You might think that the whole hippie movement has faded away, but the truth is, there are plenty of hippies out there in Mississippi.
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 Magnolia 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 Mississippi, 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 Mississippi:
- Louisville (Photos)
- Louisville (Photos)
- Petal (Photos)
- Flowood
- D’Iberville
- Ridgeland
- Waveland (Photos)
- Oxford (Photos)
- Batesville (Photos)
- Senatobia (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 Mississippi or the safest places to live in Mississippi.
How do you determine the most beatnik city in Mississippi?
In order to rank the best cities for hippies in Mississippi, 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 63 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 Mississippi.’ We’re lookin’ at you, Louisville.
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. Louisville
Yoga Studios Per 1,000 People: 3.69
Organic Markets Per 1,000 People: 0.92
Pet Adoption Centers Per 1,000 People: 1.08
Vegan Restaurants Per 1,000 People: 2.15
Thrift Stores Per 1,000 People: 6.62
Louisville is a city in Winston County, Mississippi. The population was 7,006 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Winston County.
2. Louisville
Yoga Studios Per 1,000 People: 0.92
Organic Markets Per 1,000 People: 0.31
Pet Adoption Centers Per 1,000 People: 0.92
Vegan Restaurants Per 1,000 People: 2.15
Thrift Stores Per 1,000 People: 2.46
Louisville is a city in Winston County, Mississippi. The population was 7,006 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Winston County.
3. Petal
Yoga Studios Per 1,000 People: 0.28
Organic Markets Per 1,000 People: 0.09
Pet Adoption Centers Per 1,000 People: 0.37
Vegan Restaurants Per 1,000 People: 0.28
Thrift Stores Per 1,000 People: 0.75
Petal is a city in Forrest County, Mississippi, along the Leaf River. It is part of the Hattiesburg, Mississippi Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 10,454 in the 2010 census.
4. Flowood
Yoga Studios Per 1,000 People: 0.37
Organic Markets Per 1,000 People: 0.12
Pet Adoption Centers Per 1,000 People: 0.37
Vegan Restaurants Per 1,000 People: 0.97
Thrift Stores Per 1,000 People: 1.34
Flowood is a city in Rankin County, Mississippi. The population was 7,823 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Jackson Metropolitan Statistical Area.
5. D’Iberville
Yoga Studios Per 1,000 People: 0.2
Organic Markets Per 1,000 People: 0.2
Pet Adoption Centers Per 1,000 People: 0.1
Vegan Restaurants Per 1,000 People: 0.3
Thrift Stores Per 1,000 People: 0.98
D’Iberville /diabrvl/ is a city in Harrison County, Mississippi, immediately north of Biloxi, across the Back Bay. As of the 2010 United States Census, it had a population of 9,486. It is part of the Gulfport–Biloxi Metropolitan Statistical Area.
6. Ridgeland
Yoga Studios Per 1,000 People: 0.25
Organic Markets Per 1,000 People: 0.04
Pet Adoption Centers Per 1,000 People: 0.17
Vegan Restaurants Per 1,000 People: 0.29
Thrift Stores Per 1,000 People: 0.7
Ridgeland is a city in Madison County, Mississippi. The population was 24,047 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Jackson Metropolitan Statistical Area.
7. Waveland
Yoga Studios Per 1,000 People: 0.15
Organic Markets Per 1,000 People: 0.15
Pet Adoption Centers Per 1,000 People: 0.15
Vegan Restaurants Per 1,000 People: 0.46
Thrift Stores Per 1,000 People: 0.31
Waveland is a city located in Hancock County, Mississippi, United States, on the Gulf of Mexico. It is part of the Gulfport–Biloxi, Mississippi Metropolitan Statistical Area. The city of Waveland was incorporated in 1972. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 6,435. Waveland was nearly destroyed by Hurricane Camille on August 17, 1969, and by Hurricane Katrina on August 29, 2005.
8. Oxford
Yoga Studios Per 1,000 People: 0.15
Organic Markets Per 1,000 People: 0.25
Pet Adoption Centers Per 1,000 People: 0.15
Vegan Restaurants Per 1,000 People: 0.05
Thrift Stores Per 1,000 People: 0.25
Oxford is a city in, and the county seat of, Lafayette County, Mississippi, United States. Founded in 1837, it was named after the British university city of Oxford in hopes of having the state university located there, which it did successfully attract.
9. Batesville
Yoga Studios Per 1,000 People: 0.13
Organic Markets Per 1,000 People: 0.13
Pet Adoption Centers Per 1,000 People: 0.0
Vegan Restaurants Per 1,000 People: 0.13
Thrift Stores Per 1,000 People: 0.27
10. Senatobia
Yoga Studios Per 1,000 People: 0.12
Organic Markets Per 1,000 People: 0.12
Pet Adoption Centers Per 1,000 People: 0.12
Vegan Restaurants Per 1,000 People: 0.12
Thrift Stores Per 1,000 People: 0.25
Senatobia is a city in and the county seat of Tate County, Mississippi, and is the 16th largest municipality in the Memphis Metropolitan Area. The population was 8,165 at the 2010 census.
There You Have It — The Hippies Of Mississippi
If you’re measuring the locations in Mississippi 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 Mississippi:
- Gautier
- Pascagoula
- Kosciusko
For more Mississippi reading , check out:
- These Are The 10 Most Ghetto Cities In Mississippi
- These Are The 10 Most Dangerous Cities In Mississippi
- These Are The 10 Safest Places In Mississippi
Detailed List Of The Hippiest Cities In Mississippi
City | Rank |
---|---|
Louisville | 1 |
Louisville | 2 |
Petal | 3 |
Flowood | 4 |
D’Iberville | 5 |
Ridgeland | 6 |
Waveland | 7 |
Oxford | 8 |
Batesville | 9 |
Senatobia | 10 |
Greenwood | 11 |
Hattiesburg | 12 |
Tupelo | 13 |
Madison | 14 |
Natchez | 15 |
Cleveland | 16 |
Mccomb | 17 |
Indianola | 18 |
Meridian | 19 |
Bay St. Louis | 20 |
Horn Lake | 21 |
Columbus | 22 |
Richland | 23 |
Picayune | 24 |
Long Beach | 25 |
Ocean Springs | 26 |
New Albany | 27 |
Clarksdale | 28 |
Grenada | 29 |
Starkville | 30 |
Corinth | 31 |
Columbia | 32 |
Louisville | 33 |
Southaven | 34 |
Brookhaven | 35 |
Vicksburg | 36 |
Jackson | 37 |
Laurel | 38 |
Holly Springs | 39 |
Gulfport | 40 |
Hernando | 41 |
Moss Point | 42 |
Biloxi | 43 |
Brandon | 44 |
Greenville | 45 |
Forest | 46 |
Olive Branch | 47 |
Diamondhead | 48 |
Byram | 49 |
Canton | 50 |
Philadelphia | 51 |
Pearl | 52 |
Aberdeen | 53 |
West Point | 54 |
Amory | 55 |
Clinton | 56 |
Booneville | 57 |
Forest | 58 |
Ripley | 59 |
Pontotoc | 60 |
Kosciusko | 61 |
Pascagoula | 62 |
Gautier | 63 |