The Gold Coast Has Been Named Australia's Most 'Hipster' City

Melbourne is the world's most liveable city, as well as Australia's fastest growing capital. Sydney is the nation's most expensive city. But when it comes to the country's most 'hipster' spot, they've got nothing on one Queensland destination. According to The Hipster Index, a study by international relocation website MoveHub, the Gold Coast claims that title — because sun, surf, sand, theme parks, schoolies, the Commonwealth Games and hipsters apparently go hand-in-hand.

The index's criteria actually helps explain the Goldie's top placing, with the study scoring cities based on five data points. The more vegan eateries, coffee shops, tattoo studios, vintage boutiques and record stores a city has, the higher they're ranked — and the tourist destination sure does boast a hefty number of meat-free cafes, spots to grab some caffeine and places to get inked.

Queensland seems to be hipster central in general, too. Cairns comes in second, the Sunshine Coast makes sixth position, and the state nabs more places on the list than any other — with Brisbane at 11th and Townsville at 13th. Down south, Geelong ranks fourth and Melbourne fifth, while Newcastle sits at ninth followed by Sydney at tenth and Wollongong at 12th. With the study only ranking cities with populations over 150,000, Hobart, Adelaide, Canberra and Perth also earned a spot.

Internationally, however, the Goldie only places 70th, with the index ranking 446 cities across 20 countries. Top honours didn't go to the location you're probably thinking about, aka the city so filled with hipsters, there's literally a television show satirising it. No, Portland actually came in second, with Britain's Brighton and Hove earning hipster bragging rights. Salt Lake City, Seattle and Lisbon round out the top five.

Image: Marcus Bichel Lindegaard via Flickr.