These Are The 10 Best Cities For Hippies In California

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

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 Golden 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 California, 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 California:

1. Piedmont (Photos)
2. Emeryville (Photos)
3. Atherton (Photos)
4. Corte Madera (Photos)
5. Albany (Photos)
6. Sausalito (Photos)
7. Fairfax (Photos)
8. Larkspur (Photos)
9. Capitola (Photos)
10. Rolling Hills Estates (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 California or the safest places to live in California.

How do you determine the most beatnik city in California?

In order to rank the best cities for hippies in California, 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 414 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 California.’ We’re lookin’ at you, Piedmont.

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. Piedmont

Yoga Studios Per 1,000 People: 5.48
Organic Markets Per 1,000 People: 2.37
Pet Adoption Centers Per 1,000 People: 1.64
Vegan Restaurants Per 1,000 People: 4.11
Thrift Stores Per 1,000 People: 5.48
Piedmont is a small, mostly-residential, semi-suburban city located in Alameda County, California, United States. Piedmont is completely surrounded by the city of Oakland. Its residential population was 10,667 at the 2010 census. The name comes after the region of Piedmont in Italy, and literally means foothill. Piedmont was incorporated in 1907, and was developed significantly in the 1920s and 1930s. The Piedmont Unified School District (PUSD) includes three elementary schools, one middle school, and two high schools.

2. Emeryville

Yoga Studios Per 1,000 People: 5.72
Organic Markets Per 1,000 People: 2.29
Pet Adoption Centers Per 1,000 People: 1.52
Vegan Restaurants Per 1,000 People: 3.33
Thrift Stores Per 1,000 People: 4.38
Emeryville is a small city located in northwest Alameda County, California, in the United States. It is located in a corridor between the cities of Berkeley and Oakland, extending to the shore of San Francisco Bay. Its proximity to San Francisco, the Bay Bridge, the University of California, Berkeley, and Silicon Valley has been a catalyst for recent economic growth.

3. Atherton

Yoga Studios Per 1,000 People: 3.98
Organic Markets Per 1,000 People: 2.27
Pet Adoption Centers Per 1,000 People: 1.28
Vegan Restaurants Per 1,000 People: 1.56
Thrift Stores Per 1,000 People: 3.41
Atherton is an incorporated town in San Mateo County, California, United States. Its population was 7,159 as of 2013. Atherton is ranked to be the wealthiest city in the United States, and is regularly ranked among the most expensive zip codes in the country.

4. Corte Madera

Yoga Studios Per 1,000 People: 3.06
Organic Markets Per 1,000 People: 1.27
Pet Adoption Centers Per 1,000 People: 0.74
Vegan Restaurants Per 1,000 People: 1.58
Thrift Stores Per 1,000 People: 3.48
Corte Madera (/krt mdr/; formerly Adams) is an incorporated town in Marin County, California, United States. Corte Madera is located 3.25 miles (5.2 km) south of San Rafael, at an elevation of 39 feet (12 m). The population was 9,253 at the 2010 census.

5. Albany

Yoga Studios Per 1,000 People: 2.05
Organic Markets Per 1,000 People: 1.05
Pet Adoption Centers Per 1,000 People: 0.79
Vegan Restaurants Per 1,000 People: 1.47
Thrift Stores Per 1,000 People: 1.84
Albany is a city in Alameda County, California. The population was 18,539 at the 2010 census.

6. Sausalito

Yoga Studios Per 1,000 People: 3.55
Organic Markets Per 1,000 People: 1.56
Pet Adoption Centers Per 1,000 People: 0.57
Vegan Restaurants Per 1,000 People: 1.7
Thrift Stores Per 1,000 People: 1.7
Sausalito is a city in Marin County, California. Located 8 miles (13 km) south-southeast of San Rafael, at an elevation of 13 feet (4 m), and is located 7 km north of San Francisco.

7. Fairfax

Yoga Studios Per 1,000 People: 3.05
Organic Markets Per 1,000 People: 0.66
Pet Adoption Centers Per 1,000 People: 0.53
Vegan Restaurants Per 1,000 People: 1.46
Thrift Stores Per 1,000 People: 3.05
Fairfax is an incorporated town in Marin County, California, United States. Fairfax is located 3.25 miles (5.2 km) west-northwest of San Rafael, at an elevation of 115 feet (35 m). The population is 7,441 at the 2010 census. Fairfax is the only town in America that holds a Green Party majority in the town council.

8. Larkspur

Yoga Studios Per 1,000 People: 2.56
Organic Markets Per 1,000 People: 0.74
Pet Adoption Centers Per 1,000 People: 0.58
Vegan Restaurants Per 1,000 People: 1.24
Thrift Stores Per 1,000 People: 2.64
Larkspur is a city in Marin County, California, United States. Larkspur is located 3 miles (4.8 km) south of San Rafael, at an elevation of 43 feet (13 m). As of the 2010 Census, the city’s population was 11,926. Larkspur is located north of San Francisco near Mount Tamalpais. Larkspur’s Police Department is shared with that of the neighboring Corte Madera and town of San Anselmo as the Central Marin Police Authority. Intersecting Larkspur’s downtown is Madrone Canyon, a residential area amidst a redwood grove.

9. Capitola

Yoga Studios Per 1,000 People: 2.69
Organic Markets Per 1,000 People: 1.29
Pet Adoption Centers Per 1,000 People: 0.4
Vegan Restaurants Per 1,000 People: 1.19
Thrift Stores Per 1,000 People: 2.09
Capitola is a city in Santa Cruz County, California, United States, on the coast of Monterey Bay. The population was 9,918 at the 2010 census.

10. Rolling Hills Estates

Yoga Studios Per 1,000 People: 4.03
Organic Markets Per 1,000 People: 1.34
Pet Adoption Centers Per 1,000 People: 2.2
Vegan Restaurants Per 1,000 People: 1.71
Thrift Stores Per 1,000 People: 4.89
Rolling Hills Estates is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. The population was 8,067 at the 2010 census, up from 7,676 at the 2000 census.

There You Have It — The Hippies Of California

If you’re measuring the locations in California 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 California:

1. Corcoran
2. Paradise
3. Woodlake

For more California reading , check out:

• These Are The 10 Dumbest Cities In California
• These Are The 10 Safest Places In California
• These Are The 10 Worst Places To Live In California

Detailed List Of The Hippiest Cities In California