These Are The 10 Best Cities For Hippies In New York

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

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 Empire 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 New York, 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 New York:

1. Irvington (Photos)
2. Pelham Manor
3. Bronxville (Photos)
4. Larchmont (Photos)
5. Pelham (Photos)
6. Hastings-On-Hudson (Photos)
7. North Hills
8. Williamsville (Photos)
9. Colonie (Photos)
10. Williston Park (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 New York or the safest places to live in New York.

How do you determine the most beatnik city in New York?

In order to rank the best cities for hippies in New York, 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 169 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 New York.’ We’re lookin’ at you, Irvington.

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. Irvington

Yoga Studios Per 1,000 People: 4.92
Organic Markets Per 1,000 People: 2.15
Pet Adoption Centers Per 1,000 People: 1.69
Vegan Restaurants Per 1,000 People: 1.84
Thrift Stores Per 1,000 People: 3.69
Irvington, sometimes known as Irvington-on-Hudson, is an affluent suburban village in the town of Greenburgh in Westchester County, New York, United States. It is located on the eastern bank of the Hudson River, 20 miles (32 km) north of midtown Manhattan in New York City, and is served by a station stop on the Metro-North Hudson Line. To the north of Irvington is the village of Tarrytown, to the south the village of Dobbs Ferry, and to the east unincorporated parts of Greenburgh, including East Irvington. Irvington includes within its boundaries the community of Ardsley-on-Hudson, which has its own ZIP code and Metro-North station, but which should not be confused with the nearby village of Ardsley, New York.

2. Pelham Manor

Yoga Studios Per 1,000 People: 4.33
Organic Markets Per 1,000 People: 1.44
Pet Adoption Centers Per 1,000 People: 1.81
Vegan Restaurants Per 1,000 People: 1.44
Thrift Stores Per 1,000 People: 3.61
Pelham Manor is a village located in Westchester County, New York, United States. As of the 2010 census, the village had a total population of 5,486. It is located in the town of Pelham.

3. Bronxville

Yoga Studios Per 1,000 People: 3.76
Organic Markets Per 1,000 People: 2.35
Pet Adoption Centers Per 1,000 People: 1.72
Vegan Restaurants Per 1,000 People: 1.25
Thrift Stores Per 1,000 People: 3.61
Bronxville /brksvl/ is a village in Westchester County, New York, located about 15 miles (24 km) north of midtown Manhattan. It is part of the town of Eastchester. The village comprises 1 square mile (2.5 km2) of land in its entirety, approximately 20% of the town of Eastchester. As of the 2010 U.S. census, Bronxville had a population of 6,323. As of 2016, Bronxville was rated the number one most expensive suburb around America’s ten largest cities by CNBC with a median home value of $2.33 million. In 2017 it was ranked 8th in Bloomberg’s ‘America’s 100 Richest Places’.

4. Larchmont

Yoga Studios Per 1,000 People: 3.7
Organic Markets Per 1,000 People: 1.18
Pet Adoption Centers Per 1,000 People: 1.68
Vegan Restaurants Per 1,000 People: 1.01
Thrift Stores Per 1,000 People: 2.35
Larchmont is a village located within the Town of Mamaroneck in Westchester County, New York, approximately 18 miles (29 km) northeast of Midtown Manhattan. The population of the village was 5,864 at the 2010 census.

5. Pelham

Yoga Studios Per 1,000 People: 2.58
Organic Markets Per 1,000 People: 1.43
Pet Adoption Centers Per 1,000 People: 1.15
Vegan Restaurants Per 1,000 People: 1.15
Thrift Stores Per 1,000 People: 3.15
Pelham /plm/ is a suburban town in Westchester County, New York, approximately 14 miles northeast of Midtown Manhattan. As of the 2010 census, it had a population of 12,396. Historically, Pelham was composed of five villages and became known as ‘the Pelhams’. Pelham currently contains two independently incorporated villages: the Villages of Pelham and Pelham Manor, Approximately 28 minutes away from Grand Central Terminal by the Metro-North train, Pelham is home to many New York City commuters and has an active social community for its residents. Notably, the Whitestone Bridge is approximately 8.5 miles (14 km) south of the town and can be reached in 10-15 minutes without traffic. It is also 13 miles (21 km) northeast of LaGuardia Airport, which can be reached in 20-25 minutes without traffic and John F. Kennedy International Airport, the city’s main international airport, is 19.5 miles (31 km) south of the town.

6. Hastings-On-Hudson

Yoga Studios Per 1,000 People: 3.16
Organic Markets Per 1,000 People: 1.64
Pet Adoption Centers Per 1,000 People: 1.14
Vegan Restaurants Per 1,000 People: 2.28
Thrift Stores Per 1,000 People: 1.64

7. North Hills

Yoga Studios Per 1,000 People: 6.64
Organic Markets Per 1,000 People: 1.76
Pet Adoption Centers Per 1,000 People: 2.15
Vegan Restaurants Per 1,000 People: 2.15
Thrift Stores Per 1,000 People: 3.12
North Hills is a village in Nassau County, New York in the United States. The population was 5,075 at the 2010 census.

8. Williamsville

Yoga Studios Per 1,000 People: 2.46
Organic Markets Per 1,000 People: 1.7
Pet Adoption Centers Per 1,000 People: 1.51
Vegan Restaurants Per 1,000 People: 1.51
Thrift Stores Per 1,000 People: 4.16
Williamsville is a village in Erie County, New York, in the United States. The population was 5,300 at the 2010 census. The village is named after Jonas Williams, an early settler. It is part of the Buffalo–Niagara Falls Metropolitan Statistical Area.

9. Colonie

Yoga Studios Per 1,000 People: 2.41
Organic Markets Per 1,000 People: 0.89
Pet Adoption Centers Per 1,000 People: 1.14
Vegan Restaurants Per 1,000 People: 0.89
Thrift Stores Per 1,000 People: 1.91
Colonie /klni/ is a town in Albany County, New York, United States. It is the most populous suburb of Albany, New York, and is the third largest town in area in Albany County, occupying about 11% of the county. Several hamlets exist within the town. As of the 2010 census, the town had a total population of 81,591.

10. Williston Park

Yoga Studios Per 1,000 People: 3.14
Organic Markets Per 1,000 People: 1.37
Pet Adoption Centers Per 1,000 People: 1.5
Vegan Restaurants Per 1,000 People: 1.5
Thrift Stores Per 1,000 People: 2.6
Williston Park is an incorporated village in Nassau County, New York in the United States. The population was 7,287 at the 2010 census.

There You Have It — The Hippies Of New York

If you’re measuring the locations in New York 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 New York:

1. Johnstown
2. Rome
3. Middletown

For more New York reading , check out:

• These Are The 10 Snobbiest Places In New York
• These Are The 10 Most Dangerous Places In New York
• These Are The 10 Worst Places To Live In New York State

Detailed List Of The Hippiest Cities In New York