These Are The 10 Best Cities For Hippies In Kentucky


We used science and data to determine which Kentucky 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 Kentucky.

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 Bluegrass 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 Kentucky, 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 Kentucky:

  1. Douglass Hills
  2. Dayton (Photos)
  3. Bellevue (Photos)
  4. Middletown (Photos)
  5. Lyndon (Photos)
  6. St. Matthews (Photos)
  7. Fort Wright
  8. Fort Mitchell
  9. Shively (Photos)
  10. Newport (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 Kentucky or the safest places to live in Kentucky.

How do you determine the most beatnik city in Kentucky?

In order to rank the best cities for hippies in Kentucky, 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 81 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 Kentucky.’ We’re lookin’ at you, Douglass Hills.

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. Douglass Hills



Yoga Studios Per 1,000 People: 1.98
Organic Markets Per 1,000 People: 0.72
Pet Adoption Centers Per 1,000 People: 1.26
Vegan Restaurants Per 1,000 People: 1.26
Thrift Stores Per 1,000 People: 3.59
Douglass Hills is a home rule-class city in eastern Jefferson County, Kentucky, United States. The population was 5,718 at the 2000 census.

2. Dayton

Dayton, Kentucky

Source: Wikipedia

Yoga Studios Per 1,000 People: 6.69
Organic Markets Per 1,000 People: 1.49
Pet Adoption Centers Per 1,000 People: 1.3
Vegan Restaurants Per 1,000 People: 4.09
Thrift Stores Per 1,000 People: 5.2
Dayton is a home rule-class city along a bend of the Ohio River in Campbell County, Kentucky, in the United States. The population was 5,338 at the 2010 census. It is less than 3 miles (5 km) from downtown Cincinnati, Ohio.

3. Bellevue

Bellevue, Kentucky

Source: Wikipedia

Yoga Studios Per 1,000 People: 6.07
Organic Markets Per 1,000 People: 1.35
Pet Adoption Centers Per 1,000 People: 1.18
Vegan Restaurants Per 1,000 People: 3.71
Thrift Stores Per 1,000 People: 3.71
Bellevue is a home rule-class city in Campbell County, Kentucky, in the United States. It is located along the southern bank of the Ohio River. The population was 5,955 at the 2010 census.

4. Middletown

Middletown, Kentucky

Source: Wikipedia

Yoga Studios Per 1,000 People: 0.82
Organic Markets Per 1,000 People: 0.41
Pet Adoption Centers Per 1,000 People: 0.55
Vegan Restaurants Per 1,000 People: 2.59
Thrift Stores Per 1,000 People: 1.91
Middletown is an independent, home rule-class city in Jefferson County, Kentucky, United States, and a former neighborhood of Louisville. The population was 7,218 at the 2010 census.

5. Lyndon

Lyndon, Kentucky

Source: Wikipedia

Yoga Studios Per 1,000 People: 1.61
Organic Markets Per 1,000 People: 0.54
Pet Adoption Centers Per 1,000 People: 0.54
Vegan Restaurants Per 1,000 People: 0.36
Thrift Stores Per 1,000 People: 2.24
Lyndon is a home rule-class city in Jefferson County, Kentucky, United States. The population was 9,369 at the 2000 U.S. census.

6. St. Matthews

St. Matthews, Kentucky

Source: Wikipedia

Yoga Studios Per 1,000 People: 1.64
Organic Markets Per 1,000 People: 0.45
Pet Adoption Centers Per 1,000 People: 0.45
Vegan Restaurants Per 1,000 People: 0.62
Thrift Stores Per 1,000 People: 1.07
St. Matthews is a city in Jefferson County, Kentucky, United States. It forms part of the Louisville Metro government but is separately incorporated as a home rule-class city. The population was 15,852 at the 2000 census, making it the 20th-largest city in the state.

7. Fort Wright



Yoga Studios Per 1,000 People: 1.75
Organic Markets Per 1,000 People: 0.35
Pet Adoption Centers Per 1,000 People: 0.7
Vegan Restaurants Per 1,000 People: 1.57
Thrift Stores Per 1,000 People: 3.32
Fort Wright is a home rule-class city in Kenton County, Kentucky, in the United States. The population was 5,723 at the 2010 census.

8. Fort Mitchell

Fort Mitchell, Kentucky

Source: Wikipedia

Yoga Studios Per 1,000 People: 1.46
Organic Markets Per 1,000 People: 0.24
Pet Adoption Centers Per 1,000 People: 0.61
Vegan Restaurants Per 1,000 People: 1.22
Thrift Stores Per 1,000 People: 2.31
Fort Mitchell is a home rule-class city in Kenton County, Kentucky, in the United States. The population was 8,207 at the 2010 census.

9. Shively

Shively, Kentucky

Source: Wikipedia

Yoga Studios Per 1,000 People: 0.26
Organic Markets Per 1,000 People: 0.32
Pet Adoption Centers Per 1,000 People: 0.26
Vegan Restaurants Per 1,000 People: 0.52
Thrift Stores Per 1,000 People: 1.68
Shively is a home rule-class city in Jefferson County, Kentucky, United States and a suburb of Louisville within the Louisville Metro government. As of the 2010 Census, the city’s population was 15,264, reflecting an increase of 107 (+0.7%) from 15,157 in 2000.

10. Newport

Newport, Kentucky

Source: Wikipedia

Yoga Studios Per 1,000 People: 1.81
Organic Markets Per 1,000 People: 0.45
Pet Adoption Centers Per 1,000 People: 0.26
Vegan Restaurants Per 1,000 People: 1.1
Thrift Stores Per 1,000 People: 1.16
Newport is a home rule-class city at the confluence of the Ohio and Licking rivers in Campbell County, Kentucky, in the United States. The population was 15,273 at the 2010 census. Historically, it was one of four county seats of Campbell County. Newport is part of the Cincinnati Metropolitan Area, which includes over 2 million inhabitants.

There You Have It — The Hippies Of Kentucky

If you’re measuring the locations in Kentucky 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 Kentucky:

  1. Wilmore
  2. Williamsburg
  3. Georgetown

For more Kentucky reading , check out:

Detailed List Of The Hippiest Cities In Kentucky

City Rank Population
Douglass Hills 1 5,566
Dayton 2 5,382
Bellevue 3 5,933
Middletown 4 7,333
Lyndon 5 11,167
St. Matthews 6 17,686
Fort Wright 7 5,726
Fort Mitchell 8 8,209
Shively 9 15,450
Newport 10 15,467
Highland Heights 11 7,152
Elsmere 12 8,451
Villa Hills 13 7,359
Fort Thomas 14 16,250
Edgewood 15 8,665
Jeffersontown 16 26,862
Erlanger 17 18,370
Union 18 5,569
Taylor Mill 19 6,682
Flatwoods 20 7,483
Cold Spring 21 6,093
Bardstown 22 12,833
Elizabethtown 23 29,464
Frankfort 24 27,389
Middletown 25 7,333
Covington 26 40,712
Bowling Green 27 60,660
Ashland 28 21,551
Paducah 29 25,046
Owensboro 30 58,000
Vine Grove 31 5,296
Florence 32 31,038
Franklin 33 8,563
Oak Grove 34 7,522
Murray 35 18,375
Hillview 36 7,785
Lebanon 37 5,594
Independence 38 25,638
Berea 39 14,209
Pikeville 40 7,313
London 41 8,062
Morehead 42 6,896
La Grange 43 8,283
Georgetown 44 30,349
Madisonville 45 19,807
Henderson 46 28,840
Hopkinsville 47 32,507
Paris 48 9,746
Alexandria 49 8,654
Versailles 50 8,908
Monticello 51 6,163
Campbellsville 52 11,126
Danville 53 16,471
Glasgow 54 14,152
Hazard 55 5,453
Corbin 56 7,051
Richmond 57 32,706
Somerset 58 11,311
Shelbyville 59 14,558
Mayfield 60 10,091
Leitchfield 61 6,781
Princeton 62 6,274
Shepherdsville 63 11,573
Lawrenceburg 64 11,014
Nicholasville 65 28,483
Mount Washington 66 11,956
Middlesborough 67 10,035
Radcliff 68 22,939
Harrodsburg 69 8,359
Russellville 70 6,998
Middletown 71 7,333
Mount Sterling 72 7,030
Winchester 73 18,363
Maysville 74 8,951
Union 75 5,569
Elizabethtown 76 29,464
Elizabethtown 77 29,464
Cynthiana 78 6,388
Georgetown 79 30,349
Williamsburg 80 5,260
Wilmore 81 5,995

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.