Called "accepting" of heavily tattooed individuals, this increasingly hip college town and "Live Music Capital of the World" is visited by young, "artsy" tattooed people from all over, at least once a year, at its South by Southwest (SXSW) festival. Not to mention its Reggae Festival and Film Festival, among others. Most of Austin's population is also age 25 to 44, prime for tattoo getters, and there are about 7.5 shops per 100,000 people. One chat forum we came across had several individuals say they'd never seen so many tattooed people in one city.
Photo 7/11
No. 5: Portland, Ore.
Like Austin, Portland is mostly 25- to 44-year-olds, but it has more tattoo shops per capita (about 12 per 100,000 people). Considered by "Popular Science" and several other publications to be the country's "Greenest" city, Portland is reportedly known for its huge arts and crafts community as well as its music-loving residents, nature-loving hipsters and collection of rock music icons — most of whom apparently love body art.
Photo 8/11
No. 4: Flint, Mich.
We looked into Detroit, home of the heavily tattooed Eminem, but surprise! It looks like the city of Flint — best known as General Motors' birthplace — wins for most tattoo shops per capita in this area. While its under 18 population rules supreme, Flint's 25-to-44 age range is a mere one percent behind, making young people the most numerous — and most likely to wear full sleeves of ink — in the city.
Photo 9/11
No. 3: Richmond, Va.
Perhaps most surprising on our list is the city of Richmond, Va., which averages about 14.5 tattoo shops per 100,000 people — and that's just within the city itself. Likely boosting its numbers is its big arts and college community, and the fact that the surrounding suburbs and cities contain plenty more tattoo shops — the most of which per capita appeared in the small town of Colonial Heights, which has five shops for just under 17,000 residents.
Photo 10/11
No. 2: Las Vegas, Nev.
What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas...and on your body forever. With 94 listed tattoo shops, Sin City — host of one of the biggest tattoo conventions in the country — comes in at just above 16 shops per 100,000 people, most of whom are between the ages of 25 and 44. The city also has one of the country's highest marriage, divorce and suicide rates, in addition to holding a place on our Worst Skin, Worst Hair, Worst B.O. and Ugliest Cities lists. Remember that next time you want to document your trip after one too many giant margaritas on The Strip.
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.
