These Are The 10 Best Cities For Hippies In South Dakota

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

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 Mount Rushmore 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 Dakota, 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 Dakota:

1. Sturgis (Photos)
2. Spearfish (Photos)
3. Watertown (Photos)
4. Yankton (Photos)
5. Brookings (Photos)
6. Mitchell (Photos)
7. Aberdeen (Photos)
8. Pierre (Photos)
9. Sioux Falls (Photos)
10. Brandon (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 South Dakota or the safest places to live in South Dakota.

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

In order to rank the best cities for hippies in South Dakota, 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 15 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 Dakota.’ We’re lookin’ at you, Sturgis.

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. Sturgis

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: 0.0
Thrift Stores Per 1,000 People: 0.6
Sturgis is a city in Meade County, South Dakota, United States. The population was 6,627 as of the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Meade County and is named after Union General Samuel D. Sturgis.

2. Spearfish

Yoga Studios Per 1,000 People: 0.0
Organic Markets Per 1,000 People: 0.09
Pet Adoption Centers Per 1,000 People: 0.18
Vegan Restaurants Per 1,000 People: 0.09
Thrift Stores Per 1,000 People: 0.46
Spearfish (Lakota: Hohápe) is a city in Lawrence County, South Dakota, United States. The population was 10,494 at the 2010 census.

3. Watertown

Yoga Studios Per 1,000 People: 0.05
Organic Markets Per 1,000 People: 0.09
Pet Adoption Centers Per 1,000 People: 0.05
Vegan Restaurants Per 1,000 People: 0.09
Thrift Stores Per 1,000 People: 0.46
Watertown is a city in and the county seat of Codington County, South Dakota, United States. The population was 21,482 at the 2010 census. It is the fifth largest city in South Dakota. It is also the principal city of the Watertown Micropolitan Statistical Area, which includes all of Codington and Hamlin counties.

4. Yankton

Yoga Studios Per 1,000 People: 0.07
Organic Markets Per 1,000 People: 0.0
Pet Adoption Centers Per 1,000 People: 0.21
Vegan Restaurants Per 1,000 People: 0.07
Thrift Stores Per 1,000 People: 0.34
Yankton is a city in, and the county seat of, Yankton County, South Dakota, United States. The population was 14,454 at the 2010 census. Yankton is the principal city of the Yankton Micropolitan Statistical Area, which includes the entirety of Yankton County, and which had an estimated population of 22,702 as of July 1, 2015.

5. Brookings

Yoga Studios Per 1,000 People: 0.04
Organic Markets Per 1,000 People: 0.04
Pet Adoption Centers Per 1,000 People: 0.04
Vegan Restaurants Per 1,000 People: 0.09
Thrift Stores Per 1,000 People: 0.26
Brookings is a city in Brookings County, South Dakota, United States. Brookings is the fourth largest city in South Dakota, with a population of 22,056 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Brookings County, and home to South Dakota State University, the largest institution of higher education in the state. Also found in Brookings are the South Dakota Art Museum, the Children’s Museum of South Dakota, the annual Brookings Summer Arts Festival, and the headquarters of a number of manufacturing companies and agricultural operations.

6. Mitchell

Yoga Studios Per 1,000 People: 0.06
Organic Markets Per 1,000 People: 0.06
Pet Adoption Centers Per 1,000 People: 0.06
Vegan Restaurants Per 1,000 People: 0.06
Thrift Stores Per 1,000 People: 0.39
Mitchell is the county seat of Davison County, South Dakota, United States. The population was 15,254 at the 2010 census.

7. Aberdeen

Yoga Studios Per 1,000 People: 0.07
Organic Markets Per 1,000 People: 0.04
Pet Adoption Centers Per 1,000 People: 0.04
Vegan Restaurants Per 1,000 People: 0.04
Thrift Stores Per 1,000 People: 0.33
Aberdeen (Lakota: Ablíla) is a city in and the county seat of Brown County, South Dakota, United States, about 125 miles (201 km) northeast of Pierre. The city population was 26,091 at the 2010 census, making it the third most populous city in the state after Sioux Falls and Rapid City. Aberdeen is the principal city of the Aberdeen Micropolitan Statistical Area, which includes all of Brown and Edmunds counties and has a population of 40,602 in 2010. Aberdeen is considered a college town, being the home of both Northern State University and Presentation College.

8. Pierre

Yoga Studios Per 1,000 People: 0.14
Organic Markets Per 1,000 People: 0.0
Pet Adoption Centers Per 1,000 People: 0.07
Vegan Restaurants Per 1,000 People: 0.07
Thrift Stores Per 1,000 People: 0.29

9. Sioux Falls

Yoga Studios Per 1,000 People: 0.08
Organic Markets Per 1,000 People: 0.01
Pet Adoption Centers Per 1,000 People: 0.04
Vegan Restaurants Per 1,000 People: 0.04
Thrift Stores Per 1,000 People: 0.14
Sioux Falls (/su flz/) (Lakota: Íya Okáblea Otúwahe; ‘Stone Shatter City’) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of South Dakota and the 145th-most populous city in the United States. It is the county seat of Minnehaha County. and also extends into Lincoln County to the south. It is the 47th fastest-growing city in the United States and the fastest-growing metro area in South Dakota, with a population increase of 22% between 2000 and 2010.

10. Brandon

Yoga Studios Per 1,000 People: 0.11
Organic Markets Per 1,000 People: 0.0
Pet Adoption Centers Per 1,000 People: 0.0
Vegan Restaurants Per 1,000 People: 0.11
Thrift Stores Per 1,000 People: 0.0
Brandon is a city in Minnehaha County, South Dakota, United States and is the largest suburb of Sioux Falls. Brandon is located five miles east of Sioux Falls. The population was estimated at 9,923 by the United States Census Bureau on July 1, 2016, which was up from 8,785 at the 2010 census.

There You Have It — The Hippies Of South Dakota

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

1. Belle Fourche
2. Box Elder
3. Huron

For more South Dakota reading , check out:

• These Are The 10 Most Dangerous Cities In South Dakota
• These Are The 10 Most Boring Places In South Dakota
• These Are The 10 Safest Places In South Dakota

Detailed List Of The Hippiest Cities In South Dakota