The hipster economy is the web of small, craft-focused businesses, from specialty coffee to craft beer and tattoo studios, that turned creativity and authenticity into jobs. In 2025 it also showed its limits: US craft beer production fell and breweries closed faster than they opened. Here are 15 things to know, updated for 2026.
| Sector | Latest data point |
|---|---|
| Craft beer (US) | About 22 million barrels in 2025, down 4% to 5%; retail value about $28.0 billion |
| Bartenders | Median $16.51 an hour (May 2025) |
| Fitness instructors | Median $22.67 an hour (May 2025) |
| Plant-based meat | Beyond Meat cut staff 19% in 2022 and left China in 2025 |
| Coffee | Australians won the World Barista Championship in 2003, 2015, 2022 and 2025 |
Prefer video? Here is the original walkthrough:
1. What is hipster capitalism?
Researchers used the phrase “hipster capitalism” in a 2016 academic paper asking whether the trend belonged to the age of austerity. The idea is simple. Instead of waiting for a rare academic post, a big grant or a collector to buy their work, an artist can use their creativity as a tattoo artist.
The definition: using the skill you already have, not on the “expected” employment path, but in a new, creative and useful way. The trend is driven by social factors and by the decline of certain industries.
2. Hipster jobs keep getting filled
A specific set of jobs is associated with hipsters: yoga teacher, barista, tattoo artist, distillery worker, bartender, chef and anything vegan. An earlier job-board analysis found bartending was the most widely available hipster job, with chefs, baristas, yoga teachers and tattoo artists close behind. That analysis was from before the Covid pandemic.
Since then, the work has recovered. The question is what these jobs pay.
3. What do hipster jobs pay?
The earlier edition cited UK figures from before 2020: tattoo artists at about 44.10 pounds an hour, yoga teachers at about 21.98 pounds and baristas and bartenders at about 8.10 pounds. Those numbers are now out of date.
US benchmarks for May 2025 show the same gap. Bartenders had a median of $16.51 an hour, fitness trainers and instructors (the closest match for yoga teachers) $22.67, and food and beverage serving workers overall $15.24. Tattoo artists are not tracked separately in that dataset, but as a rule skilled craft work and one-to-one service pay more than service shifts.
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4. How big is the hipster industry now?
Specialty coffee, craft beer, grooming and organic food were the engines of the hipster economy. Craft beer shows the 2025 reality. According to the Brewers Association, US craft production fell about 4% to 5% in 2025 to roughly 22 million barrels, after the group revised its first figure. Retail sales were about $28.0 billion, down 2.8%. The group counted around 9,600 operating craft breweries, with about 300 openings against roughly 480 closings. Craft beer still held a share of about 13.4% of US beer volume.
The lesson: when something is trendy, entrepreneurs pile in, and then the market corrects. Specialty coffee has gone the other way as a global habit: Australians won the World Barista Championship in 2003, 2015, 2022 and 2025.
If you are interested in reading more about expensive beers, check out 15 Most Expensive Beers In The World.
5. Why hipster products cost more
Many “hipsters” are young, motivated people who go into business for themselves and make everything from scratch. They source locally, employ locals and do the work themselves, so the cost is often higher than mass-produced alternatives.
We associate a product with the person selling it, and hipsters don’t want to sell themselves short. That’s advice for all of us. Image counts too: Pabst Blue Ribbon became a hipster favourite, and brand image has much to do with why cool kids pay a little extra. Pabst, for the record, has since moved to contract production: it has had agreements with City Brewing since 2019 and with AB InBev since 2025.
6. Australia drives the hipster service economy
Between 2015 and 2018, searches for “hipster” jobs in Australia rose 38.5%, according to figures from a job board reported at the time. An economist there said Australians put more emphasis on great coffee and good food, and that this shows up in hiring. Service industries were expected to dominate job growth over the next two decades. The 2025 World Barista Championship win by an Australian suggests the coffee culture is still strong.
7. Not everyone supports the hipster economy
Hipster bashing has been around as long as hipsters. Macaronis and Bohemians drew the same criticism centuries ago. One columnist argued that critics mix up two different issues: gentrification and rising economic inequality. His point was that global urban youth who thrive in multicultural neighbourhoods and invest in local businesses are worth celebrating.
Which brings us to the next point.
8. Small businesses rely on hipsters
A hipster looks for bands, brands and coffee you haven’t heard of. That makes them loyal to small, local businesses. You won’t see them at the mall with a chain-store coffee. They’re at the farmers’ market buying artisanal bread and home-made jam.
We covered this in our video 15 Things Loved by the Poor Until Rich People Ruined Them: at a farmers’ market you pay a lot for artisan bread, and hipsters are happy to. They know where their food comes from, they know they’re supporting small businesses and they appreciate the time involved.
9. A new line of ethical businesses
You don’t need to be a hipster to be ethical, but hipsters pushed for ethical and locally sourced alternatives. People want to live and wear their values, which drives sales of ethically sourced clothing. Second-hand shops for books, furniture, records and clothing belong here too, as does any job that people can learn without a college degree.
These businesses are part of what author Mark Hatch called the Maker Revolution: artisans, crafters, DIYers and inventors.
10. A push for a moral economy
A moral economy, in basic terms, means people can do what they love and still get a fair wage. Many hipsters believe a universal basic income would help, but there are pros and cons, which we covered in our video 15 Things Universal Basic Won’t Solve.
11. What does it mean for big business?
Authenticity is the big drawcard of the hipster economy, and it is what big business often can’t provide. As companies stage more and more experiences, consumers choose based on how genuine an offering feels. Big business can grow alongside the hipster economy, but transparency and authenticity are a must.
Even hipster brands can fail on this, as the next entry shows.
12. Mast Brothers and the cost of a story
At one stage you couldn’t walk into a trendy Brooklyn shop without meeting Mast chocolate bars selling for about $10. The Mast brothers, Rick and Michael, founded the company in 2007 and were widely credited with introducing artisanal bean-to-bar chocolate to a mainstream American audience. Their rise was also a lesson in brand story: the company drew heavy scrutiny of how it presented its process, and in 2017 it closed its Los Angeles and London retail spaces.
The lesson for any maker: when your premium price rests on a story, the story has to hold up.
13. Hipsters and the plant-based movement
Hipsters and food go hand in hand. Plant-based eating was a growth story through the late 2010s, driven by hybrid meat and plant products and seaweed. The 2020s have been tougher: Beyond Meat announced layoffs of 19% of its staff in October 2022, further layoffs after a 9% sales decline in November 2023, and halted operations in China in February 2025. Plant-based as a trend is real, but the leading brand’s financial struggles show how hard it is to scale.
14. Hipsters and gentrification
Every city has areas considered run-down or unsafe. Bring in the hipsters and the area gets a revival. Businesses open, the street becomes exciting, even coveted. The subculture has long been associated with young creatives who gentrify urban areas, from Williamsburg in Brooklyn to Shoreditch in London.
It cuts both ways. Reviving a tired area is great for the local economy, but driving rents up so that long-term residents can’t afford to stay is not.
15. Hipsters helped us do different and be different
The best lesson of the hipster economy is that not everyone needs to build a giant company to do great business. People appreciate the product as much as the person selling it. You can try outrageous business ideas and succeed, and you can go to a job every day and love what you do.
If you want to try, our video on building a start-up shows how.
Question: Aluxers, what is your take on the hipster economy? We’d love to hear your thoughts.
Keep reading
- 15 bestselling beer brands in the world: the mass-market side of beer
- How cities get rich: why creative neighbourhoods drive urban economies
- How to find the perfect business idea: turning a craft into a company
FAQ
What is the hipster economy?
The hipster economy, sometimes called the flat white economy, is the cluster of small, creative and craft-focused businesses and jobs, such as specialty coffee, craft beer, tattoo studios, yoga, vegan food and artisanal goods.
What jobs are part of the hipster economy?
Common examples are baristas, bartenders, chefs, yoga teachers, tattoo artists and distillery workers.
How much do hipster jobs pay?
In the US in May 2025, bartenders had a median of $16.51 an hour and fitness instructors $22.67. Skilled crafts like tattooing can pay more, but pay is not tracked consistently.
Is craft beer still growing?
Not in the US. The Brewers Association reported production down about 4% to 5% in 2025, and closures outnumbered openings.
Do hipsters cause gentrification?
They are often associated with it. Young creatives revive run-down areas, but rising rents can push out long-term residents.
Why is hipster food and drink so expensive?
Small producers use local ingredients and labour, make things by hand and price to match the story and craft behind the product.
How we put this list together
We kept the original 15 themes and replaced older figures with 2025 industry reports and US wage data. Figures from the earlier edition are labelled as earlier.
Last updated: October 2026.
