East Austin Among America's 'Best Hipster Neighborhoods'

Earlier this year Forbes magazine ranked Austin the 19th Coolest City in America.

Normally this would be an honor, but the list also points out that we’re the fifth coolest city in the state behind Houston (no. 1), Dallas (no.4), San Antonio (no.11), and even Fort Worth (no.13), which all ranked higher than the Capital City on the coolness scale.

But late last week, Austin got some of its swagger back when Forbes ranked East Austin America’s Seventh Best Hipster Neighborhood. 

It's tempting to think the Forbes editors walked around the country, counting pairs of skinny jeans, denim vests and distressed flannel shirts. But the list was actually composed through a partnership with Nextdoor.com, which ranked the East Side as Austin's hottest hipster home base over South Congress and Travis Heights, and Walkscore.com, which tallied the number and proximity of coffee shops, food trucks, locally-owned bars and restaurants and more to pinpoint hip activity.

Austin’s East Side is well known for its delicious food trucks and awesome bar scene, but farmer’s markets – another barometer Walkscore considered in its rankings – are still growing. Possibly, we’ll be even hipper next year.