You might think that the whole hippie movement has faded away, but the truth is, there are plenty of hippies out there in Arizona.
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 Grand Canyon State 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 Arizona, 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 Arizona:
- South Tucson
- Guadalupe (Photos)
- Paradise Valley (Photos)
- Litchfield Park (Photos)
- Cave Creek (Photos)
- Tolleson
- Page (Photos)
- Show Low (Photos)
- Sedona (Photos)
- Wickenburg (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 Arizona or the safest places to live in Arizona.
How do you determine the most beatnik city in Arizona?
In order to rank the best cities for hippies in Arizona, 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 58 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 Arizona.’ We’re lookin’ at you, South Tucson.
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. South Tucson
Yoga Studios Per 1,000 People: 3.0
Organic Markets Per 1,000 People: 0.53
Pet Adoption Centers Per 1,000 People: 0.88
Vegan Restaurants Per 1,000 People: 2.82
Thrift Stores Per 1,000 People: 5.99
South Tucson is a city in Pima County, Arizona, United States and an enclave of the much larger city of Tucson. South Tucson is known for being heavily influenced by Hispanic, and especially Mexican, culture; restaurants and shops which sell traditional Mexican foods and other goods can be found throughout the city. According to the 2010 census, the population of the city is 5,652.
2. Guadalupe
Yoga Studios Per 1,000 People: 3.9
Organic Markets Per 1,000 People: 2.38
Pet Adoption Centers Per 1,000 People: 2.04
Vegan Restaurants Per 1,000 People: 3.56
Thrift Stores Per 1,000 People: 4.92
3. Paradise Valley
Yoga Studios Per 1,000 People: 2.49
Organic Markets Per 1,000 People: 1.81
Pet Adoption Centers Per 1,000 People: 1.28
Vegan Restaurants Per 1,000 People: 1.43
Thrift Stores Per 1,000 People: 2.34
4. Litchfield Park
Yoga Studios Per 1,000 People: 1.37
Organic Markets Per 1,000 People: 0.2
Pet Adoption Centers Per 1,000 People: 0.78
Vegan Restaurants Per 1,000 People: 1.17
Thrift Stores Per 1,000 People: 2.54
Litchfield Park is a city in Maricopa County, Arizona, United States. It is twenty miles northwest of Phoenix. According to the 2010 census, the population of the city is 5,476.
5. Cave Creek
Yoga Studios Per 1,000 People: 0.6
Organic Markets Per 1,000 People: 0.4
Pet Adoption Centers Per 1,000 People: 0.6
Vegan Restaurants Per 1,000 People: 0.2
Thrift Stores Per 1,000 People: 1.4
Cave Creek is a town in Maricopa County, Arizona, United States. It is 27 mi (43 km) northeast of Phoenix. According to the 2010 census, the population of the town was 5,015.
6. Tolleson
Yoga Studios Per 1,000 People: 0.15
Organic Markets Per 1,000 People: 0.6
Pet Adoption Centers Per 1,000 People: 0.45
Vegan Restaurants Per 1,000 People: 0.3
Thrift Stores Per 1,000 People: 1.79
Tolleson /tlsn/ is a city in Maricopa County, Arizona, United States. According to the 2010 census, the population of the city is 6,545.
7. Page
Yoga Studios Per 1,000 People: 0.14
Organic Markets Per 1,000 People: 0.14
Pet Adoption Centers Per 1,000 People: 0.27
Vegan Restaurants Per 1,000 People: 0.41
Thrift Stores Per 1,000 People: 0.41
Page is a city in Coconino County, Arizona, United States, near the Glen Canyon Dam and Lake Powell. As of the 2010 census, the population of the city was 7,247.
8. Show Low
Yoga Studios Per 1,000 People: 0.09
Organic Markets Per 1,000 People: 0.37
Pet Adoption Centers Per 1,000 People: 0.37
Vegan Restaurants Per 1,000 People: 0.46
Thrift Stores Per 1,000 People: 0.28
9. Sedona
Yoga Studios Per 1,000 People: 2.28
Organic Markets Per 1,000 People: 0.69
Pet Adoption Centers Per 1,000 People: 0.4
Vegan Restaurants Per 1,000 People: 0.99
Thrift Stores Per 1,000 People: 0.69
Sedona /sdon/ is a city that straddles the county line between Coconino and Yavapai counties in the northern Verde Valley region of the U.S. state of Arizona. As of the 2010 census, its population was 10,031.
10. Wickenburg
Yoga Studios Per 1,000 People: 0.15
Organic Markets Per 1,000 People: 0.15
Pet Adoption Centers Per 1,000 People: 0.15
Vegan Restaurants Per 1,000 People: 0.45
Thrift Stores Per 1,000 People: 0.45
Wickenburg is a town primarily located in Maricopa County, Arizona, United States, with a portion in neighboring Yavapai County. According to the 2010 census, the population of the town is 6,363.
There You Have It — The Hippies Of Arizona
If you’re measuring the locations in Arizona 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 Arizona:
- Cottonwood
- Yuma
- Avondale
For more Arizona reading , check out:
- These Are The 10 Best Places To Live In Arizona
- These Are The 10 Worst Places To Live In Arizona
- These Are The 10 Dumbest Cities In Arizona
Detailed List Of The Hippiest Cities In Arizona
City | Rank |
---|---|
South Tucson | 1 |
Guadalupe | 2 |
Paradise Valley | 3 |
Litchfield Park | 4 |
Cave Creek | 5 |
Tolleson | 6 |
Page | 7 |
Show Low | 8 |
Sedona | 9 |
Wickenburg | 10 |
Bisbee | 11 |
Holbrook | 12 |
El Mirage | 13 |
Flagstaff | 14 |
Cottonwood | 15 |
Prescott | 16 |
Nogales | 17 |
Sahuarita | 18 |
Queen Creek | 19 |
Payson | 20 |
Tempe | 21 |
Kingman | 22 |
Fountain Hills | 23 |
Camp Verde | 24 |
Snowflake | 25 |
Apache Junction | 26 |
Globe | 27 |
Oro Valley | 28 |
Safford | 29 |
Sierra Vista | 30 |
Goodyear | 31 |
Chandler | 32 |
Prescott Valley | 33 |
Winslow | 34 |
Casa Grande | 35 |
Coolidge | 36 |
Gilbert | 37 |
Glendale | 38 |
Chino Valley | 39 |
Scottsdale | 40 |
Mesa | 41 |
Somerton | 42 |
Douglas | 43 |
San Luis | 44 |
Tucson | 45 |
Phoenix | 46 |
Surprise | 47 |
Marana | 48 |
Eloy | 49 |
Benson | 50 |
Florence | 51 |
Maricopa | 52 |
Peoria | 53 |
Goodyear | 54 |
Buckeye | 55 |
Avondale | 56 |
Yuma | 57 |
Cottonwood | 58 |