These Are The 10 Best Cities For Hippies In Iowa

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

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 Hawkeye 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 Iowa, 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 Iowa:

1. Coralville (Photos)
2. Nevada (Photos)
3. Clive
4. Hiawatha (Photos)
5. Grimes
6. Decorah (Photos)
7. Fairfield (Photos)
8. Pleasant Hill (Photos)
9. Eldridge (Photos)
10. Johnston (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 Iowa or the safest places to live in Iowa.

How do you determine the most beatnik city in Iowa?

In order to rank the best cities for hippies in Iowa, 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 76 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 Iowa.’ We’re lookin’ at you, Coralville.

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. Coralville

Yoga Studios Per 1,000 People: 0.76
Organic Markets Per 1,000 People: 0.25
Pet Adoption Centers Per 1,000 People: 0.2
Vegan Restaurants Per 1,000 People: 0.3
Thrift Stores Per 1,000 People: 0.86
Coralville is a city in Johnson County, Iowa, United States. It is a suburb of Iowa City and part of the Iowa City Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 18,907 at the 2010 census.

2. Nevada

Yoga Studios Per 1,000 People: 1.77
Organic Markets Per 1,000 People: 0.74
Pet Adoption Centers Per 1,000 People: 0.88
Vegan Restaurants Per 1,000 People: 0.74
Thrift Stores Per 1,000 People: 4.27
Nevada (/nved/ n-VAY-d) is a city in and the county seat of Story County, Iowa, United States. The population was 6,798 in the 2010 census, an increase from 6,658 in the 2000 census. It is also part of the Ames, Iowa Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is a part of the larger Ames-Boone, Iowa Combined Statistical Area. Eight miles west of Nevada is Ames (and Iowa State University) which is much larger in population. Nonetheless, Nevada is the county seat with all Story County offices located there. The city’s name is pronounced differently from the state with the same name.

3. Clive

Yoga Studios Per 1,000 People: 0.86
Organic Markets Per 1,000 People: 0.49
Pet Adoption Centers Per 1,000 People: 0.31
Vegan Restaurants Per 1,000 People: 0.18
Thrift Stores Per 1,000 People: 1.23
Clive is a city in Dallas and Polk counties in the U.S. state of Iowa. As of the 2010 Census the population is at 15,447. It is part of the Des Moines–West Des Moines Metropolitan Statistical Area. Clive is known for its Greenbelt Park and trail system running through the entire community. Clive serves as the axis of the western Des Moines suburbs, being located between Urbandale, Waukee and West Des Moines along the major transportation corridors of I-35, I-80 and I-235. The City of Urbandale is to the north to northwest, the City of West Des Moines is to the southeast to southwest, the City of Waukee in Dallas County is to the west.

4. Hiawatha

Yoga Studios Per 1,000 People: 0.56
Organic Markets Per 1,000 People: 0.14
Pet Adoption Centers Per 1,000 People: 0.28
Vegan Restaurants Per 1,000 People: 1.41
Thrift Stores Per 1,000 People: 0.98
Hiawatha is a city in Linn County, Iowa, United States. It is a suburb located north of Cedar Rapids and is part of the Cedar Rapids Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 7,024 in the 2010 census, an increase from 6,480 in 2000.

5. Grimes

Yoga Studios Per 1,000 People: 0.89
Organic Markets Per 1,000 People: 0.33
Pet Adoption Centers Per 1,000 People: 0.11
Vegan Restaurants Per 1,000 People: 0.11
Thrift Stores Per 1,000 People: 0.66
Grimes is a city in Dallas and Polk counties in the U.S. state of Iowa. The population was 8,246 at the 2010 census. Grimes is part of the Des Moines–West Des Moines Metropolitan Statistical Area.

6. Decorah

Yoga Studios Per 1,000 People: 0.5
Organic Markets Per 1,000 People: 0.25
Pet Adoption Centers Per 1,000 People: 0.12
Vegan Restaurants Per 1,000 People: 0.12
Thrift Stores Per 1,000 People: 0.5
Decorah is a city in and the county seat of Winneshiek County, Iowa, United States. The population was 8,127 at the 2010 census. Decorah is located at the intersection of State Highway 9 and U.S. Route 52, and is the largest community in Winneshiek County.

7. Fairfield

Yoga Studios Per 1,000 People: 0.52
Organic Markets Per 1,000 People: 0.42
Pet Adoption Centers Per 1,000 People: 0.21
Vegan Restaurants Per 1,000 People: 0.31
Thrift Stores Per 1,000 People: 0.21
Fairfield is a city in, and the county seat of, Jefferson County, Iowa, United States. It has a population totaling 9,464 people according to the 2010 census. It is a Midwestern city surrounded by rolling farmlands filled with corn, soybean, cattle, and hogs with a median family income of $46,138 (10% of families below the poverty line). The city became the county seat in 1839 with 110 residents and grew to 650 by 1847. Its library was established in 1853, and it held its first fair in 1854. Early architecture includes work by George Franklin Barber and Barry Byrne, who trained under Frank Lloyd Wright.

8. Pleasant Hill

Yoga Studios Per 1,000 People: 0.22
Organic Markets Per 1,000 People: 0.33
Pet Adoption Centers Per 1,000 People: 0.11
Vegan Restaurants Per 1,000 People: 0.0
Thrift Stores Per 1,000 People: 0.67
Pleasant Hill is a city in Polk County, Iowa, United States. The population was 8,785 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Des Moines–West Des Moines Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of July, 2005, Pleasant Hill has been given a US Postal code, 50327.

9. Eldridge

Yoga Studios Per 1,000 People: 0.34
Organic Markets Per 1,000 People: 0.0
Pet Adoption Centers Per 1,000 People: 0.17
Vegan Restaurants Per 1,000 People: 0.51
Thrift Stores Per 1,000 People: 0.68
Eldridge is a city in Scott County, Iowa, United States. The population was 6,162 in a 2014 census estimate; Eldridge is a suburb and also part of the Quad Cities metropolitan area.

10. Johnston

Yoga Studios Per 1,000 People: 0.48
Organic Markets Per 1,000 People: 0.16
Pet Adoption Centers Per 1,000 People: 0.05
Vegan Restaurants Per 1,000 People: 0.11
Thrift Stores Per 1,000 People: 0.48
Johnston is a city in Polk County, Iowa, United States. The population was 17,278 in the 2010 census, an increase of almost 100% from the 8,649 population in the 2000 census. It is part of the Des Moines–West Des Moines Metropolitan Statistical Area.

There You Have It — The Hippies Of Iowa

If you’re measuring the locations in Iowa 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 Iowa:

1. Le Mars
2. Knoxville
3. Mount Pleasant

For more Iowa reading , check out:

• These Are The 10 Most Ghetto Cities In Iowa
• These Are The 10 Safest Places In Iowa
• These Are The 10 Dumbest Cities In Iowa

Detailed List Of The Hippiest Cities In Iowa