You might think that the whole hippie movement has faded away, but the truth is, there are plenty of hippies out there in Missouri.
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 Show Me 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 Missouri, 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 Missouri:
- Shrewsbury
- Maplewood (Photos)
- Richmond Heights
- Glendale
- Brentwood
- Olivette
- Ladue
- Des Peres
- Crestwood (Photos)
- Clayton (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 Missouri or the safest places to live in Missouri.
How do you determine the most beatnik city in Missouri?
In order to rank the best cities for hippies in Missouri, 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 126 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 Missouri.’ We’re lookin’ at you, Shrewsbury.
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. Shrewsbury
Yoga Studios Per 1,000 People: 5.31
Organic Markets Per 1,000 People: 1.93
Pet Adoption Centers Per 1,000 People: 1.77
Vegan Restaurants Per 1,000 People: 1.29
Thrift Stores Per 1,000 People: 6.59
Shrewsbury is an inner-ring suburb of St. Louis, located in St. Louis County, Missouri. The population was 6,254 at the 2010 census.
2. Maplewood
Yoga Studios Per 1,000 People: 4.38
Organic Markets Per 1,000 People: 1.5
Pet Adoption Centers Per 1,000 People: 1.38
Vegan Restaurants Per 1,000 People: 1.88
Thrift Stores Per 1,000 People: 4.63
Maplewood is an inner-ring suburb of St. Louis, located in St. Louis County. The population was 8,046 at the 2010 census.
3. Richmond Heights
Yoga Studios Per 1,000 People: 3.99
Organic Markets Per 1,000 People: 1.52
Pet Adoption Centers Per 1,000 People: 1.29
Vegan Restaurants Per 1,000 People: 1.29
Thrift Stores Per 1,000 People: 4.11
4. Glendale
Yoga Studios Per 1,000 People: 4.89
Organic Markets Per 1,000 People: 1.35
Pet Adoption Centers Per 1,000 People: 1.01
Vegan Restaurants Per 1,000 People: 1.18
Thrift Stores Per 1,000 People: 5.57
Glendale is a city in St. Louis County, Missouri, United States. The population was 5,925 at the 2010 census.
5. Brentwood
Yoga Studios Per 1,000 People: 4.1
Organic Markets Per 1,000 People: 1.24
Pet Adoption Centers Per 1,000 People: 1.37
Vegan Restaurants Per 1,000 People: 1.12
Thrift Stores Per 1,000 People: 4.1
Brentwood is an inner-ring suburb of St. Louis, located in St. Louis County, Missouri. The population was 8,055 at the 2010 census. Brentwood is home to Brentwood High School, a 2006 National Blue Ribbon Award winner, and Mark Twain Elementary School, a 2009 National Blue Ribbon Award winner.
6. Olivette
Yoga Studios Per 1,000 People: 2.18
Organic Markets Per 1,000 People: 0.9
Pet Adoption Centers Per 1,000 People: 0.77
Vegan Restaurants Per 1,000 People: 1.15
Thrift Stores Per 1,000 People: 3.59
Olivette is an inner-ring suburb of St. Louis, located in St. Louis County, Missouri, United States. The population was 7,737 at the 2010 census.
7. Ladue
Yoga Studios Per 1,000 People: 3.51
Organic Markets Per 1,000 People: 0.94
Pet Adoption Centers Per 1,000 People: 0.58
Vegan Restaurants Per 1,000 People: 0.94
Thrift Stores Per 1,000 People: 3.51
Ladue is an inner-ring suburb of St. Louis, located in central St. Louis County, Missouri, United States. As of the 2013 census, the city had a population of 8,560.
8. Des Peres
Yoga Studios Per 1,000 People: 1.78
Organic Markets Per 1,000 People: 0.59
Pet Adoption Centers Per 1,000 People: 0.83
Vegan Restaurants Per 1,000 People: 0.95
Thrift Stores Per 1,000 People: 2.84
Des Peres (English: /dipr/) is a city in St. Louis County, Missouri, United States. The population was 8,373 at the 2010 census.
9. Crestwood
Yoga Studios Per 1,000 People: 1.76
Organic Markets Per 1,000 People: 0.42
Pet Adoption Centers Per 1,000 People: 0.84
Vegan Restaurants Per 1,000 People: 0.84
Thrift Stores Per 1,000 People: 2.68
10. Clayton
Yoga Studios Per 1,000 People: 1.95
Organic Markets Per 1,000 People: 0.63
Pet Adoption Centers Per 1,000 People: 0.57
Vegan Restaurants Per 1,000 People: 0.69
Thrift Stores Per 1,000 People: 2.77
There You Have It — The Hippies Of Missouri
If you’re measuring the locations in Missouri 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 Missouri:
- Macon
- Perryville
- Pleasant Hill
For more Missouri reading , check out:
- These Are The 10 Snobbiest Cities In Missouri
- These Are The 10 Most Ghetto Cities In Missouri
- These Are The 10 Worst Places To Live In Missouri
