10 U.S. Cities with the Most Tattoos

Ink is a thing of beauty in these towns, from Angelina Jolie's birthplace to Kat Von D's old hangout

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Well, it's official. Whether or not you think tattoos are sexy forms of self-expression, Maxim, Playboy, AskMen.com and FOX have all pegged tattooed beauties as some of the hottest in the world. The most recent picks? Britney (yes, she still makes many of the lists!), Angelina, Katy Perry, Zoe Saldana, Megan Fox and Jessica Alba. And, lest we forget the opposite sex: Johnny Depp (People's "Sexiest Man Alive" two years in a row), Brad Pitt, David Beckham and Hugh Jackman, to name a few, all have several tats. They are but shining examples of the reason tattoos are today's favorite "beauty marks."

According to two Harris Interactive polls (taken in 2003 and 2008) and a Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology study from 2006 — between 14 percent and 25 percent of the country's adults have at least one tattoo, with the most tattooed people being between ages 25 and 29, and living in the West. Of the 2,000-plus people surveyed by Harris Interactive, those who had tattoos thought body art was "sexy," "rebellious," "attractive" and "spiritual." With that said, those without tattoos said they thought the opposite. Translation: If you want your tattoo to look sexy, a) get a mark that's pretty to look at, and b) move to a town where it will be appreciated.

To find out which towns in America were most tattoo-friendly, we perused chat forums and looked up every state in several public directories, including Yellow Pages, Google listings, Tattoo Yellow Pages and AAA Tattoo Directory, to find those with the most listed tattoo and permanent makeup shops. Then we looked up which cities in those states had the most shops listed per capita with populations based on latest U.S. Census numbers. We also took into consideration the city's demographics and whether or not it hosted tattoo conventions, remembering that not all tattoo parlors were listed in the directories. See which cities love ink the most, and let us know if we left one out.

SEE NEXT PAGE: No. 10: Los Angeles, Calif.

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Older comments

Some of these cities completely surprised me!

by GigiSD Tuesday, April 23, 2013 at 06:08PM Report as inappropriate

getting a tattoo soon after i lose 50 pounds..tattoos are amazing and sexy

by sdavi60 Sunday, March 24, 2013 at 04:25PM Report as inappropriate

tattoos are all over nomatter where u live there will always be someone there that has at least 1 i myself have 3 and almost everyone i no has a tatto i think a tattoo is sexy

by littlesweets801 Sunday, March 17, 2013 at 01:51PM Report as inappropriate

interesting

by butterfly11 Friday, March 15, 2013 at 05:08PM Report as inappropriate

I live in Atlanta, GA and see tattooed people every where. Maybe it's just the places I go. But I am beginning to notice tattoo parlors in so many places. I wonder where we were on the list.

by lanereidbeauty Thursday, February 28, 2013 at 12:21PM Report as inappropriate

Wow! Many of these were not surprises, but some were.

by NillaButterfly Saturday, December 22, 2012 at 05:51PM Report as inappropriate

Proud to see my city on the list!! :]

by Lamexicana1 Saturday, December 1, 2012 at 04:17PM Report as inappropriate

Cool article

by yestfl Saturday, December 1, 2012 at 11:24AM Report as inappropriate

interesting

by LittleBunny Tuesday, November 6, 2012 at 08:05PM Report as inappropriate

very interesting!

by Chris213 Sunday, September 30, 2012 at 06:00PM Report as inappropriate