From Staff Reports
A data collaboration released in early October from Realtor.com and the business review site Yelp titled, “The Hottest Hipster Markets in America list,” ranked Asheville a lowly 23rd.
Indeed, even Charlotte — described as “the bland, concrete megalopolis down the mountain” by columnist John Boyle of the Asheville Citizen-Times — was ranked at No. 15 — far ahead of Asheville, the so-called “Paris of the South” and, according to Boyle, “the city long accepted as North Carolina’s capital of cool.”
In responding to the rating disparity between Asheville and Charlotte, Boyle took a playful shot at Charlotte, calling it the “home to Bank of America, the Carolina Panthers and a really impressive stretch of Interstate 85” — and a city with “a downtown so banal that a real hipster wouldn’t even pause there to polish her good luck crystal on her crop top.”
In contrast, Boyle wrote (with a gentle jab at his city), “Asheville has a brewery for each and every adult citizen and people tubing down the French Broad River 24 hours a day, despite the E.coli.”
Realtor.com/Yelp’s top 10 rankings of America’s Hottest Hipster Markets is as follows:
1. Columbus, Ohio
2. Seattle
3. San Diego
4. Fort Wayne, Indiana
5. Rochester, N.Y.
6. San Francisco, Calif.
7. Long Beach, Calif.
8. Louisville, Ky.
9. Grand Rapids, Mich.
10. Colorado Springs, Colo.
The list identifies the most in-demand housing markets in the U.S. with the highest concentrations of “hipster” businesses for home buyers “looking to embrace indie culture.”
The press release for the rankings begins: “Can’t live without your artisanal coffee, avocado toast or an indie record store? Columbus is the place for you...”