You might think that the whole hippie movement has faded away, but the truth is, there are plenty of hippies out there in Tennessee.
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 Volunteer 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 Tennessee, 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 Tennessee:
- Red Bank (Photos)
- Dickson (Photos)
- Alcoa (Photos)
- East Ridge
- Goodlettsville
- Farragut (Photos)
- Maryville (Photos)
- Jonesborough (Photos)
- Germantown (Photos)
- Lakeland (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 Tennessee or the safest places to live in Tennessee.
How do you determine the most beatnik city in Tennessee?
In order to rank the best cities for hippies in Tennessee, 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 95 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 Tennessee.’ We’re lookin’ at you, Red Bank.
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. Red Bank
Yoga Studios Per 1,000 People: 1.19
Organic Markets Per 1,000 People: 0.43
Pet Adoption Centers Per 1,000 People: 0.6
Vegan Restaurants Per 1,000 People: 0.34
Thrift Stores Per 1,000 People: 1.53
Red Bank is a city in Hamilton County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 12,418 at the 2000 census and 11,817 in 2012. Red Bank is an enclave, being entirely surrounded by the city limits of Chattanooga. Red Bank is part of the Chattanooga, TN-GA, Metropolitan Statistical Area.
2. Dickson
Yoga Studios Per 1,000 People: 0.68
Organic Markets Per 1,000 People: 0.14
Pet Adoption Centers Per 1,000 People: 0.34
Vegan Restaurants Per 1,000 People: 0.27
Thrift Stores Per 1,000 People: 1.01
Dickson is a city in Dickson County, Tennessee, United States. It is part of the Nashville Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population at the 2010 census was 14,538, with an estimate of 14,993 in 2014.
3. Alcoa
Yoga Studios Per 1,000 People: 0.58
Organic Markets Per 1,000 People: 0.47
Pet Adoption Centers Per 1,000 People: 0.7
Vegan Restaurants Per 1,000 People: 0.58
Thrift Stores Per 1,000 People: 1.64
Alcoa is a city in Blount County, Tennessee, United States, south of Knoxville. Its population was 8,449 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Knoxville, Tennessee Metropolitan Statistical Area.
4. East Ridge
Yoga Studios Per 1,000 People: 0.14
Organic Markets Per 1,000 People: 0.09
Pet Adoption Centers Per 1,000 People: 0.19
Vegan Restaurants Per 1,000 People: 0.09
Thrift Stores Per 1,000 People: 1.23
5. Goodlettsville
Yoga Studios Per 1,000 People: 0.24
Organic Markets Per 1,000 People: 0.06
Pet Adoption Centers Per 1,000 People: 0.12
Vegan Restaurants Per 1,000 People: 0.3
Thrift Stores Per 1,000 People: 0.49
Goodlettsville is a city in Davidson and Sumner counties, Tennessee. Goodlettsville was incorporated as a city in 1958 with a population of just over 3,000 residents; at the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 15,921 and in 2015 the population was 16,994. Goodlettsville chose to remain autonomous in 1963 when the city of Nashville merged with the government of Davidson County.
6. Farragut
Yoga Studios Per 1,000 People: 0.09
Organic Markets Per 1,000 People: 0.24
Pet Adoption Centers Per 1,000 People: 0.14
Vegan Restaurants Per 1,000 People: 0.14
Thrift Stores Per 1,000 People: 0.52
Farragut is a town which straddles both Knox and Loudon counties in Tennessee and is a suburb of Knoxville. The town’s population was 20,676 at the 2010 census. It is included in the Knoxville Metropolitan Area. The town is named in honor of American Civil War Admiral David Farragut, who was born just east of Farragut at Campbell’s Station in 1801.
7. Maryville
Yoga Studios Per 1,000 People: 0.14
Organic Markets Per 1,000 People: 0.14
Pet Adoption Centers Per 1,000 People: 0.22
Vegan Restaurants Per 1,000 People: 0.18
Thrift Stores Per 1,000 People: 0.54
Maryville is a city and the county seat of Blount County, Tennessee, in the southeastern United States. Maryville’s population was 27,465 at the 2010 census. It is included in the Knoxville Metropolitan Area.
8. Jonesborough
Yoga Studios Per 1,000 People: 0.0
Organic Markets Per 1,000 People: 0.19
Pet Adoption Centers Per 1,000 People: 0.19
Vegan Restaurants Per 1,000 People: 0.97
Thrift Stores Per 1,000 People: 0.97
Jonesborough (historically also Jonesboro) is a town in, and the county seat of, Washington County, Tennessee, in the southeastern United States. The population was 5,975 at the 2010 census. It is ‘Tennessee’s oldest town’.
9. Germantown
Yoga Studios Per 1,000 People: 0.23
Organic Markets Per 1,000 People: 0.1
Pet Adoption Centers Per 1,000 People: 0.13
Vegan Restaurants Per 1,000 People: 0.08
Thrift Stores Per 1,000 People: 0.23
Germantown is a city in Shelby County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 38,844 at the 2010 census.
10. Lakeland
Yoga Studios Per 1,000 People: 0.08
Organic Markets Per 1,000 People: 0.16
Pet Adoption Centers Per 1,000 People: 0.08
Vegan Restaurants Per 1,000 People: 0.24
Thrift Stores Per 1,000 People: 0.16
Lakeland is a city in Shelby County, Tennessee, and a suburb of Memphis. The population was 12,430 at the 2010 census.
There You Have It — The Hippies Of Tennessee
If you’re measuring the locations in Tennessee 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 Tennessee:
- Lexington
- Morristown
- Morristown
For more Tennessee reading , check out:
- These Are The 10 Most Ghetto Places In Tennessee
- These Are The 10 Snobbiest Places In Tennessee
- These Are The 10 Dumbest Cities In Tennessee
