You might think that the whole hippie movement has faded away, but the truth is, there are plenty of hippies out there in Pennsylvania.
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 Keystone 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 Pennsylvania, 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 Pennsylvania:
- Forest Hills (Photos)
- Sharon Hill (Photos)
- Norwood (Photos)
- Clifton Heights (Photos)
- Swarthmore (Photos)
- Mckees Rocks (Photos)
- Dormont (Photos)
- Collingdale (Photos)
- Swissvale (Photos)
- Glenolden (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 Pennsylvania or the safest places to live in Pennsylvania.
How do you determine the most beatnik city in Pennsylvania?
In order to rank the best cities for hippies in Pennsylvania, 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 182 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 Pennsylvania.’ We’re lookin’ at you, Forest 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. Forest Hills
Yoga Studios Per 1,000 People: 4.15
Organic Markets Per 1,000 People: 0.92
Pet Adoption Centers Per 1,000 People: 1.23
Vegan Restaurants Per 1,000 People: 2.61
Thrift Stores Per 1,000 People: 3.54
2. Sharon Hill
Yoga Studios Per 1,000 People: 1.93
Organic Markets Per 1,000 People: 0.88
Pet Adoption Centers Per 1,000 People: 1.41
Vegan Restaurants Per 1,000 People: 2.46
Thrift Stores Per 1,000 People: 2.99
3. Norwood
Yoga Studios Per 1,000 People: 1.7
Organic Markets Per 1,000 People: 0.68
Pet Adoption Centers Per 1,000 People: 1.36
Vegan Restaurants Per 1,000 People: 1.36
Thrift Stores Per 1,000 People: 3.05
Norwood is a borough in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 5,890 at the 2010 census.
4. Clifton Heights
Yoga Studios Per 1,000 People: 2.1
Organic Markets Per 1,000 People: 0.45
Pet Adoption Centers Per 1,000 People: 2.1
Vegan Restaurants Per 1,000 People: 0.9
Thrift Stores Per 1,000 People: 4.66
Clifton Heights is a borough in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, United States, located on Darby Creek 8 miles (13 km) west of downtown Philadelphia. As of the 2010 census the population was 6,652.
5. Swarthmore
Yoga Studios Per 1,000 People: 2.1
Organic Markets Per 1,000 People: 0.48
Pet Adoption Centers Per 1,000 People: 1.45
Vegan Restaurants Per 1,000 People: 0.81
Thrift Stores Per 1,000 People: 5.0
Swarthmore (pronounced /sw.mr/ SWAHTH-mor locally, or /swr.mr/ SWAWRTH-mor) is a borough in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, United States. Swarthmore was originally named ‘Westdale’ in honor of noted painter Benjamin West, who was one of the early residents of the town. The name was changed to ‘Swarthmore’ after the establishment of Swarthmore College. ‘Swarthmore’ can be pronounced with the first ‘r’ either vocalized or dropped due to differences in rhotic and non-rhotic accents, but locally it is usually pronounced without the first ‘r’ (i.e. SWAHTH-mor). The borough population was 6,194 as of the 2010 census.
6. Mckees Rocks
Yoga Studios Per 1,000 People: 2.96
Organic Markets Per 1,000 People: 0.82
Pet Adoption Centers Per 1,000 People: 0.82
Vegan Restaurants Per 1,000 People: 1.48
Thrift Stores Per 1,000 People: 2.79
7. Dormont
Yoga Studios Per 1,000 People: 2.92
Organic Markets Per 1,000 People: 1.05
Pet Adoption Centers Per 1,000 People: 0.58
Vegan Restaurants Per 1,000 People: 1.63
Thrift Stores Per 1,000 People: 3.15
Dormont is a borough in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States and is part of the Pittsburgh Metro Area. The population was 8,593 at the 2010 census. Dormont is a home to a diverse population including young professionals, working families, and retirees. Dormont’s economic stability can be attributed to this diversity along with its close proximity to jobs in Downtown Pittsburgh, access to The ‘T’ (Pittsburgh Light Rail), diverse housing stock, and historically low crime rates. Dormont is mixed use and urban and features a pedestrian friendly business district, with bars, coffee shops, restaurants, and retail stores. It is famous for one of the largest municipal pools in Pennsylvania, the historic Dormont Pool. Loosely translated, Dormont means ‘Mountain of Gold’ in French.
8. Collingdale
Yoga Studios Per 1,000 People: 1.25
Organic Markets Per 1,000 People: 0.46
Pet Adoption Centers Per 1,000 People: 1.14
Vegan Restaurants Per 1,000 People: 1.48
Thrift Stores Per 1,000 People: 3.76
9. Swissvale
Yoga Studios Per 1,000 People: 3.79
Organic Markets Per 1,000 People: 0.67
Pet Adoption Centers Per 1,000 People: 0.67
Vegan Restaurants Per 1,000 People: 2.68
Thrift Stores Per 1,000 People: 2.9
Swissvale is a borough in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, 9 miles (14 km) east of downtown Pittsburgh. Named for a farmstead owned by James Swisshelm, during the industrial age it was the site of the Union Switch and Signal Company of George Westinghouse. The population was 8,983 at the 2010 census. In 1940, 15,919 people lived there.
10. Glenolden
Yoga Studios Per 1,000 People: 1.26
Organic Markets Per 1,000 People: 0.56
Pet Adoption Centers Per 1,000 People: 1.4
Vegan Restaurants Per 1,000 People: 0.84
Thrift Stores Per 1,000 People: 3.78
There You Have It — The Hippies Of Pennsylvania
If you’re measuring the locations in Pennsylvania 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 Pennsylvania:
- Tyrone
- Punxsutawney
- Berwick
For more Pennsylvania reading , check out:
- These Are The 10 Safest Places In Pennsylvania
- These Are The 10 Most Dangerous Cities In Pennsylvania
- These Are The 10 Most Ghetto Cities In Pennsylvania
