These Are The 10 Best Cities For Hippies In South Carolina

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

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 Palmetto 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 South Carolina, 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 South Carolina:

1. Forest Acres
2. Georgetown (Photos)
3. James Island
4. Irmo
5. Cayce (Photos)
6. Beaufort (Photos)
7. North Myrtle Beach (Photos)
8. Seneca (Photos)
9. Hanahan (Photos)
10. Mauldin

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 South Carolina or the safest places to live in South Carolina.

How do you determine the most beatnik city in South Carolina?

In order to rank the best cities for hippies in South Carolina, 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 70 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 South Carolina.’ We’re lookin’ at you, Forest Acres.

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 Acres

Yoga Studios Per 1,000 People: 1.33
Organic Markets Per 1,000 People: 0.38
Pet Adoption Centers Per 1,000 People: 0.47
Vegan Restaurants Per 1,000 People: 0.66
Thrift Stores Per 1,000 People: 1.52

2. Georgetown

Yoga Studios Per 1,000 People: 0.66
Organic Markets Per 1,000 People: 0.22
Pet Adoption Centers Per 1,000 People: 0.55
Vegan Restaurants Per 1,000 People: 0.44
Thrift Stores Per 1,000 People: 1.1
Georgetown is the third oldest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina and the county seat of Georgetown County, in the Lowcountry. As of the 2010 census it had a population of 9,163. Located on Winyah Bay at the confluence of the Black, Great Pee Dee, Waccamaw, and Sampit rivers, Georgetown is the second largest seaport in South Carolina, handling over 960,000 tons of materials a year. Georgetown is also the birthplace of former First Lady Michelle Obama’s grandfather, Fraser Robinson. Many of Michelle Obama’s relatives still reside in Georgetown.

3. James Island

Yoga Studios Per 1,000 People: 1.14
Organic Markets Per 1,000 People: 0.09
Pet Adoption Centers Per 1,000 People: 0.17
Vegan Restaurants Per 1,000 People: 0.7
Thrift Stores Per 1,000 People: 0.79
James Island is a town in Charleston County, South Carolina, United States. It is located in the central and southern parts of James Island. As defined by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget, and used by the U.S. Census Bureau for statistical purposes only, James Island is included within the Charleston-North Charleston-Summerville metropolitan area and the Charleston-North Charleston Urbanized Area.

4. Irmo

Yoga Studios Per 1,000 People: 0.26
Organic Markets Per 1,000 People: 0.09
Pet Adoption Centers Per 1,000 People: 0.26
Vegan Restaurants Per 1,000 People: 0.17
Thrift Stores Per 1,000 People: 0.96
Irmo is a town in Lexington and Richland counties, South Carolina, United States and a suburb of Columbia. It is part of the Columbia Metropolitan Statistical Area and is located 12 miles (19 km) northwest of the city center. The population of Irmo was 11,097 at the 2010 census.

5. Cayce

Yoga Studios Per 1,000 People: 1.24
Organic Markets Per 1,000 People: 0.31
Pet Adoption Centers Per 1,000 People: 0.39
Vegan Restaurants Per 1,000 People: 0.39
Thrift Stores Per 1,000 People: 1.16
Cayce is a city in Lexington and Richland counties in the U.S. state of South Carolina, along the Congaree River. The population was 12,528 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Columbia, South Carolina, Metropolitan Statistical Area.

6. Beaufort

Yoga Studios Per 1,000 People: 0.55
Organic Markets Per 1,000 People: 0.16
Pet Adoption Centers Per 1,000 People: 0.16
Vegan Restaurants Per 1,000 People: 0.31
Thrift Stores Per 1,000 People: 1.26
Beaufort (/bjufrt/ BEW-frt, a different pronunciation from that used by the city with the same name in North Carolina) is a city in and the county seat of Beaufort County, South Carolina, United States. Chartered in 1711, it is the second-oldest city in South Carolina, behind Charleston. The city’s population was 12,361 in the 2010 census. It is a primary city within the Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Beaufort, SC Metropolitan Statistical Area.

7. North Myrtle Beach

Yoga Studios Per 1,000 People: 0.35
Organic Markets Per 1,000 People: 0.21
Pet Adoption Centers Per 1,000 People: 0.21
Vegan Restaurants Per 1,000 People: 0.21
Thrift Stores Per 1,000 People: 0.83

8. Seneca

Yoga Studios Per 1,000 People: 0.37
Organic Markets Per 1,000 People: 0.12
Pet Adoption Centers Per 1,000 People: 0.49
Vegan Restaurants Per 1,000 People: 0.12
Thrift Stores Per 1,000 People: 1.6
Seneca is a city in Oconee County, South Carolina, United States. The population was 8,102 at the 2010 census. It is the principal city of the Seneca Micropolitan Statistical Area (population 74,273 at the 2010 census), an (MSA) which includes all of Oconee County and which is further included in the greater Greenville-Spartanburg-Anderson, South Carolina Combined Statistical Area (population 1,266,995 at the 2010 census).

9. Hanahan

Yoga Studios Per 1,000 People: 0.11
Organic Markets Per 1,000 People: 0.11
Pet Adoption Centers Per 1,000 People: 0.32
Vegan Restaurants Per 1,000 People: 0.32
Thrift Stores Per 1,000 People: 0.63

10. Mauldin

Yoga Studios Per 1,000 People: 0.25
Organic Markets Per 1,000 People: 0.17
Pet Adoption Centers Per 1,000 People: 0.13
Vegan Restaurants Per 1,000 People: 0.17
Thrift Stores Per 1,000 People: 0.79
Mauldin is a city in Greenville County, South Carolina, United States. The population was 15,224 at the 2000 census, 22,889 in 2010, and an estimated 25,135 in 2015. It is a principal city of the Greenville-Anderson-Mauldin Metropolitan Statistical Area.

There You Have It — The Hippies Of South Carolina

If you’re measuring the locations in South Carolina 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 South Carolina:

1. Greer
2. Central
3. Georgetown

For more South Carolina reading , check out:

• These Are The 10 Safest Places In South Carolina
• These Are The 10 Dumbest Cities In South Carolina
• These Are The 10 Most Dangerous Cities In South Carolina

Detailed List Of The Hippiest Cities In South Carolina