield 17 11,039
Spanish Fort 18 7,357
Northport 19 24,092
Florence 20 39,738
Pleasant Grove 21 10,230
Pelham 22 22,106
Clay 23 9,699
Oxford 24 21,250
Gadsden 25 36,621
Foley 26 15,428
Jasper 27 14,247
Wetumpka 28 7,136
Center Point 29 16,876
Madison 30 44,866
Chickasaw 31 6,026
Hartselle 32 14,393
Helena 33 16,752
Tuscaloosa 34 93,325
Hoover 35 82,849
Scottsboro 36 14,779
Athens 37 23,335
Pinson 38 7,141
Auburn 39 56,986
Gardendale 40 13,809
Prattville 41 34,349
Enterprise 42 27,375
Smiths Station 43 5,095
Lanett 44 6,455
Demopolis 45 7,323
Andalusia 46 9,048
Attalla 47 5,995
Leeds 48 12,063
Dothan 49 67,574
Birmingham 50 211,705
Cullman 51 14,933
Satsuma 52 6,145
Montgomery 53 204,095
Hueytown 54 15,956
Greenville 55 7,974
Valley 56 9,456
Huntsville 57 184,132
Mobile 58 194,942
Montevallo 59 6,470
Glencoe 60 5,137
Monroeville 61 6,343
Orange Beach 62 5,629
Robertsdale 63 5,556
Moody 64 12,124
Pike Road 65 6,605
Oneonta 66 6,623
Prichard 67 22,475
Trussville 68 20,229
Bessemer 69 27,202
Opp 70 6,675
Tallassee 71 5,011
Roanoke 72 6,013
Guntersville 73 8,316
Brewton 74 5,426
Arab 75 8,241
Sylacauga 76 12,786
Selma 77 20,276
Alabaster 78 30,978
Daleville 79 5,233
Saraland 80 13,657
Eufaula 81 12,897
Jackson 82 5,116
Talladega 83 16,034
Ozark 84 14,835
Childersburg 85 5,117
Decatur 86 55,641
Fort Payne 87 14,115
Bay Minette 88 8,682
Troy 89 18,636
Boaz 90 9,781
Tuskegee 91 9,435
Hamilton 92 6,842
Albertville 93 21,363
Atmore 94 10,096
Calera 95 12,376
Russellville 96 9,836
Lincoln 97 6,321
Clanton 98 8,672
Jacksonville 99 12,416
Southside 100 8,432
Chelsea 101 11,051

About Chris Kolmar

Chris Kolmar has been in the real estate business for almost ten years now. He originally worked for Movoto Real Estate as the director of marketing before founding HomeSnacks.

He believes the key to finding the right place to live comes down to looking at the data, reading about things to do, and, most importantly, checking it out yourself before you move.

If you've been looking for a place to live in the past several years, you've probably stumbled upon his writing already.

You can find out more about him on LinkedIn or his website.