You might think that the whole hippie movement has faded away, but the truth is, there are plenty of hippies out there in Michigan.
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 Wolverine 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 Michigan, 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 Michigan:
- Highland Park (Photos)
- Plymouth (Photos)
- Huntington Woods (Photos)
- River Rouge (Photos)
- Northville (Photos)
- Clawson (Photos)
- Berkley (Photos)
- Beverly Hills (Photos)
- Ecorse (Photos)
- Grosse Pointe (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 Michigan or the safest places to live in Michigan.
How do you determine the most beatnik city in Michigan?
In order to rank the best cities for hippies in Michigan, 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 147 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 Michigan.’ We’re lookin’ at you, Highland Park.
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. Highland Park
Yoga Studios Per 1,000 People: 1.28
Organic Markets Per 1,000 People: 0.46
Pet Adoption Centers Per 1,000 People: 0.82
Vegan Restaurants Per 1,000 People: 1.64
Thrift Stores Per 1,000 People: 2.47
Highland Park is a city in Wayne County in the State of Michigan, within Metro Detroit. The population was 11,776 at the 2010 census. The city is completely surrounded by Detroit except for a small portion that touches the city of Hamtramck, which is also surrounded by Detroit.
2. Plymouth
Yoga Studios Per 1,000 People: 1.55
Organic Markets Per 1,000 People: 0.66
Pet Adoption Centers Per 1,000 People: 1.0
Vegan Restaurants Per 1,000 People: 0.66
Thrift Stores Per 1,000 People: 2.22
Plymouth is a city in Wayne County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 9,132 at the 2010 census. The City of Plymouth is entirely surrounded by the Charter Township of Plymouth.
3. Huntington Woods
Yoga Studios Per 1,000 People: 3.65
Organic Markets Per 1,000 People: 0.79
Pet Adoption Centers Per 1,000 People: 1.9
Vegan Restaurants Per 1,000 People: 1.74
Thrift Stores Per 1,000 People: 6.18
4. River Rouge
Yoga Studios Per 1,000 People: 0.77
Organic Markets Per 1,000 People: 0.26
Pet Adoption Centers Per 1,000 People: 1.03
Vegan Restaurants Per 1,000 People: 1.03
Thrift Stores Per 1,000 People: 2.32
River Rouge is a city in Wayne County in the U.S. state of Michigan and an industrial Downriver suburb of Detroit. The population was 7,903 at the 2010 census. It is named after the River Rouge (from the French ‘rouge’ meaning red), which flows along the city’s northern border and into the Detroit River. The city includes the heavily industrialized Zug Island at the mouth of the River Rouge.
5. Northville
Yoga Studios Per 1,000 People: 2.5
Organic Markets Per 1,000 People: 1.0
Pet Adoption Centers Per 1,000 People: 0.83
Vegan Restaurants Per 1,000 People: 1.0
Thrift Stores Per 1,000 People: 2.0
Northville is a city located in and divided by Oakland and Wayne counties in the U.S. state of Michigan. The area is a suburb of Metropolitan Detroit. The population was 5,970 at the 2010 census. Most of the city is in Oakland County and is surrounded by the city of Novi, while the other part is in Wayne County is surrounded by Northville Township. Northville is served by Northville Public Schools. The city is located 21 miles (34 km) northeast of Ann Arbor and 29 miles (47 km) northwest of Detroit.
6. Clawson
Yoga Studios Per 1,000 People: 2.09
Organic Markets Per 1,000 People: 0.67
Pet Adoption Centers Per 1,000 People: 1.17
Vegan Restaurants Per 1,000 People: 0.67
Thrift Stores Per 1,000 People: 2.93
Clawson is a city in Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is part of the Detroit metropolitan area. At the 2010 census, its population was 11,825.
7. Berkley
Yoga Studios Per 1,000 People: 2.38
Organic Markets Per 1,000 People: 0.4
Pet Adoption Centers Per 1,000 People: 0.92
Vegan Restaurants Per 1,000 People: 0.99
Thrift Stores Per 1,000 People: 2.58
Berkley is a suburb of Detroit located along the Woodward Corridor in southeastern Oakland County, Michigan. As of the 2010 census, the total population was 14,970.
8. Beverly Hills
Yoga Studios Per 1,000 People: 2.22
Organic Markets Per 1,000 People: 0.58
Pet Adoption Centers Per 1,000 People: 0.58
Vegan Restaurants Per 1,000 People: 0.77
Thrift Stores Per 1,000 People: 1.74
Beverly Hills is a village in Southfield Township, Oakland County of the U.S. state of Michigan. It is a suburb of Detroit. As of the 2010 census, the population was 10,267 making it by far the most populous village in the state.
9. Ecorse
Yoga Studios Per 1,000 People: 0.32
Organic Markets Per 1,000 People: 0.53
Pet Adoption Centers Per 1,000 People: 0.53
Vegan Restaurants Per 1,000 People: 0.43
Thrift Stores Per 1,000 People: 2.02
Ecorse is a city in Wayne County in the U.S. state of Michigan, named for the Ecorse River. The population was 9,512 at the 2010 census.
10. Grosse Pointe
Yoga Studios Per 1,000 People: 1.12
Organic Markets Per 1,000 People: 0.37
Pet Adoption Centers Per 1,000 People: 0.19
Vegan Restaurants Per 1,000 People: 0.56
Thrift Stores Per 1,000 People: 1.68
Grosse Pointe is a waterfront city adjacent to Detroit in Wayne County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The municipality covers just over one square mile and had a population of 5,421 at the 2010 census. It is bordered on the west by Grosse Pointe Park, on the north by Detroit, on the east by Grosse Pointe Farms, and on the south by Lake Saint Clair. Grosse Pointe is about eight miles (13 km) east of downtown Detroit, accessible by Jefferson Avenue or several other cross streets. Grosse Pointe is one of five similarly named municipalities in northeastern Wayne County, and is often called ‘The City’ or Grosse Pointe City.
There You Have It — The Hippies Of Michigan
If you’re measuring the locations in Michigan 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 Michigan:
- Niles
- Sturgis
- Grand Rapids
For more Michigan reading , check out:
- These Are The 10 Snobbiest Places In Michigan
- These Are The 10 Dumbest Cities In Michigan
- These Are The 10 Safest Places In Michigan