These Are The 10 Best Cities For Hippies In Colorado

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

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 Centennial 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 Colorado, 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 Colorado:

1. Sheridan (Photos)
2. Edgewater (Photos)
3. Federal Heights (Photos)
4. Superior (Photos)
5. Aspen (Photos)
6. Manitou Springs (Photos)
7. Englewood (Photos)
8. Louisville (Photos)
9. Gunnison (Photos)
10. Salida (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 Colorado or the safest places to live in Colorado.

How do you determine the most beatnik city in Colorado?

In order to rank the best cities for hippies in Colorado, 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 72 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 Colorado.’ We’re lookin’ at you, Sheridan.

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. Sheridan

Yoga Studios Per 1,000 People: 5.5
Organic Markets Per 1,000 People: 3.27
Pet Adoption Centers Per 1,000 People: 2.23
Vegan Restaurants Per 1,000 People: 3.09
Thrift Stores Per 1,000 People: 7.22

2. Edgewater

Yoga Studios Per 1,000 People: 11.31
Organic Markets Per 1,000 People: 3.45
Pet Adoption Centers Per 1,000 People: 2.88
Vegan Restaurants Per 1,000 People: 4.98
Thrift Stores Per 1,000 People: 9.58
The City of Edgewater is a Home Rule Municipality located in Jefferson County, Colorado, United States. Edgewater is located immediately west of Denver, in the Denver-Aurora-Lakewood, CO Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of the 2010 census, the population is 5,170. Edgewater is surrounded by Denver to the east, Lakewood to the south and west, and Wheat Ridge to the north.

3. Federal Heights

Yoga Studios Per 1,000 People: 0.51
Organic Markets Per 1,000 People: 1.1
Pet Adoption Centers Per 1,000 People: 0.76
Vegan Restaurants Per 1,000 People: 1.18
Thrift Stores Per 1,000 People: 2.45
The City of Federal Heights is a Home Rule Municipality located in Adams County, Colorado, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 11,467.

4. Superior

Yoga Studios Per 1,000 People: 0.87
Organic Markets Per 1,000 People: 0.87
Pet Adoption Centers Per 1,000 People: 0.39
Vegan Restaurants Per 1,000 People: 0.71
Thrift Stores Per 1,000 People: 0.71
Superior is a Statutory Town in Boulder County in the U.S. state of Colorado, with a small, uninhabited segment of land area extending into Jefferson County . According to the 2010 census, the population of the city was 12,483.

5. Aspen

Yoga Studios Per 1,000 People: 1.19
Organic Markets Per 1,000 People: 0.45
Pet Adoption Centers Per 1,000 People: 0.45
Vegan Restaurants Per 1,000 People: 0.3
Thrift Stores Per 1,000 People: 0.75
Aspen is the home rule municipality that is the county seat and the most populous municipality of Pitkin County, Colorado, United States. Its population was 6,658 at the 2010 United States Census. Aspen is in a remote area of the Rocky Mountains’ Sawatch Range and Elk Mountains, along the Roaring Fork River at an elevation just below 8,000 feet (2,400 m) above sea level on the Western Slope, 11 miles (18 km) west of the Continental Divide.

6. Manitou Springs

Yoga Studios Per 1,000 People: 3.29
Organic Markets Per 1,000 People: 0.58
Pet Adoption Centers Per 1,000 People: 0.97
Vegan Restaurants Per 1,000 People: 1.74
Thrift Stores Per 1,000 People: 2.71
The city of Manitou Springs is a home rule municipality located in El Paso County, Colorado, United States. The town was founded for its scenic setting and natural mineral springs. The downtown area continues to be of interest to travelers, particularly in the summer, as the downtown area consists of many one-story, adjoining, small shops, restaurants, and pubs, as well as a creekside city park with a children’s playground made from unusual materials. Among other services, shops cater to tourist interests such as clothing, candy, souvenirs, and outdoor recreation. The main road through the center of town was one of the direct paths to the base of Pikes Peak. Barr Trail, which winds its way up Pikes Peak, is easily accessible from town. The subdivision Crystal Hills was added to the municipality in the 1960s.

7. Englewood

Yoga Studios Per 1,000 People: 1.09
Organic Markets Per 1,000 People: 0.51
Pet Adoption Centers Per 1,000 People: 0.38
Vegan Restaurants Per 1,000 People: 0.35
Thrift Stores Per 1,000 People: 1.05
The City of Englewood is a Home Rule Municipality located in Arapahoe County, Colorado, United States. As of 2010, the population was 30,255. Englewood is part of the Denver-Aurora Metropolitan Area. Englewood is located in the South Platte River Valley east of the Front Range and immediately south of central Denver. Downtown is located immediately east of the confluence of Little Dry Creek and the South Platte River, between Santa Fe Drive and Broadway.

8. Louisville

Yoga Studios Per 1,000 People: 0.68
Organic Markets Per 1,000 People: 0.57
Pet Adoption Centers Per 1,000 People: 0.21
Vegan Restaurants Per 1,000 People: 0.37
Thrift Stores Per 1,000 People: 0.63

9. Gunnison

Yoga Studios Per 1,000 People: 0.84
Organic Markets Per 1,000 People: 0.17
Pet Adoption Centers Per 1,000 People: 0.67
Vegan Restaurants Per 1,000 People: 0.34
Thrift Stores Per 1,000 People: 0.84
The City of Gunnison is the county seat and the most populous municipality of Gunnison County, Colorado, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 5,854. It was named in honor of John W. Gunnison, a United States Army officer who surveyed for the transcontinental railroad in 1853. Gunnison is a Home Rule municipality which reserves the right to choose how it is governed.

10. Salida

Yoga Studios Per 1,000 People: 0.94
Organic Markets Per 1,000 People: 0.75
Pet Adoption Centers Per 1,000 People: 0.19
Vegan Restaurants Per 1,000 People: 0.75
Thrift Stores Per 1,000 People: 1.13
The City of Salida (/slad/ s-LY-d; Spanish: [saliða], ‘exit’) is a Statutory City that is the county seat and most populous city of Chaffee County, Colorado, United States. The population was 5,236 at the 2010 census.

There You Have It — The Hippies Of Colorado

If you’re measuring the locations in Colorado 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 Colorado:

1. Sterling
2. Lamar
3. Brush

For more Colorado reading , check out:

• These Are The 10 Safest Places In Colorado
• These Are The 10 Worst Places To Live In Colorado
• These Are The 10 Best Places To Live In Colorado

Detailed List Of The Hippiest Cities In Colorado